May 15. Today’s zero day was fun.
I completed my resupply for the next 5 days to Aqua Dulce – rest of the day was just relaxing.
Explored the little town of Wrightwood…
The local library had a sweet cat that took all that petting well
Dinner was planned at a Mexican place due to the advertised 5 cent margaritas.
Evening at the bar with live singing, pool billiard… Cactass, Tinkle and Gorgeous were brave enough to do Karaoke! 👍🏻
That was a good time.
May 14. Got up around 5.30am. Enjoyed breakfast while watching sunrise.
Hit the trail 730am. Just 13 miles to go today to get to the highway crossing at mile 369 from where we will hitch into Wrightwood.
First break 930am at 362, 8100 feet.
Johanna (aka Tinkle) and Oldtimer caught up with us.
Made it to the highway around 1.30pm. A pickup came up from town, turned around to bring us down. Once again… Thank you unknown trail angel for being so kind. You make this so much easier. Wrightwood… Another super friendly hiker town.
First stop in town was lunch at Grizzly’s Cafe, then resupply shopping for 5 days at the local supermarket.
Talking about hiker friendliness…
We had to wait for our laundry quite a bit… So made it to the Yodelers rather late, had some Mexican food and a beer. Relaxed evening in town with nice company.
May 13, Mother’s day.
Started walking 8am, made to McDonald’s at Cajon pass at 930am.
The time at McDonald’s was special. There were at any time probably 10 PCT hikers with their packs, dirt in the face and bad smell present. Other guests were kind of curious. Whenever I noticed that, I offered an explanation to the people in the next booth. Feedback was always the same – people not only understand but were impressed and congratulated more than once for the courage. And often enough there was a “I wish I could do that”. One guy said he wished he had the time, but he has only one lifetime to spend… My answer “exactly” made him laugh.
Left 1pm. Lots of thoughts about how much water to carry. 27 miles and more than 5000 feet altitude without water. I opted for 3 liters for hiking and 2 for dry camping… Later it would turn out to be more than enough.
Then after first 5 miles there was a water cache at 3pm. Drank some and pushed on. Arrived at 4.40pm at 10 miles, 5200 feet. Amazing view.
Song of today: Sitting on top of the world – Chris Goss
One hiker who prefers to remain anonymous addressed the trail/landscape after enjoying the amazing view alone for 30min, realizing how easy the ascend was so far:
“You are my beautiful bitch”
We wanted to finish at least half of the ascend to Wrightwood, so we kept pushing until around 7.15pm with 14 miles in, a total 18 miles day. 6200 feet, coming from a low around 2700.
Awesome view on the clouds pushing over the mountains.
May 12. Started 6.30am. wind was not as bad during the night as we thought.
At 11am we came to the Cleghorn picnic area, ordered pizza and softdrinks together with some hikers from new Zealand. Started hiking again 2pm. Plan was to do at least 20 miles.
Walked along another dam, wondering about its purpose in this dry stretch.
Shortly after, the view opened up with another surprise today…
While we were carrying water enough to dry camp before coming to Cajon pass tomorrow, there was a big lake / water reservoir on the other side!
Walking by people bbq’ing at the shore… They say your senses improve when you hike long distances… I can swear I smelled hickory flavored BBQ from far away…. 😂
We came to a tentsite about 18 miles from where we started today – not enough. I offered a friendly shakedown to Stefan, another hiker from Germany we ran into at the hot springs.
After drying our shoes and feet and enjoying the afternoon sun with some music, we pushed on another 2 miles to complete the 20 for today. Looked for some sheltered tentsites since the wind kept blowing.
Song of today: Eddie Vedder – Guaranteed
Will sleep long tomorrow… (6.30am), only 3-4 miles to McDonald’s. There, we will eat, resupply and plan the ascend to Wrightwood.
May 11. Got up 5.30am, hit the trail 6.30am. My feet and legs were good. No difference whether I walked 18 or 24 miles the day before. That’s a good feeling. Made it to the 300 miles marker shortly after.
The trail continued to follow the Deep Creek canyon. Saw a beautiful horned lizard.
At 10am, we came to the Deep Creek hot springs at mile 308.
Soaked there for a while, ate strawberry Oreos from the hiker box. Yes, it has become quite natural now to eat food other people left behind. Yes, the Oreos tasted a bit funny, but I am quite sure that was the intended taste for strawberry Oreos. 😂
Watched a squirrel facing a rattlesnake. The squirrel was shrieking louder and louder… The snake retreated.
After the hot springs, the canyon was opening up more and more…
We walked along the dam and stopped for water soon.
A curious snake showed up a few times… It was close to crawling into another hiker’s pack.
Coming out from the protected area behind the dam, the view opened up further and with that a fierce storm caught. At times, I was fully leaning into the wind to be able to move forward. A great feeling – the storm with blue sky and sun in the face.
But that was also slowing is down. We choose to pitch our tents around mile 318. 20 miles today after 24 yesterday. I am very pleased. A lot of other hikers joined us shortly after… Everyone wanted to get out from the wind.
The world is big 