Sun. June 5     Miles today: 12.2     Total so far: 454.4     So. CA D

This morning we woke up in the fog!  Our sleeping bags (AND our socks we hung up to “dry” last night!!) were all wet.  We should have put up the tarp!  Oh well, it was only 12 miles to Agua Dulce and Hiker Heaven–no need to fuss, no need to rush.  Soon we were down at the bottom of Soledad Canyon, near the banks of the Santa Clara River, where we got water at the RV park.  Then we tippytoed through the sleeping tents and RV’s back to the PCT. 

The PCT has its own private RR crossing!

At the edge of the park, I noticed an amusing “creation”–a TALL stack of unused picnic tables.  How did they do it?  With a forklift, or what?  And it was also fun to reach the PCT’s own “private railroad crossing”, complete with special sign.  The only downer was the sadly vandalized monument right next to it that was supposed to honor “the completion of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.”  I think that monument should have been located somewhere far from “vandal range”.

Now we were getting into the Vasquez Rock formations, home to outlaws in the good ‘ol days.  The rocks were totally awesome!  Formations like these are overwhelming evidence for the violent worldwide catastrophe of Noah’s flood described in Genesis.  Partway through, we met a very friendly, harmless snake right by the trail, who posed very nicely so I could take his picture.  Then we had some challenging going.  First, we had to get under the Antelope Valley freeway via a long, dark tunnel.  On the other side, the trail was a total mess!  The guidebook said to “follow the dry creekbed”–but it wasn’t dry!  It was a proper creek with a dense edging of willows and poison oak!  We had to half-bushwhack, half rock-hop our way through, sidling around the poison oak as best we could.  Not fun!  But we made it, and wowee,  we were officially into Vasquez Rocks County Park.  What a place!  I went a bit crazy with taking pictures!   We found out later that a number of thruhikers totally skipped this section and went straight to Hiker Heaven from the highway.  They really missed out on a fantastic part of the PCT!

At our last creek crossing, we met 3 horses with riders.  Turned out 2 of the horses were young “newbies” learning to be big brave trail horses.  The newbies were afraid to cross the creek and were snorting and skittering around.  We were on one side of the creek, and they were on the other side.  “What should we do?” we called across.  The lead rider said, “Just stand still and TALK so that the horses all know you are people.”  So we did, and after some awkward minutes of more snorting and fussing, the 2 newbies skittered across the creek, and the riders said, “OK, you can move now.”  I did not envy the riders of those young horses!  They are braver than I am!

For lunch, we stopped in the park picnic area and literally ate every last bit of food we had (mostly crackers and peanut butter) before beginning the last part of the march into Agua Dulce and Hiker Heaven where our next resupply was waiting.  When we reached town, a friendly lady named Peg came up to us and offered us a place to stay at her house!  She seemed disappointed when we told her we were headed for the Saufley’s and Hiker Heaven.  Just then, along came a big red van which stopped, rolled down a window, and a head stuck out–“Headed for Hiker Heaven?” they asked.  “Yup.”  “Well, hop in, and we’ll give you a ride.”  Good thing they did–turned out that the Saufley’s is over a mile from town and the PCT. 

Clean Bill in clean Saufley Electric shirt

The friendly thruhikers who arrived ahead of us quickly got us settled in.  We were worried about food–we had ZERO–but it turned out to be no problem.  There was food everywhere, and if it’s not labelled with someone’s name, it’s fair game.  The hikers organize big breakfasts and dinners with what’s available.  So we got showers–ahhh!–and clean clothes provided by Mrs. Saufley while she washed our dirty ones.  (She won’t let anybody TOUCH her washing machine!).  There were about 20 hikers staying here right now, accommodated in a large trailer, an RV (where we ended up) and large white party tents plus a random collection of other tents.  Everyone has at least a “camp cot” to sleep on.  The yard has fruit trees and a beautiful cactus garden.

I told Mrs. Saufley about Bill’s sore feet, and she promptly set him up with an Epsom salts foot soak, while I helped Anna (yes, of Josh ‘n Anna) to mend the knee on her hiking pants where she tore it in a fall on the trail.  Mrs. Saufley left for an evening horseback ride on a HUGE horse, while Mr. Saufley worked in the yard.

PCT hiker barbeque

At dinner time, hikers started coming out of the kitchen in the trailer with big platters of “barbeque makings”, and we had a FEAST.  I was so hungry that I ate 2 big hamburgers, a big hot dog, baked beans, a croissant, and an apple.  We also had lots to drink.  Some hikers were blowing back a lot of wine and beer, but we pretty much stayed with juice and soda.  There was much sharing of trail tales, and people told about what they did for a living when they’re not hiking. 

This is what happens if you sit down at Hiker Heaven!

And then–there were the DOGS…the Saufleys have SEVEN of them, all found at various places along the PCT, abandoned and starving in the desert or mountains.  PCT hikers took them in tow and the poor little dogs followed them here, where they are adopted and loved by the Saufleys.  All the dogs are loving and sweet and want LOTS of petting.  If you sit down at Hiker Heaven, you are fair game for the dogs, and will soon be finding a nose in your lap!  The most persistent “pet me, pet me” of the dogs was little Bitsy, and then there was visiting thruhiker dog Chaco who was constantly bugging us all to come play with him.

After dinner and washing dishes, there were lots of conversations going on, including with Donna Saufley, who is very energetic, athletic, organized, and VERY tidy, but yet very nice.  She really loves the hikers, even when she is kindly bossing them around.  Jeff Saufley, her husband, is very gentle and warm and attentive and also very hardworking.  They are a great team.

But the biggest excitement of the evening was when a hiker came in fresh from the High Sierras.  Everyone gathered around to hear the latest on the snow and conditions there!  The guy said he had a very tough but exciting time in TONS of snow (“hardly any bare ground anywhere” he said), but what finally stopped him and made him decide to bail out and wait awhile before going on were the creek crossings.  “All the creeks are unfordable” he said. “You’d be taking your life in your hands even trying to cross the small ones.”  We all knew that there had been 200% of normal snowfall last winter, and now it was all starting to melt.   “How did you get across?” we all asked.  “Because there are so many fallen trees up there this year–I was always able to find one to get me across the creeks” was the answer.   He told us that he was never lost, was always able to navigate OK in spite of the deep snow, but after a few days of barely making any mileage, he’d had enough, and left with the plan to skip ahead to Oregon and come back to California later in the year when the Sierra snow was more reasonable.  To add to what he said, some of the hikers had been listening to the news on TV, and it was reporting flooding in Yosemite Valley because of the huge snowmelt volume,  and that Tuolemne Meadows (where we had planned a resupply) would not open till sometime in JULY!  Yikes!

Bill and I retreated to our “home” in the RV and discussed what to do.  It was a wrenching thought to not just do the PCT straight through as we planned.  But we also know that we are not twenty-somethings with energy and strength to burn, and the prospect of such horrendous conditions made us hesitate.  We know that God takes care of us and He will protect us, but we also look both ways before we cross a street, and don’t cross if we see a car coming.  This was sort of in that category.   So after a lot of thinking and praying we decided that when we reach Tehachapi, we will leave the California PCT and head for Oregon, continue north to Canada, then come back and finish up California.  It really hurt to decide this–I was into “We can do it, yes we can–we can get through the Sierras!”  but Bill said, “Be real, we can’t handle it.  Let’s be sensible.”  So we lay down on nice soft beds and tried to wrap our minds around what was up ahead.  We trust that this is what God wants us to do.

Sat. June 4    Miles today: 23.9       Total so far: 442.2

We were up ‘n at em early, hoping for good mileage, but mornings are the hardest for Bill–his feet are really sore, and it takes a long time before hiking “numbs them up” and he can walk at anything like a normal pace.  We walked the 1/4 mile to the ranger station and found the ranger’s little patch of green grass was covered with thru-hiker sleeping bags, many still occupied!  Plus there were several tousled, sleepy people eating breakfast at the ranger’s picnic table.  We filled our water bottles at the faucet and started a determined uphill climb, stopping for breakfast after an hour.  As we ate our granola, we joked about having dreams of a big breakfast at IHOP!   One of the thru-hikers passed us while we were eating and grumped about the uphill climb,  “This is just WRONG to make us climb a hill so early in the morning!” 

Really NICE trail!

On our way again, we were passed by a trail runner who gave us a cheery “good morning”.  Bill said he was tempted to respond, “Hi to you, too–but better not inhale as you go by us–we smell pretty ripe!”  The uphill climb continued for some time, but the trail was really nice–easy to walk on. 

View of the youth camp on missile base

Eventually, we passed a youth camp on what used to be a missile base.  We could hear their loudspeaker announcements from all the way across the canyon. I have been a chaperone at 4-H youth camps, and one of the nice things about going home after camp was how QUIET home was–no more yelling kids, no more loudspeakers! (But camp really was fun, and both kids, counselors (who were teen 4-Hers) and chaperones (us adults) had a great time being there!)

Ceanothus--California's wild lilac

 Finally we reached our goal–the top of Mt. Gleason!!  Awesome views all the way out toward the ocean!  Downhill, the trail was lined with sweet, pale blue ceanothus in full bloom. 

Short rations "whatchagot" stew

By noon, we’d reached Messenger Flats Campground where there was no water, but at least picnic tables.  I turned one table into an “air the sleeping bags” zone and cooked dinner on the other one.  The “short rations stew” I concocted of odds ‘n ends turned out pretty good.  It was made of the last bits of “dinner stuff” left in our packs.

Then I spent awhile trying to tape and bandage Bill’s feet.  New blisters and “rubbed raw” places just keep appearing.  The new shoes seem to be the main culprit.  With Bill taped up, we headed into the afternoon, and shortly met a fairly determined rattlesnake right by the trail.  It took a number of rock tosses to persuade him to move!  I remembered a rattlesnake encounter back in Deep Creek Canyon, where the poor snake was so scared of US that he buzzed, “screamed”, and ran–right over the edge of the cliff!  But this snake slithered down the hill into the bushes.  We RAN past where he’d been, just in case!

A few minutes of hiking later, what a contrast!  We found ourselves in a magnificent wildflower garden.  If it weren’t for trying to make miles, I would SO have stopped and spent time there.  But it was a good feeling to finally reach the North Fork Saddle Ranger station and WATER!  We filled our bottles, and then began a very frustrating “downhill” trek where the “ups”were just a little less than the “downs”.  Still, all the windings of the trail were very picturesque.  We had a short rations supper of a few crackers, some peanut butter and Rebars by pretty Mattox Creek.  It had been a long day, and we were tired–it was hard to get up and push on, but we needed more miles.  A look back was encouraging, though–we could see Mt. Gleason and say to ourselves, “Today we climbed that mountain, and now we are all the way down here.” 

By sunset, we’d managed a few more miles, and found a tiny flat spot just big enough for the two of us, a little way above Soledad Canyon.  Down below we could see the lights of the private campgrounds by the river and could even hear some of the noise from them, too.  (We found out later that Josh ‘n Anna & Co. camped down there, just ahead of us, and the campers gave them free BBQ dinners and all they could eat in return for hearing their “trail tales.”  No crackers and peanut butter for them!)