Three Musketeers

June 6th, 2016. I'm going to stop adding which day it is to the title. Boring and since I'm not blogging every day inconsistent.

The three of us hiked Devil's Slide out of Idyllwild, CA. We have given Susan the trailname of "Mrs. Weasley" for her awesome support. The night hike pretty much trashed us. Dozed most of the day and didn't try to hike at night that night. Next morning we are starting up and into the San Jacinto Wilderness. It's was really fun hiking with Susan.

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Three Musketeers on the PCT

Beautiful weather, amazing landscape up here. Nice and cool too.

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Tahquitz Rock in the distance

You can tell this part of California has had more rain this year than in the last few. Lots of flowers are still out.

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Day 6 - Memorial Day

Day 12 - Hotter than Your Mama & Dawn to Dusk

June 4. Well, SoCal is going through a heatwave. Nice timing for us. We'll head back to Thule Canyon this afternoon and night hike to the Paradise Cafe. It's crazy to try to hike during the day. Then on and up to Idyllwild where the elevation should give us a break in the temp. Plus it's supposed to get cooler after today.

Headed back to where we left off for the zero at Abbey and Alex's. Thule Canyon truck road. We walked about a mile of the road so Mrs. Weasley didn't have to 4-wheel it in the twilight. ​

Launching our first night hike. 

Our plan was to reach Hwy 74 and Paradise Cafe. About 2:00 am we faded and lay down for a short snooze. Only an hour and 15 minutes before I woke shivering. I hadn't been prepared to bivouac. Next we'll plan for a 4 hour snooze break when we night hike. But the temperature was great for hiking.

Navigation by Halfmile iPhone app. Recommended. 

We both noticed that time really slows while night hiking.

Saw two of these guys. 

Finally it was dawn and we made Hwy 74 then walked another mile to the Paradise Cafe where Susan picked us up for a day of sleep in camp.  So Day 12 bleeds into Day 13.

Day 11 - Loma Linda Zero

We had planned to spend one night at Abbey's in Loma Linda. But we both need a bit more rest and we can celebrate Abbey's birthday with her if we just hang. So we do. PCT hikers call a day when you don't hike a "Zero". So, it's our first zero. Maddie won't let me post the photos I have of her crashed out on the couch. But if you know her, you can use your imagination.

Day 10 - Exit Stage Left

June 2. Short day. Short in time but still did 17 miles. Got up early and met Mrs. Weasley mid-day at Thule Canyon Truck road. She had water and there was water in a cache but we were done with the sun for the day. Time to zero and reset for night hiking.

Day 9 - Here Comes The Sun

Warner Springs north. Good long climb and it's the hottest day yet. Both of us were moving slow. But since there was no shade there was no point stopping. I don't think I took any photos until the sun was going down.

We camped a few miles short of Mike Herrara's place. Which was the next available water.

Day 7 - The Loo and the Eagle

We were coming to Warner Springs. The section between Scissors and Warner had a reputation for being hot, and didn't disappoint. Susan met us at Barrel Springs. We crossed the 100 mile point and there was a "100" spelled out with rocks. Maddie missed it altogether and while I saw it, I thought it spelled "loo". We met Dylan and donated some second skin for his blisters.

There once was a PCT hiker named Dylan
Who's feet on that day were killin'
I said with a grin
As I gave him 2nd skin
The real cure is copious beer swillin'

Just tryin' to live up to my trail name. Later we came across Eagle Rock.

Eagle Rock

It was a nice hike that day and the elevation to the west dropped and you could see the maritime climate influence increase as it turned to grassland/oak savannah. Later the little Canada Verde creek gave us some appreciated shade as we finished in Warner Springs.

Day 5 - The Desert

Hitting the first true desert. A piece of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. This day took us to Scissors Crossing. 

Century Plant in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

Day 4 - Mt. Laguna

Brett, a local hiker we met who was getting in shape for next year's PCT by doing a "40" (40 miles from Campo to Lake Morena and return), had earlier suggested "slack packing" since we had Susan to support us. An excellent suggestion so we took it. We had a very beautiful morning overlooking the Anza Borrego desert. Abbey, Alex, Susan and the dogs - Kona and Clementine joined us for 5 miles. But, then it was too hot for the dogs. It's Memorial Day Weekend so they've come to hike and camp with us. So, that's fun. I took pictures of all of us on the trail but they seem to be lost on my iPhone.

Met some friends on the trail...

Hangs Gliders waiting for the right updraft. 

This guy rattled a long time.

We gave Susan a trail name today. Her help and support on this trip are THE vital component. We already are relying on her a great deal. So, we gave her a PCT trail name too - Mrs. Weasley. 

We ended at the day and went back to our Burnt Rancheria camp. It's great to both be doing the hike and to car camp with family.

Day 3 - You Turkey

We went to Boulder Oaks campground on Day 2 but Susan picked us up to spend the night with her at Lago Morena campground. In the morning we wake up to wild turkeys promenading through camp.  

We drove back to Boulder Oak and started up the trail to Burnt Rancheria. Long climb today and it's getting hotter. So far we have had great hiking temperature.

Cool forest before Burnt Rancheria

We had a long hot climb but entering the forest near the end was literally as refreshing as taking a drink of cold water. 

Day 2 - Name Day

Another verbose entry. Sorry.

Slept in until 6:00 am. I noticed we went to sleep with the birds and woke up with the birds. That’s kinda cool, but we were sleep deprived so it felt great. Had a light snack and started off on the big climb out of Hauser Canyon. Stopped about an hour later for a cold re-hydrated Eggs and bacon. It was good.

Maddie rocketed out of camp up the canyon climb. I followed at my best pace but still too slow compared to her. Ah well. We’ll see if this becomes a problem later. I called her “Morning Rabbit” when I finally caught up to her as she was waiting and shedding clothes. Extremely beautiful morning and we are both feeling good and in a great mood. We are both very happy we decided to camp at Hauser Creek. We were very tired when we got there. Doing the 5 or so miles to Lake Morena CG in the morning was a great decision. 

Anyway, we shed clothes and Maddie is off to the races again. I eventually find her waiting for me at the top. In the meantime, I have come up with a Limerick and a suggested trail name for Maddie. You can’t make up your own trail name. Someone else has to give it to you. You can reject any. It’s nice if there’s a trail story behind it. So I suggest “Morning Rabbit”.

There once was a PCT Hiker named Morning Rabbit
Rocketing out of camp was her daily habit
Her tortoise-speed Dad
Wasn’t so sad
He’d catch and pass her in the afternoon, goddammit

In turn, a mile or so later she makes several suggestions for my trail name. One of which is “Limerick”. Which sounds great to me. So, today is my name day. My PCT Trail Name day.

We made it into Lake Morena Camp Ground about 10:30. Which was earlier than we planned. Met Susan and Kona and had another breakfast. We had planned to hang out and have a “kickoff” party of our own. Then a hiker we met yesterday, Bone Daddy, stopped by. He had walked from Campo from 4:00 in the morning to Lake Morena and was turning around to go back in one day. For training. It’s 40 miles. Anyway, he suggested we “Slack Pack”. I hadn’t heard that term and it basically means day hike farther along the PCT. Then get a ride back to your plush car camp. With Susan the Support Mama we could actually easily do that. I hadn’t even thought of that as an option. But, the idea to easily hike the 6 miles to Boulder Oaks Camp Ground with a light pack quickly appealed to Maddie and I. So we did. As long as we walk, I don’t really care what we carry. As little as possible.

We took Kona with us. It was only 70 degrees so not too hot for her. I wonder what her trail name will be. Her hips are starting to bother her, as she’s 10. But she still loves to hike and 6 miles is still within her comfort range.

I’m working on a Limerick for Poodley Appendage. 

Day 1 - Inadvertent Trail Angels

May 25, 2016. Fair warning. This is very verbose because I am typing it on a laptop keyboard at Lake Morena. When I make entries from my phone they will be quite terse.

Made it to Hauser Creek. We had planned to camp earlier and just get an easy start of 10 mi. the first day. Increasing 1% a day with a couple of days around 17 to plateau. We started at 8:00 or so. But we reached mile 10.1 around 1:00. So we decided we could make Hauser easily. 

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The day started a week earlier. We were in St. Petersburg Florida for Maddie’s graduation from Eckerd College. So, there were activities and tasks around graduation. More for Maddie than Susan and I. But, Maddie also had to move out of her apartment. So there was a fair bit of work to do to get her out of there and clean up the apartment at the end. We did have a great time with the guests who arrived to attend the graduation. Which was on Sunday. Then we headed to Tampa Bay airport Monday. Flew to Ontario, CA to do our final staging at my older daughter Abbey’s - who lives nearby. So, we had a whole day Tuesday to finish prep. No problem. We started early. I said we should get our gear sorted and start on food by noon. We started on food about 6:00 pm. But we didn’t really have much food since Susan is supporting us. So, we have a “catered” PCT Hike as I’ve heard people call it who are ahead of us this year. They started on time, right around April 24. We are about a month late. Late only if the snow flies in the Cascades before we can finish. Well, what can we do. Time to get to hiking.

We left Abbey’s at 3:00 am for the 3 hour drive. Made good time and arrived just about 7:20. We took the obligatory start photos at the border monument. Touched the border wall and “Mexico” through the wall. An our or so later we launched our hike. It’s good to be walking after a week of entropy and chaos. Fun entropy and chaos, but still tiring.

At Hauser Creek we met Portage. He was going slower than he planned and needed some water. We were overcautious and brought too much. So we solve both our problems and gave him our extra water so we didn’t have to haul it up the climb out of the canyon in the morning. So technically we became Trail Angels.

Carryed 8 liters of water each. Which is very heavy. Our knees were sore and Maddie’s hips were bruising from her pack. I had changed sox 3 times. No blisters but my feet felt like the both soles were just one big hot spot.

We ate a lovely cold meal of re-hydrated Lasagna. We're not carrying a stove on purpose. Then we slept about 12 hours.

There’s quite a bit of poison oak around Hauser Creek camp. Which reminds me that another feared plant on the PCT is the Poodle Dog Bush. Which apparently can cause similar symptoms as poison oak. I looked at photos of a Poodle Dog Bush months ago but now I can’t recollect exactly what it looks like and I’ve warned Maddie we should just avoid any sort of plant with a Poodley Appendage.