Sun., May 29   Miles today: 14.9      Total so far: 341.7        So. CA C

Sunrise at Silverwood

We “slept in” till 5:30 this morning, and were able to get up at our leisure and enjoy a very pretty sunrise, because we only plan to go as far as Crowder Canyon today.  We ate breakfast at the picnic area for Silverwood Lake (very nice!), filled our water bottles, and headed out.  Motrin helps, but Bill is still limping in pain with his feet and shuffling pretty badly.  He says it’s not his heels anymore (those blisters are healing and no longer hurt), but it’s the BALL of his foot at the base of the toes that hurts something awful.  The skin there is very tough and callused, but blisters have formed  UNDER the callus.  I feel really bad for him.  My feet are fine–the couple of little blisters  I had are all gone, the patella strap is keeping my knee happy, and actually, I am feeling really good!  So while I walk,  I pray a lot for poor Bill, that his feet will heal and he can enjoy this hike as much as I am.

After leaving the picnic area, we had to pick our way through a heavily-damaged area where the Mojave River obviously ran amok last winter.  The “bike path” had literally been ripped into hunks and the hunks tossed about.  We saw logs, boulders, even freeway signs in the debris.  What the guidebook described as “PCT crosses a meadow with 5 sycamore trees at far end” was ACTUALLY a rocky debris field with 4 battered, barely surviving sycamores, and the broken-off trunk of #5.  Very sad.

A look back at Silverwood Lake

  But a steep climb soon had us up where there were great views back toward Silverwood Lake.  It would have been a great place for a zero day, but with Bill’s feet, we needed to reach civilization soon.

Wow! Looks like the fog back home!

Finally we reached the redgetop when surprise, surprise–what should we see but a huge FOGBANK–just like the fog rolling in off the ocean back home in Sonoma County, CA.  Laughing about the “touch of home”, we followed the PCT downhill to a long winding contour around Little Horsethief Canyon.  It was much cooler, and there was a nice breeze.  Whenever Bill needed to stop and get off his sore feet, there was always a pretty, trickling creek in one of the side gullies that he could soak his feet in. Very soothing!  Finally we reached the head of the canyon and were able to go down into the valley, where the trail entered grass so tall that sometimes it was hard to follow.  Then back up to another ridgetop, and there began one of the most exhilarating times we’ve had yet on this endlessly surprising PCT.

We started following the trail along the narrow, winding ridgetop, when WHAM!! The wind began to slam us so hard that we could barely stand up or walk.  Fortunately, I’d found a wooden “Gandalf staff” to replace my lost trek pole, and boy, did I need it!  I don’t know how I would have been able to stay on my feet without it.  Talk about exciting!  Every step became an adventure with a little bit of “scary” thrown in because it was a VERY narrow ridgetop with big dropoffs.  “Are we having fun yet?”  we yelled. “YEESSS!”

Finally we got out of the wind and reached the giant power pylons toward which we’d been walking all day.  And just after that was yet ANOTHER “wow!”.  We came to the overlook for Cajon Canyon’s “badlands”.  The geologic formations were totally awesome…real jawdropping, impressive stuff!  And for many miles after that, the trail wanders along ridgetops, giving many more badlands views.  Bill went on at a trot every time there was a bit of downhill, while I often lingered to enjoy the OTHER “wow!”–TRAINS! 

Turns out Cajon Pass is a major thoroughfare for freight trains, and from the trail I could see trains constantly going by in both directions, blowing whistles that echoed for miles.  It was like watching my brother’s HO gauge model railroad come to life!  Way cool!  I also looked at wildflowers for awhile, before speeding up my pace to catch up with Bill, though there were a few places where I slowed down and did not look at trains or wildflowers, because there were some SCARY dropoffs right by the trail.  I kept my eyes on the trail in those places, not the edge, and walked very carefully. 

Bill and Swiss Herbert

Soon we reached our goal–Crowder Creek–and right then, who should catch up with us but Swiss Herbert!  His name is actually Herbert Lackermeier, it turns out, and he was very happy to see us, because he wanted us to take a picture of him by an official PCT post, then email it to him in Switzerland.  We wished him the very best–he only has a few days left before he must return to Switzerland.   His friend who was hiking with him quit the trail and went home, so Herbert was by himself.

By 3:00 pm, Bill and I had found a soft, sandy campsite among the little willows by the creek.  We got to take baths in the very shallow water, and have a good long rest and early to bed.  Hope it helps Bill’s sore feet, and it is only a mile to our resupply and a motel tomorrow.

Sat., May 28 Miles today: 21.2 Total so far: 326.8

I was sound asleep this morning when Bill started talking at me, “Monty, wake up! It’s first light already–look at the sky!” Well, it was first light all right–but MOONrise, not SUN rise. I checked my watch. “It’s 3 o’clock in the morning–not 5 o’clock!” Bill still wanted to get up and start hiking, but I was too sleepy and tired to handle it. “How about 4:30?” I mumbled, and went back to sleep. We did get up at 4:45, and were ontrail by 5:00 am, hoping to do as many miles as we could, with Bill still limping terribly. However, I did persuade him to try taking a couple of Motrin (known as “Vitamin I” in trail lingo).

In early morning light, we passed a flat area where a number of backpackers were camped, but nobody was up. Finally we reached what we guessed must be the trail to the famous Hot Springs, but weren’t absolutely sure. With Bill in such a bad way, we decided that our best plan was to keep moving forward towards where he could rest at our next resupply.

Moonflowers? They were huge!

"Japanese garden" bridge over Deep Creek

We ate breakfast at the next pretty arched bridge over Deep Creek, and a short time after that, we had our first view of the end of the canyon and the SNOWY San Gabriel mountains beyond. Bill was still limping along so slowly that I told him to go on ahead while I looked at flowers–there were plenty of them, and some I had not seen very often.

The nearer we got to the end of the canyon, the more trash and worse–graffitti–we saw. Finally it got so bad that almost every decent-size rock had red, blue, or green graffitti. One, at least, had some redemptive value–sort of. I will say this about the PCT: when you are far enough out to be beyond the range of dayhikers, there’s NO trash, NO graffiti, NO shortcutting of switchbacks. Serious PCT hikers universally respect the trail!

One useless dam

Near the end of the canyon, where the PCT comes out on enormous Mojave River Forks Dam, we met a very friendly couple, who pointed out the PCT route in the distance up ahead, and even described it for us. Very encouraged, we strolled across the top of the huge dam which has been rendered totally useless by environmentalists trying to protect an endangered frog. Never mind the fact that there are creeks and arroyos all over Southern CA where the frog lives. Bill and I were joking about “I’ll bet that if they DID let water accumulate behind the dam (as they did for a few years) the frogs would probably LOVE it and multiply exceedingly, just like the caribou in Alaska with that nice warm oil pipeline!”

Deep Creek ford

Below the dam, the PCT has a ford of Deep Creek. I had been dreading this all day yesterday, as I watched the “Creek” get bigger and roarier. But it turned out to be a nice, sandybottomed, kneedeep splash-across. Whew!

The next challenge was the MANY miles of PCT going in and out of gullies on its way to Silverwood Lake. And it was hot–in the 90’s. What a joy it was to find a note tacked to a post that told of a PCT water cache up ahead, hidden behind a juniper tree!

"Vaya Con Dios" water cache

We gladly filled our water bottles from jugs labelled, “Vaya Con Dios” (Go with God) and felt blessed indeed! I left a thankyou note.

It was getting so hot that we were now walking with umbrellas. Bill was a little perkier, too–the Motrin is definitely helping. At one point there was supposed to be a quarter mile side trail down to a store (Drinks! Ice cream!) but when we got there, we found a sad little sign saying, “Don’t waste your time–store has been closed fo a year.” Rats! Oh well, keep on! Bill also discovered that when the trail goes DOWNhill, he can trot just as “comfortably” as he can walk. So our mileage started taking a turn for the better.

Our lunchtime goal was Grass Valley Creek. I was ahead of Bill, looked the rushing creek over and said to myself, “Rockhop crossing–no problem!” Well, I failed to factor in that the creek approach was deep soft sand, and a lot of the sand was caught in the treads of my shoe soles. Halfway across, on a slanted but perfectly dry rock, my foot slipped, and I was in instant freefall towards/into the creek. It was amazing how many thoughts flashed through my mind in midair! First was “Lord, help!” Second was “Please don’t let me get hurt!” Third was “Yikes, the camera!” (it was in my fanny pack). I tried to at least twist myself so the “camera side” of my hips would not go under water, and it worked! There I was in the rushing water, with the camera BARELY above the surface, and after some struggling with the strong current, I managed to get back on my feet and wade ashore unhurt, thanking God over and over again. Then I sat down and cried, ’cause I’m a girl and that’s what we do. Bill came along while I was still sniffling, but I managed to pull myself together and cook dinner. We took a little rest and pushed on. I kept giving Bill Motrin, and he’s able to walk with less pain, but still pathetically slowly compared to what he usually does.

We made it! Silverwood Lake!

The scenery was very interesting, and though Bill stopped often to rest his sore feet, we made steady progress all afternoon toward Silverwood Lake. Finally we reached its dam, and a stiff climb up a ridge gave us our first view of the lake! Hooray! We were beginning to wonder if we’d even make it there today!

Great place for a swim!

 The lake is huge and really pretty–lots of little sandy coves. I know lots of thruhikers swim there, but for us, it was 6:30 pm and really chilly and very windy, so we didn’t try swimming, but enjoyed our crackers-and-peanut butter supper with a magnificent lake view. Then we continued on till sunset, often pushing through grass taller than we were along the trail, and made a very comfortable camp for the night.