Tues. May 17    Miles today: 21.6     Total so far: 131.2   So. CA  Section B

I should mention that we had a delicious and lively dinner last night with 6 other thruhikers, all with tales to tell of their adventures so far.  Included were Josh & Anna, who began with us at Campo!  Bill and I agree that Warner Springs is DEFINITELY a place to stop–great food, pool–what more can you ask?

A glorious start to the day

Today we were back ontrail by 5:30 am, on a beautiful morning with high clouds.  Not far from Warner Springs, we came to another of the innumerable pipe gates that we’ve encountered so far.  They are great landmarks for helping us figure out where we are!  Breakfast was beside the trail with the sun breaking out from behind the clouds and silhouetting the mountains. 

We got lots of creek-crossing practice!

Soon we were at the green, grassy, vine-y jungle of Agua Caliente Creek.  It’s in a canyon with walls so steep that the trail has to zigzag across the creek 4 times.  We decided to take advantage of the shade to get one nice rest break, then it was back to the chaparral and a steady, rocky climb into the San Jacinto Mountains.  The wildflower display continued to be amazing.  One of the hikers at dinner last night is from around here, and he said the flowers are usually dead, dried up and gone by the end of April, but this year it’s been so cool and rainy that they just keep blooming.  My response to that (as a confirmed wildflower freak) is “THANKYOU, Lord!  I love this!”  When I am really hot and tired and the trail seems endless, each bend brings a new “set of beauty” from the flowers. 

A shady kitchen

The more we climbed into the San Jacintos, the more interesting the mountains became, especially the rock & dirt colors.  One of the hills was actually a light pink color!  We met Josh & Anna again at the turnoff to a spring where we all went to tank up on water.  For the next hour we were climbing with great views.  We stopped at noon to cook dinner in a nice shady spot with a perfect flat cooking rock.  Dinner was beef stroganoff with homegrown tomatoes and green peppers, accompanied by hot mochas. 

In the burn zone

But after that, we were hiking through a very barren zone where a forest fire burned everything and little has regrown–except the wildflowers!  It was sad to see so much destoyed, but wonderful to see that the first new regrowth was so beautiful. 

Josh 'n Anna got a personal water cache!

 When we got to one of our landmarks–the crossing of a road–we came to an “Awwwwwww-how sweet!” moment.  Somebody had left some full water jugs labelled with the names of Josh and Anna.  “J” and A” had scribbled thankyou notes on the jugs.   They must have awesome friends!

"Cactus flower" by Bill

From that point was the climb to our highest point today–5,595 feet at Combs Mountain.  The panorama from up there was incredible.  We could see the route poor Anza took with his men when they were trying to develop a trail from Mexico to San Francisco.  Moving on, now late in the day, Bill had fun taking a bunch of wildflower pictures.  I think my “wildflower thing” must be contagious!

We made camp early (7:00) because we were so tired.  My left ankle is really hurting and is puffy in one spot.  I am taking Motrin (known on the trail, I hear, as “Vitamin I”) to manage the ache.  When I lay down to write this, my feet were actually throbbing from a long day of hiking, but one good  thing is that my shoulders are no longer sore.  They seem to be settling in for the hike!

Mon. May 16 Miles today 18:7 Total so far: 109.6 Warner Springs End Sect. A

Awesome clouds!

We passed TWO milestones today—the 100 mile mark and the end of Section A! What a different day it was, too—cool and windy, with dramatic clouds building over the mountains ahead. We’d gotten up at 4:00 am again, worried about the potential for heat, but need not have been concerned. That’s the kind of surprise we like!  

Wildflowers for miles! Seriously!

After several miles of hiking, we said goodbye to the TOUGH San Felipe Hills, and stopped for breakfast in a cozy, sandy bend of the trail. An enthusiastic flock of tiny birds seemed to find us a fascinating show to watch; they perched and twittered and sang in the bushes all around us. Several more miles of wildflowered trail (which included a view of sand dunes, and a cave as well!) brought us to Barrel Springs, an oasis of green grass, big oaks and vines.

Elegance in a horse trough

Barrel Springs runs into a nice big stone horse trough which many hot, weary PCT’ers have literally climbed into—but not us! It was a cool, windy 65 degrees. But somebody had left a beautiful red peony on a long stem floating in the water. Very elegant!

Bill collects Barrel Springs water

The water at the Springs didn’t taste very good, but the trail register at the spring included a classic Gary Larsen cartoon that gave us a good laugh.

Fire-blackened PCT post

On the trail beyond the spring, we finally reached the end of the area burned in the terrible 2002 fire. The scout leaders we met a couple of days ago told us that at its peak, that fire was torching one acre a second! What a relief to be out of it, except that I will say all through the burn zone, the wildflowers were spectacular!

Lots of hills for PCT hikers!

Yes, it really DOES look like an eagle!

We spent the rest of the morning hiking through miles of hills with grass blowing in the wind, and walking past rock formations, till we reached the famous Eagle Rock, and got totally carried away taking pictures of it!

A couple more miles of trail along a creek and we reached the town of Warner Springs, our next resupply. On the way into town we stopped for lunch by the creek, under a huge oak tree with a soft cushion of leaves underneath it…what a great place to just lie back and relax! But we didn’t stay long, because we started thinking about town goodies.

Mexico to Canada thru-bikers

A short while later,  we were sitting in front of the store enjoying orange juice and ice cream, when a whole bunch of dusty, grungy guys in what looked like Star Wars outfits came in on equally grubby bikes. Turned out they are RIDING from Mexico to Canada! Just like us, they started at the PCT border monument, but they are riding dirt roads all the way to Canada. They told us their maps often give them a choice of routes, labeled “hard way” and “easy way.” One of them pointed to our packs and said, “You’re going the HARD way!”

The small but very hiker-friendly Warner Springs store folks encouraged us to spend the night at Warner Springs Ranch resort, where they have a special thru-hiker rate. I walked across the street to check it out, and yes indeed! The price was right, and now we have a comfortable room in a real adobe building. The resort includes a hot pool, showers. laundry, etc. Ahhhh! What a great place!