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!)

We woke up to a very cold, windy morning.  I wore all my layers plus fleece hat & mittens.  We have enough breakfasts that we can still eat a full breakfast, hooray!  Last night before I went to sleep I was trying to figure out WHY we are short on food, and finally had a “duh” moment.  I had planned our food based on Ray Jardine’s chart for a 4 1/2 month hike.  Ray’s chart was based on resupplying at Wrightwood, not at Cajon Pass.  It’s almost a day’s hike from Cajon to the Wrightwood turnoff.  No wonder our food supplies are short!  Well, today we planned to put a good dent in the 54 miles we have to go. 

By 9:30 we passed the 400 mile mark at “Camp Glenwood.”  From there, we had lots of nice downhill trail,including our last crossing of the Angeles Crest Highway, where Bill almost took a wrong turn.  What happened was we have a policy that on any given stretch of trail, whichever of us is slowest goes first.  Lately, that’s usually Bill, limping along on his sore feet.  But he took some Motrin at breakfast, and by the time we reached the highway, the “motrin effect” had kicked in, and Bill was charging ahead instead of limping ahead.  In fact, he had gotten way ahead of me!  And at a trail junction, he took off down what looked like the PCT–but no, the sneaky PCT had gone slinking off sideways into the bushes.  Fortunately I was able to shout to him and get him back on track.  At that point I said, “OK, now I’M going first!” 

After that, we spent a lot of miles going through sort of a chaparral tunnel.  At one point, there was a confusing fork in the trail where it looked like BOTH trails were labelled with the PCT emblem.  What the??  Well, a bit of more careful observation showed us that the two emblems were NOT the same–one was PCT, the other the Boy Scout Silver Moccasin Trail.  

By noon we’d reached the little creek near Sulphur Spings Camp, whre I cooked a “short rations” skimpy dinner and Bill went down to the campground for water.  Some other thruhikers also arrived and stopped for lunch, so we were able to talk.  Bill returned with bad news for all of us–the water at the campground was shut off.  We looked at the creek–but no way, the water in it was gross.  All of us were really low on water, and a big climb of Pacifico Mountain lay ahead.  The guidebook said there were springs on the mountain–we all hoped so!

So the whole gang of us started the upward trail, which was often overgrown by very pretty yellow flower bushes.  The guidebook said there were 2 springs after 3 miles.  The first spring was not even trickling and was yucky.  Not good.  But half a mile later–oh boy!  The second one was clear, sweet, and in full flow.  We all filled our bottles with cold, delicious water, and drank a lot of it on the spot!

Monty crosses a pine cone "river"

Seven more miles of climbing and a 1,600 foot elevation gain brought us to the top of the mountain.  The trail on the other side was long, narrow and at times looked like it wanted to just slide off down the mountainside.  One interesting part was a little side gully that looked like a “river” made of pine cones, there were so many of them covering the ground and the trail. 

What's with the little yellow markers?

 We passed Pacifico Mountain Campground, where it looked like somebody was doing a science experiment–there were little upright plastic net squares in different colors sticking up out of the forest floor.  As we hiked on into the afternoon, the views were great, but we were really getting tired, and the topo map showed no flat places to camp in for a long way.  But about 1/4 mile from Mill Creek Summit, we spotted a little flat place!  Even though it was a while till sundown, we stopped for the day and made camp.  For once (with the sun still up) it was warm enough, AND we had enough water that we could actually take “wipe-yourself-off-with-a-wet-bandanna” baths before bed.  Usually when we stop it’s just about dark, and it’s cold, and every drop of water is too precious to waste on “baths”.   Of course, as soon as the sun went down, the mosquitoes came out.  Hooray for the net tent, so we can sleep in peace!  And it is a blessing to have plenty of water, both the kind you get from a spring, AND the “water of life” that Jesus gives.