Pacific Crest Trail : Kennedy Meadows to Mount Whitney

Miles this section : 64
Miles completed : 766

A 'meadow'.

I spend a busy zero day at Kennedy Meadows - there's a box for me here, with much food and new, warm boots - though the ten pound hiking shoes I've worn thus far are in good shape, I decide to keep them as creek shoes, to wear when wading.  I buy a 'bear can', one kilo and eighty dollars worth of plastic container, it will apparently stop a bear eating my food.  I have at least two days more food than will fit in the thing, but the zone in which you have to carry it actually starts around fifty miles north of here, so hopefully it'll be OK.  I also prevaricate about buying an ice axe... supposedly useful for stopping when sliding down an icy slope, honestly it looks more likely to me that I'd stab myself with it instead.  But I attend an impromptu training session, doesn't look too hard, so off to the outfitters opposite the bar - and of course they're sold out.  The guy there assures me I won't die without one so scratch that idea, can't say I'm too upset not to have spent another bunch of dollars.  But anyway... off into the hills, this is where the trail gets, ah, exciting so there will be daily entries for a while, oh yes.

Walking on snow was fun.  At first...

Day 1
I'm carrying eleven days of food, plus more warm clothing, micro spikes (sort of mini crampons), and the bear can of course.  My pack is very heavy, but manageable - it probably weighs less than the one I had for the Pennines way back in 2000 - I guess I am seventeen years older though.  The warm boots are cooking my feet, but other than that this is good, I'm finally out of the desert, these 'meadows', basically flat bottomed valleys enclosed by pine forest, seem very green after weeks of brown sand and dry vegetation.  Up into the forest, it grows cooler and there's plenty of water, the creeks swollen with snowmelt.  I climb to nearly ten thousand feet, some patches of snow here, but it's not too cold, time to camp, get a fire going and make dinner - carefully away from the tent now we're in bear country.

Day 2
My feet are sore from the long walk in hot boots yesterday, but they prove their worth as I climb above ten thousand feet, there's plenty of snow now, particularly on the north facing slope as I descend again, to reach some level terrain.  Nice walking, great views of the surrounding peaks, but unfortunately on the flat, snowmelt has collected in ponds and marshy ground, forming a breeding ground for swarms of mosquitoes which assault me for much of the day, clothes are no barrier to them, just have to bear it I guess.  Maybe they have scared away the hikers, I see one all day, and for the second day running I'm alone at camp - well, except for the mozzies of course.

The log over Rock Creek.

Day 3
I make a 6am start, walking through the magical early morning forest, with a long way to go, 24 miles is the plan.  There is much snow, it's hard work, the boots are good though, gripping well on the various types of snow, concrete hard early on, softening later.  I need my GPS now, I try following footprints but often they go the wrong way, it makes for slow progress, and it's late when I reach Rock Creek, the water looks high and dangerous to cross, I'm not wading it now, maybe it is time to camp?  Then I spot a message on the trail made from stones, 'xing' and an arrow, it points to a fallen tree across the creek, and I make it over!  Three more miles, then I camp and cook by moonlight.

Day 4
A big day, only a few miles along the trail, but with a detour to summit Mount Whitney!  This is the highest mountain in the 'contiguous states', i.e. not counting Alaska, I have to do it.  But I am three miles behind plan already, and take more time fording Crabtree Creek, which is literally stunningly cold - as I wade I find myself just standing there, have to focus on the need to keep moving.  I carry the tent four miles, so a mile up the detour, at least now the descent is only seven miles or so.  Then with a light pack it's a lovely walk, still a lot of snow, but I'm learning how to walk on it, including some use of my micro spikes!  I see what I think is a groundhog, gone before I can reach the camera though.  I pass people who have turned back, complaining about soft snow, what is wrong with it though?  I don't see the problem, it is easy to kick steps in, and not too dangerous surely - from skiing I know soft snow is good to fall on, and hard to slide downhill on.  I get to the top, there are of course great views, also a shelter (full of snow), and even people camping on top - I envy them the sleeping bags that allow this. I make it back to the tent in daylight, with a sore heel, boots aren't perfect.  I cook outside in the cold again, I miss eating in the tent, stupid bears.

Top of the world!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows

Miles this section : 137
Miles completed : 702

Lavender blooming in the desert.

Funny place, Tehachapi - on the map, a substantial town built to a grid pattern, but on the ground it is mostly empty space, the odd block here and there filled with housing or retail, but separated by miles of desert.  It challenges my resolve to walk everywhere, but I manage somehow, not much of a rest day though as I find another, more central campsite - by Tehachapi's other airstrip - then make my way to the USPS and UPS offices, supermarket etc.  Just about find time for all-you-can-eat Chinese in the evening, and even a bar where I drink Pabst Blue Riband.  It's... beer.

It does get quite pretty at times.

I retrace my steps back to the trail without incident, and walk another long day through the desert, featuring many trail angels - over the course of the day I score two hot dogs, two sodas and two beers, can't be bad.  Before long though I am back to relying on my own resources, well I am carrying a lot of food and often water too, it is pretty scarce out here, sometimes twenty miles or more between springs, cattle troughs or whatever.  I start one monster section of some 42 dry miles carrying some 4.5 litres of water, there is a cache 7 more miles in, so a chance to 'camel up' again, but still the following 15 miles or so are hard work as I try to keep to a litre every ten miles.  Of course, there is then another cache, and indeed an angel with sodas, plus trail magic - pop tarts, which like much American food, taste oddly artificial.

The milestone of the beast!

The foot wide ribbon of dust and sand that is the trail winds on, over hills, down to cross dry creek beds, across saddles and through passes - makes for varied surroundings, bare sand and Joshua trees at lower altitudes, pine forest higher up.  I seem to have left the wind farms behind, perhaps because this is now protected wilderness... nice walking anyway, and I make good speed as the weather turns and with blanket cloud cover temperatures stay low, and it even rains - a bit.  My waterproof top stays in my bag, at least until the morning when it is perishing cold.

Kennedy Meadows.

Still plenty of hikers about, some familiar - Paul who started the same day as me, Pavel and Milo, reuniting Czechoslovakia on the PCT - others new to me, mostly fit young people who leave me for dust.  Still I'm doing the miles, over a quarter done now, and I can see the snowcapped Sierras in the distance.  First though, another zero day, Kennedy Meadows is the gateway to the Sierras, and not a lot else to be honest - population 200 according to the sign.  Still there are free chilli dogs, a store with beer, even a bar - two miles of empty desert away of course.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Agua Dulce to Tehachapi

Miles this section : 121
Miles completed : 565

The Rock Inn.

The country around Agua Dulce, on the fringes of the Mojave I guess, forms a series of canyons, the PCT of course making its way by switchbacks down into each and up the other side.  Hard work in the desert heat, and it's little better when at the higher altitudes there's scrub forest providing some shade - for here dwell a multitude of horrid insects, I walk along with gnats buzzing in front of my face, and larger flies flit about, insisting on landing on me at intervals.

This continues on the second day out of Agua Dulce, if anything it's hotter, so I am pleased to find a shady spot beneath a rocky overhang to take a break.  OK, there is steady traffic of bees to and from a cleft in the rock, but they leave me alone - until I make the mistake of getting my lunch out.  Bees like chimichangas, who knew...  Well, I escape a little way down the trail with just one sting, and somehow dash back and forth to retrieve my stuff without suffering any more.  After that, a two mile trip off trail to end the day at a bar is definitely in order, they provide beer and a one pound burger, oh yes.  Place is called Lake Hughes, the eponymous lake being pretty empty - the drought here's been ongoing for seven years I am told.  Well, the lake bed makes a nice camp spot anyway.

Hikertown.

Back to the trail for a short day, just 14 miles, but honesty I struggle with it, the heat is killing and I'm feeling a bit broken.  Doesn't help that the day's two water points are both fully a mile off trail.  Still, I make camp for 5:30 or so, time for a good rest then, and indeed feel better for it the next morning.  Seems a bit flatter at least now, indeed I can see level terrain ahead, first though we have to descend, easy walking then.  Destination is 'Hikertown', wasn't sure what to expect here, in the event it's a collection of small buildings, sheds and so on, made to look somewhat like a wild west town, well why not.  I pay ten dollars and get a beer, a shower, and a real bed in the feed store / cat house, is good.

So much soda.

Many people leave Hikertown shortly before I go to bed - they're going to night hike the next section, which apparently can get very hot, not to mention it is sixteen miles, or maybe even twenty-four, to the next water.  Well, I need to sleep, then an early start and in fact it is fine, pancake flat, indeed for much of the day I walk the concrete top of one of many aqueducts feeding Los Angeles - I can hear the water, can't get to it though.  But, with a bit of rationing I get through it, still have a litre or so at sixteen miles where there is not just water, but awesome trail angels who give me sodas, chips (as in, tortilla chips), and even tacos, yay.

One more day to Tehachapi, I have the hang of this desert walking now, the first sixteen miles go by easily enough, aided by water from another angel.  Then I have a seven mile walk off trail into town, along a route I devised using google earth, mostly what I assumed were unofficial off road tracks through the desert.  In the event, I walk the maintenance roads of a large wind farm, navigating a few barbed wire fences on the way, still I make it.  Camp is a nice little site by an airstrip, and while it's another three miles to a restaurant, without my pack it's no problem.  I get a burger of course, then apple pie, I'm in America now...

Wind turbine and joshua tree, icons of the desert.

Photos to go with this post can be found here here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Wrightwood to Agua Dulce

Miles this section : 81
Miles completed : 444

View from high up Mount Baden-Powell.

Wrightwood is a pleasant community of wooden houses, many built to quirky designs, I spot a geodesic dome, some kind of castle, even a kind of half scale wild west town in somebody's garden.  No campsite though, there is a Methodist Camp (closed to PCT hikers today), then the 'holistic center' sounds promising, but turns out to be some four miles away.  Apparently the idea is to phone up friendly locals and ask if they have room, not really me to be honest... I find a trail leading uphill behind one of the bars and camp there, excavating a space again, it'll do for a couple of nights.  And yes, Wrightwood provides me with my usual town needs of beer, burger and pizza.

Baden-Powell summit.

It's snowing as I leave town, not normal weather, the waitress at my breakfast stop assures me.  Well, I quite like it, makes for pretty scenery with the snow covered pines, and the climb back up to join the trail keeps me warm.  The ascent continues, I'm approaching Mount Baden-Powell, named for the father of scouting of course.  Don't quite make the summit, reaching a campsite a mile short at 5pm or so it seems sensible to stop - not least the mountain is wreathed in cloud and there'll be no view.  Camping at eight thousand, six hundred feet is a little cold, who'd have thought.  Up to the summit next morning under blue skies, the view is indeed fine, and it's a lovely walk down through the melting snow.

California Mountain Kingsnake.

Not far beyond the mountain the trail is supposed to be closed, to protect an endangered species of frog I gather.  I reach the junction with the official detour, no sign of any closure on the ground, hmm, what to do.  Don't like to change plans, but the original trail is tempting, not least it is twelve miles shorter, but, there's no water that way and I am running low, detour it is then.  Turns out to be pretty but hard work, much up and down, and tricky walking too, the landscape here is made up of steep sided hills, the hillsides either bare rock or scree slopes with pines somehow growing from them, the route is generally a narrow ledge carved into the scree, and the shifting surface means I need to step carefully.  I think most hikers must walk along the road instead of this, I see precisely one during the detour, an experienced PCT hand named Mike - he watches me digging out a flat spot to sleep on and gives me a trail name, 'Digger', could be worse I guess.

It's good to get back on the PCT proper, not too hot either so I make good time, after falling a few miles behind on the detour I'm at my planned finish, 'Big Buck Trail Camp' for 7pm or so.  Except, no sign of any camp, in fact it is steeply uphill to one side of the trail, and steep downhill the other, no place to camp at all.  I walk another mile or two, well, it is miles I'm not doing tomorrow.   And I swear, at my campsite up on a saddle, someone else has already dug out a space...

Vasquez Rocks.

Next, a descent back down to the desert, hard work in the heat.  For the first time I pay to camp, at the Acton KOA, fifteen dollars is worth it for hot showers, there's a pool too, and they have burritos, the portion of mac'n'cheese I had planned to eat can keep a little longer I'm sure.  Then a fine walk through Vasquez Rocks to reach the small settlement of Agua Dulce - the rocks being the actual filming location for the Star Trek scene referenced a few posts back... I mention this to fellow hikers who are all 'Star Trek?  Before my time dude'.  I'm in Agua Dulce in time for a big lunch, and then a bit of shopping, this is the location of 'hiker heaven', where a local couple hosts any and all hikers coming through.  They sound very hospitable, but that many people in one place sounds like my idea of hell so I plan to walk on this afternoon - but that can wait 'til next entry.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Big Bear City to Wrightwood

Miles this section : 90
Miles completed : 363

Bridge over Deep Creek.

I do indeed find a bar after a nice walk along the 'lake' - actually the eastern section has no water, still pleasant though.  I meet something of a character, a self made millionaire, prison administrator turned paramedic turned actor named Brad, he buys me a beer and I eat pizza, all is good.  Then an early start, back up to the trail and into a long day of walking, some twenty-five miles or so in fact, indeed I have four straight days of twenty-four miles or so each coming up, through the Mojave desert as well... The first day at least is easy enough, all downhill and I make camp in good time, and for the first time this trip, build a fire and boil water on it.

Deep Creek hot springs.

Next day I mostly follow Deep Creek, this may be the desert but for now water is plentiful - as indeed is beer, I get no less than four cans over the course of the day, thanks to various 'trail angels', as they are called, handing out cans or just leaving boxes of them by the trail.  Highlight of the day is the Deep Creek hot springs, sure are hot and it is very nice to take a soak, and I am sure the warnings of brain disease causing parasites in the water are overblown.  What with this and the beer it is past sunset when I get to camp, and dark when I collect some water from a nearby lake - next morning I find my bottle has... things... swimming about in it.

Horned Lizard.

Onwards, still mostly by water, now I follow the Mojave river upstream, through an otherwise dry landscape, the domain of odd cactuses and equally odd horned lizards.  I make good pace, up the river then along windswept ridges, drawn by the prospect of a real bed and more or less real food - for today, the route crosses Interstate 15, and there's a service area with a motel.  Shame it is a mile off route, including a hairy crossing over the highway on a bridge with no provision for pedestrians, but I make it, and also find beer and Mexican(ish) food, so all is good.  Apparently some of the walk to the motel is a short section of the old Route 66 - can't say it is terribly exciting.

From here, another twenty-five miles, pretty much all uphill, making for a bit of a slog in the desert heat, and much of it through a grim, lifeless, post-burn landscape of grey ash and charred stumps of trees.  I keep on, my body is working well enough, and at least as I climb the air grows cooler, and eventually I get into living pine forest - now of course it's time to take a side trail and plunge two thousand feet down to tonight's destination, Wrightwood.  The trail notes say that 'most hikers will want to walk on to where the trail crosses a road and hitch into town' - I am still confused.

A not very thrilling bit of Route 66.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Idyllwild to Big Bear City

Miles this section: 107
Miles completed : 273

On the lookout at Tahquitz summit.

Idyllwild is really rather nice, beautifully sited among pine clad mountains, and with a lot to choose from in terms of restaurants.  I predictably go for a large burger, then back for a burrito for lunch next day, then make use of my cottage's barbecue to cook many sausages.  So much meat.  I can only manage coffee on my way out, then a brutal climb, some four thousand five hundred feet up the south ridge trail and over Tahquitz peak to rejoin the PCT.  This takes all morning of course, not ideal when my plan is for another 18 miles... think I was misled by the trail notes talking about a different, easier trail out of Idyllwild - but of course that would have meant skipping some of the PCT for no good reason, the horror!  It is worth the climb anyway, superb views from the top and then a fun walk at high altitude, snow still lingering on the trail in places.  I see no other PCT hikers, guess they mainly go the other way... though when I do meet some in the afternoon, several have taken a ten mile detour up San Jacinto Peak.  As for me, I'm six miles behind plan at the end of the day.

Snow on the trail.  I wonder if there will be much more?

Onwards and, as it turns out, downwards, I descend back into desert country, all downhill so easy walking, I aim to claw back four of those miles and camp at a park boundary.  It's a long way mind you, and though I'm still in good spirits at 5pm thanks to some awesome trail magic (gifts left by the trail for hikers - in this case beer!), from here the route climbs steeply again.  My pace slows, but I see no good place to camp so push on past sunset, eventually finding somewhere - just a short way from that boundary, I discover the next morning.  I also experience mild dehydration, having used my last water the night before... only three miles to a substantial river as it turns out, but I don't enjoy it much.  I fill all my bottles, then of course walk alongside water all day... Mission Creek is quite impressive, braided in a way that reminds me of New Zealand, although there isn't actually much water flowing.  Then I camp by a smaller creek, in an area so crowded with tents that I have to excavate a space using a rock.

Mission Creek.

Day four out of Idyllwild, I climb through another burnt area, this time the fire was more intense and more recent, even the soil is charred and ashy.  Makes me wonder why the last one was still closed off.  After a few miles I see living trees again, and also a few white specks falling on me - is that blossom?  No... hail, or at least somewhere between that and snow.  Some form of snow continues to fall all day, gradually carpeting the land, it's certainly pretty and makes for fast walking - I hadn't realised but the heat of the desert was slowing me down.  Now I make up all those lost miles to get back on plan, pitch the tent on a flat bit of snow and cook up some warming beef curry.

Camping on snow - not recommended.

Camping on snow is kind of cold, who'd have thought... I survive, think I might want some more cold weather gear for the Sierras though.  From here, it's only seventeen miles or so to Big Bear City - not much of a city though it does have an airport.  Apparently the place to go is Big Bear Lake a few miles further from the trail, people seem to be hitching a lift there... I realise my alternative of walking three or four miles off trail is more effort, but not much compared to walking to Canada.  Still, there's not a lot in the 'city', other than my motel I find a cafe and grab a burger before it shuts, and some beers to take back to my room.  Maybe I'll walk to the lake and look for a bar tomorrow...

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Pacific Crest Trail : Warner Springs to Idyllwild

Miles this section : 56
Miles completed : 166

The trail winding its way through the desert.

Warner Springs doesn't have much in the way of houses, but it caters for my needs pretty well - there's a community resource centre where I camp, wash my clothes and myself, in both cases a bucket is involved.  There's a store where I buy dubious sausage, and best of all the local golf course lets hikers in and provides me with beer, burger and pizza over the course of my stay, plus some fine pancakes on the morning of my departure.  I walk out through pleasant wooded valleys, seems the town is something of an oasis amidst the desert.

A welcome water cache.

But before long I'm back on sand, the heat sufficient to melt the chocolate I removed from my bounce box in town (yes, this time I've been organised, boxes of food are following me through the US post system).  It's evocative country for sure, I half expect John Wayne to ride around the corner leading a posse, or maybe to see Captain Kirk battling a rubber skinned alien atop one of the boulders that litter the landscape here.  Instead I just meet more hikers, mainly hanging around the water sources, which remain few and far between.  It's nice to get back into the wilderness, camp at Warner Springs was a bit of a scrum, out here I can get some peace and quiet at night - generally high up, the gradual climb of the trail getting me up to nearly six thousand feet at one point.

Burnt forest.

No big problems so far, probably helps that I'm not carrying much food, this being just a four day section, in fact it turns out I have too much, on the morning of day three a short detour takes me to the Paradise Cafe for more pancakes, after which I'm not hungry for a while.  Still ready for my dinner that evening, I cook up a two bean chilli which is almost real food, rather tasty I must say though it does take an hour to cook.

Shortly into day four and I walk into a section that has recently opened following a long closure after a fire in 2013, the blackened husks of trees bearing witness to the devastation.  A few miles of trail remain shut so I divert around, including a few miles of road walking - American hikers gravely warn me that this will be very dangerous, and I really should hitch-hike instead.  Somehow I survive, then a surprisingly steep bit of trail takes me into Idyllwild, a charming mountain resort where I have a room booked, turns out to be a little log cabin just for me, such luxury.

The perilous road walk to Idyllwild.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.