Miles today: 22.1  Total PCT miles so far: 73.5     Miles spent being lost today: about 3?

As soon as it was light, we were up and headed for breakfast at Pioneer Mail picnic area, where we also loaded up (ouch, over 10 lb each!) on water, and started hiking along what used to be a highway, now converted to trail.  We had plenty of opportunities to continue the “oohs-and-aahs”  as we passed incredible rock formations, HUGE dropoffs to the desert below, and masses of wildflowers.  What amazed me was that there was so much beauty even though we were walking through the charred remains of the huge 2002 San Diego fire.  Determined shrubs and even the oak trees were starting to grow back from their roots.  The trail itself was really easy going–lots of miles of fairly level contouring along the hillsides. 

Eventually we reached the “Lucky Five” water cache, which turned out to be a wooden cupboard perched on the hillside by the trail, complete with chairs to sit on!  We topped up our water, wrote a thankyou note, and mushed on, as the temperature rose to the upper 80’s. 

 By 11:00 we were way overdue for a rest break, but despaired of finding any shade, till up ahead we spotted a “miracle tree”,  tall and green and broad-branched–a pine tree standing all alone in the middle of a grassy and wildflowered meadow!  We had not seen a living tree for miles, and boy did we enjoy our rest in the grass in the shade!

Shortly after moving on, we met two very serious gentlemen with big binoculars.  Seems they were from the San Diego Audubon Society, doing a study on which birds (and how many) had returned to the area since the fire.

Then we came to what we knew was a very important trail junction.  Two dirt roads headed down into Chariot Canyon.  We knew that one of them was the PCT, and carefully consulted our map to make sure we were on the right one.  We sincerely believed we had chosen correctly, and as it turned out, we were on the wrong one.  (Hmmm, I think there is something about this in the Bible.  A lot of people have a “sincere belief”…but is it right?  Is it the truth?)  Anyway, thinking we were on the right dirt road, we went cheerfully down into the canyon. 

 Soon we started meeting runners wearing numbers, who were headed UP “our” road.  They said it was the “Lost Boy 50 Mile Trail Run”.  We did not envy them as they sweated and slogged up that long hill, while we were cruising down in the shade of our hiking umbrellas!

But after a little while we began to wonder why our road to the bottom of the canyon WAS so long. “It’s supposed to only be a bit over one and 1/3 miles, but it seems a lot more,” we were commenting to each other.  “Sure seems weird.  I guess it just feels long because it’s so hot.”  When we finally did reach the bottom we stopped for a long lunch break.  There was no shade at all, and rigging our lightweight white tarp did not help a bit.  It felt as if the sun was glaring right through it.  After lunch, continuing to “follow the map”, we made a right turn, and at 1/2 mile along, looked hard for the PCT trail heading off away from the road.   But not a single PCT emblem or sign could we find, so we kept going and looking.  Finally we realized that something was seriously wrong.  We were now going steeply down into a rugged canyon where the PCT definitely does NOT go. 

It was time to stop, get out the maps, look around, and think hard.  That was when we saw our mistake–we had taken the wrong road from the junction down into the canyon.  So we two very sad, very hot hikers slogged back up the hill, hoping that eventually we WOULD find the PCT again.  Just then, along came a pickup truck with support people for the runners in the 50 mile race.  They offered us big slices of watermelon and big cups of cold Gatorade!  Talk about “trail magic”!  Wow!  The driver told us we weren’t far from the PCT, and he was right–pretty soon we were back on the trail, refreshed by the cold snacks and blessed by the fact we were now walking through what I can only call “wildflower heaven”.  Whole hillsides in Chariot Canyon were “painted” in every color; in places the flowers were waist high, so thick that they overhung the trail and we had to push through them.

We did have one frustrating encounter with a large red rattlesnake sitting in the middle of the trail in the late afternoon.  He buzzed furiously and would not move even when Bill hit him square in the nose with a little rock.  So we had to climb up the steep hillside and go around him.

By 6:00 or so we had reached Rodriguez Truck Road with its water tank and filled our Platypuses while talking to the leaders of a whole group of Boy Scouts.  The scouts were camped near the tank after just completing a  merit badge requirement that they hike 20 miles in just one day!  Those were grimy, but happy boys hanging out around the concrete tank!  I asked one of the leaders how he managed to keep up with the boys.  He grinned, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a bottle of Motrin.  “This is how I do it, ” he said.  Meanwhile, Bill was filling every water container we had for what looked like a grueling day tomorrow. 

Putting on our now HEAVY packs, we hiked on until we found a nice campsite near the trail, with a pleasant breeze blowing.  Man, it was good to be back on the PCT, not  wondering and wandering down another hot canyon!