Clouds moved in overnight, and we woke up to a 30 degree morning with dew all over our sleeping bags.  Bill’s socks he’d hung up to dry on the horse corral railing were all frozen stiff, as was my Platypus drinking tube.  But we knew we had a big hiking day ahead, so at 5 am, we were up ‘n at em.  We scarfed down a “bar” each (Bill likes ProBars; I like Larabars) and passed a number of other hikers who were just starting to get up.

 The first part of the morning, the PCT travels along high above Holcomb Creek, in a burn zone from a fire a couple of years ago.   I felt as if I were at a black and white ball, with graceful  white manzanita and stalwart black tree trunks.  It was actually very beautiful, in a strange sort of way.  We also had fabulous views of snowy mountains far ahead, and desert views to the east. 

Finally the trail went down  to Holcomb Creek, to a jumbled mess of logs, boulders and riparian greenery.  Little “flags” marked where the trail went, as it crossed the creek a total of 4 times.  But instead of the simple rockhop crossings we did in 2005, we were faced with genuine FORDs.  At each ford, the creek  got deeper— thigh deep on me at the end, with the water really moving, and so cold that after you get out and your legs “un-numb”, you are in pain for a few minutes! Ow!

At the 4th and last ford, we were crossing with another thruhiker, whose friend had already made it to the other side, and was taking pictures of us all.  A great cheer went up from the whole gang of us when somebody yelled, “Last ford!”   Now we were all eager to press on to the famous Deep Creek!

Of course the PCT had to wander all over the place, but then we began meeting dayhikers, so we knew Deep Creek must be close.  A few more switchbacks, and there it was, with a brandnew bridge to replace the wrecked one, AND a lovely trail angel (an injured thru-hiker waiting for her knee to get better.) She gave us an orange and M&Ms, which we promptly ate for lunch!  Meanwhile, down below the bridge, a film crew was at work on a production about the Creek, and there was a whole contingent of PCT hikers lounging on the beach.

 The entire rest of the day we followed the PCT through the many twists and turns of beautiful, beautiful Deep Creek canyon, with its spectacular rock formations, rushing cascades, and deep green pools.  All along the trail, the wildflowers were gorgeous.  They were mostly desert-type flowers, not large, but there were LOTS of them. 

For “height-challenged” people like me, the trail is often scary (big dropoffs; a couple of years ago, thruhiker No Way Ray died here in a fall off the edge of the trail) so there were stretches where I just tried to stay focused on the trail and ignored the dropoff right next to it.  But finding water was no problem–there were lots of side creeks.  We stopped at one of them for lunch and were entertained by the spectacle of HUGE black buzzing flies doing aerobatics nearby.

We passed the famous Deep Creek hot springs, where there were a number of people running around in their birthday suits.  We’ve heard that the hot pool is really nice, but in view of the ah…other activities…we opted not to stop.  At 5 pm we stopped at a lovely side canyon to cook dinner and were soon joined by two other hikers.  One guy is from Japan.  He’s very nice, but doesn’t say much.  He had noodles for dinner.  The other guy had mac ‘n cheese.  We had stuffing mix with freezedried beef and veges.  All of us agreed that we were determined to “finish” the canyon before making camp, even thogh there were still miles of canyon left to travel. 

By the time we reached the end of the canyon, the sun was low in the sky.  The PCT has to drop down quite a ways before it crosses the spillway of the big earth dam.  We hurried down the many switchbacks, across the dam and spillway, then into the wide, gravelly/sandy creekbed.  In 2005, Deep Creek was quite wide, but very shallow–an easy wade.  This time it was also pretty wide, but much deeper (thigh deep on me) and moving right along.  We walked along the shore a bit before deciding where to cross.  

Then we lost no time scouting out a campsite!  The sun had gone down and though it was still a pleasant evening, we were very tired.  Near our creek crossing, we spotted a grove of sycamore trees,  and set up camp underneath them.  Clouds were gathering, so we rigged the tarp just in case, and then collapsed.  Man, are we tired!  But it’s such a lovely evening, the crickets are singing, and tomorrow we’ll be at Silverwood Lake!   

Walk to Rivendell: In valley, fourth day from Weathertop

Tags: Deep Creek, Holcomb Creek