|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wrightwood to Agua Dulce
Sunday, May 14: Rest day in Wrightwood
We took it easy, just eating, reading the Sunday paper and talking. As the day wore on, more and more hikers drifted into town. We saw Emily, Sundance, Brad, Marc, Ryan, Jonathan and two southbound hikers — John and Sandy. They started northbound, flip-flopped to Walker Pass and are hiking south for a while, then they’ll head north again when they finish Southern California. We all gathered for pizza in the evening at the karaoke bar. (We ate outside, away from the 'music'.) John told us in great detail about trail conditions ahead. Dave went home about 4:00. Brick came up from San Diego and spent the afternoon with us, talking trail and showing how to make a super-light alcohol stove out of Pepsi cans. It was a good restful day. It was really nice to see Dave and Brick.
Monday, May 15: Little Jimmy Campground — 14 miles (385.9)
While waiting for the Post Office to open, we ran into an old AT acquaintance, White Buffalo (aka Jean), whom we met in 1992. She lives in Wrightwood now. She offered to take us back to the trail after we finished sorting and repacking our drift box. It turns out we could have gotten our box on Saturday after all. The postmistress hands out mail on Saturday morning, even though the window isn’t open. Oh well, if we’d known, we still would have stayed, probably.
The day started out fine, but as we were eating lunch about three miles up Mt. Baden-Powell, low clouds moved in and decided to stay for the rest of the day. It was also very windy, a cold wind that smelled like rain and blew the clouds in all directions. About that point, the snow on the ground became more frequent and the trail more obscure. We lost the treadway, but since we knew it switchbacked to the top, all we had to do was find a safe route up the ridge. Not so easy. The PCT doesn’t go quite to the top, though there is a side trail that climbs the last 100 feet or so. We had intended to climb to the summit, but the wind was so fierce we decided it wasn’t safe. The trail followed along or near the ridge for several miles. When it was on the right side, there was lots of snow on the ground, but no wind; when on the left, there was no snow, but an icy wind buffeted us. I’m not sure which was worse. Jim and I were ahead of the group, so we had to make our own footsteps in the snow. Not all that easy. It spit rain at us occasionally, but not much. There were no views to make up for the exertion, except for a few glimpses of gray hills under the clouds.
The spring and campground at Little Jimmy were very welcome sights, tucked out of the wind and without much snow. We were very cold and tired by the time we reached them. We were soon joined by Jonathan, Ryan, Brad, Sundance and Marc. There are a lot of backcountry campgrounds in the San Gabriels with picnic tables, outhouses and fire rings. Nice. In the summer, they are probably pretty crowded. So far, we have had them to ourselves.
Tuesday, May 16: Sulphur Creek Campground — 21 miles (406.9)
We woke to the slithery sound of sleet on the tent. Quickly, we pulled our packs under the vestibule and went back to sleep. We were reluctant to get up in the morning, but eventually we emerged to a campsite covered by about half an inch of fresh ice and snow. Packing up took forever as we kept wandering over to Ryan’s fire to visit and warm up, then back to our wet gear. It wasn’t snowing, though there was fresh snow underfoot and clouds came and went all day. Sometimes we were walking in the clouds, sometimes in cool sunshine. The snow was mostly melted by noon.
Much of the morning was spent following some creeks in Cooper Canyon. The creeks we followed would have been good for bathing, if the temperature had been above freezing. I didn’t expect to be in the pines this long. At the moment, desert heat sounds appealing, but it is nice to still be in the mountains. We avoided one big climb over cloud-covered Mt. Williamson by walking through a tunnel on the highway, as recommended by John and Sandy. There were no cars on the road, (thanks to the heavy fog) which was nice since we ended up following it for about a mile. There just seemed to be no point in doing a steep long climb with no views, when an easy alternate route existed. There were a lot of fallen rocks in the road; we moved some of them out of the travel lanes. We crossed the highway several times. Some of the others just skipped the trail entirely and stayed on the road all day. The endless winding gets to us all, from time to time.
We had lunch at a campground, where we watched some Forest Service people sifting dirt. I finally went over to ask what they were doing, and was told that they were doing an archaeological dig prior to moving the outhouse as there are signs of Indian artifacts in the area (stone points and obsidian, mostly.)
We then moved on, up and down on new trail, back and forth across the highway. They had done a relocation there that we didn’t know about. It added a mile or more, and a lot of climbing. It hailed, rained and snowed on us. Finally the sun came out. We never got really wet, but it was chilly. More winding through manzanita and oak brought us to an equestrian campsite just off the trail. It’s sunny and has a creek nearby, so we stopped instead of moving on ¼ mile to the regular campground. Marc stopped here with us. Jonathan missed the turn and passed us, so Ryan went after him. I don’t know what happened to Brad and Sundance.
It’s very windy and cold. I tried the Pepsi can alcohol stove that Brick gave us, but with this much wind, it wasn’t very efficient, so I switched back to the Whisperlight. The alcohol stove just wouldn’t boil the pasta. I had to refill it three times. A lot of hikers love them though. They’re light and cheap, but time consuming if you’re cooking for two. I guess I’m a bit hidebound. I like my Whisperlight--it has worked well for me for many years—so I’m reluctant to change. Kind of along the lines of “if it ain’t broke . . . ” How far am I willing to go to save weight?
Wednesday, May 17: Messenger Flats — 24.1 (431.0)
We did 13 miles this morning, climbing easily in pine forest, then dropping down to the ranger station at a trailhead which has a real bathroom and good water. The hills were pretty-- covered with pines--and the trail was easy. We spent lunch drying out our gear again. There was a heavy dew/frost that soaked us last night, then froze. The sun came out this morning, but the breeze was still cool.
Later: The afternoon was more of the same. It got warmer, especially on the sides of the hills that are covered with chaparral instead of trees. The big excitement was seeing a kit fox on the trail about 15’ away. He was wary, but not afraid. Usually you barely glimpse them. This one let us take its picture before he ran off.
Later we were passed by a man leading a laden packhorse — Len and Pancho. They left Campo April 28 and plan to go as far as Kennedy Meadows, just before the Sierras. They stopped at the campsite we had planned to use, near a tiny creek, but since it was at the bottom of a ravine, I was just as happy to pass it by. I like sitting in the sun at the end of the day. We moved on to a Forest Service campground, where we caught up to Doug and Christa, Emily, John Meyer, and the dogs. They’re moving slowly right now because Monty, the black chow/lab, has a problem with one foot. They were a full day ahead of us. Ryan and Jon ate dinner there and kept going. Marc hasn’t appeared yet, but he will. We really didn’t expect to meet up with them, but it is nice to have company again. One funny incident: Jim and I had gone up to the outhouse. When we returned, Monty wouldn’t let us go to our tent. Evidently he decided he was supposed to protect it, along with Doug and Christa’s gear. Doug called him off, but we weren’t sure whether to laugh or get mad. Evidently Chows can be very protective. The German Shepherd is very shy and unaggressive, in contrast. She and Monty get along surprisingly well – to the point that at least once she ran off and followed him instead of staying with John.
Thursday, May 18: Ridge between Soledad and Aqua Dulce Canyons — 16.6 + .6 (449.6)
We’re taking it easy as we descend back to the desert. We stopped at a ranger station for water, then continued winding down through the chaparral. Flowers provided a little interest. We can see the trail ahead, a scar across the landscape. They built it wide through here, and its path is visible for miles. We’re debating whether to do a long day or a short one today. We’re heading for Agua Dulce, our next resupply town, tomorrow. Do we want to arrive in the morning or the afternoon? Does it matter? There’s a campground where we could stay tonight, but it would make tomorrow longer. Sore feet and ankles cry for rest. We were both hurting last night and were too tired to be very sociable.
Later: We took a long two-hour break at the RV campground, then went on another four miles or so to a ridge high above the canyons. The views are nice looking south, back toward the area we hiked today. Ahead is a freeway across the Antelope Valley and some houses. It was very hot down in the Soledad Valley, so a long rest in the shade was welcome. As we descended, the swimming pools below looked so inviting. I took a quick shower and drank a diet Pepsi, since that was all that remained in the coke machine. Jim was very disappointed, as he was really looking forward to a cold Coke. Still, it was cold and wet. Doug, Christa, Emily and John ordered pizza from a place in Agua Dulce. Jim and I planned to move on, so didn’t join the order, but when we couldn’t get up the energy to move, we looked on enviously as they ate and gratefully accepted one slice. They were talking about staying at the RV park. It only costs $5 to stay there, with shower and laundry facilities. Since we plan to stay at Agua Dulce tomorrow, and will do both there, stopping tonight wasn’t as appealing. Breakfast in town tempted us more.
The benefits of my shower were quickly lost as we began the climb past Vasquez Rocks in the late afternoon heat. They’re big round domes, made out of conglomerate rocks. Some caves looked interesting. I wonder if they hold any mountain lions? There are scattered desert flowers. Yellow and orange poppies and white morning glories are a nice change from the usual paintbrush and lupine. It feels odd to be back in the desert heat after the cold of the past few days. Our bodies have forgotten how to deal with it. For the next two weeks it will become very familiar as we skirt the Mojave Desert. I like being able to sit out in the evening and not be cold. I love sleeping under the stars without the tent walls closing us in. I like the constant chorus of birds. We’ll see how I deal with the heat, dryness and the long long waterless stretches.
Friday, May 19: Agua Dulce — 5 miles (454.9)
We had a restless night atop our ridge, fighting mosquitos, listening to the trucks on the freeway, and watching the full moon float across the sky. It was a relief to get started down the canyon toward Agua Dulce. We had a really interesting stretch wandering through Vasquez Rocks State Park. The formations, a mix of sedimentary and conglomerate rocks, were really interesting. It looked like New Mexico, with red and white tones and juniper and pinion trees scattered about. The trail was somewhat obscure though. Several hikers got lost in the park.
We reached town at 9:00 and were disappointed to discover the café there doesn’t serve breakfast, so we went to the grocery and bought some eggs and bread for breakfast, as well as supplies for the next week. Agua Dulce is a pretty area, with nice houses, many with horses and dogs. Town is very small though, a lot like Warner Springs. The Post Office was funny: they just put all our packages helter skelter on one of the shelves of the grocery. There was no record of the packages received, and they were in no order at all, so we had to look through every package to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. The hikers’ letters were just placed willy nilly in a box. Not your usual post office! They were very nice though, just not organized.
Then Donna Sauffley, a local trail angel, came to pick us up. She and her husband live about a mile and a half out of town, and have a trailer annex just for PCT hikers. They are really incredible people — very generous. The trailer has a kitchen, a living room with stereo, TV and computer, a couple of bedrooms and a nice garden. She is even doing our laundry (yech!) One really nice touch was that they had clean shorts and t-shirts to change into while she does the wash, so we can hang out in comfort. Since so many hikers carry minimal clothes, she said it was better than having half naked people waiting impatiently for their clothes.
So we are now clean, rested and ready for dinner. It will be a full house tonight. When we arrived, we saw Drew and John, who plan to leave tonight and do a night hike, Doug, Christa, Emily, Marc, Ryan and Jonathan. Later six more hikers arrived: Sundance, Brad, Kathy (aka Sunshine), Ed, Mule and Dave. The Sauffleys have a lovely property here, with flowers, fruit trees, a view of the mountains, and six dogs to keep life interesting.
It was a fun evening. Jim and I ended up ordering pizza and salad from town, then couldn’t finish them. We shared with the group that shared with us yesterday. HairBear (Marc) and Drew went to the city to buy material to sew kilts for themselves. I can see the value of a loose skirt, but I would think wool would be too hot in the California heat. Brad and John exchanged haircuts, sort of. Brad ended up with a Mohawk, and John ended up with a clean-shaven face, but with his longish hair intact. Everyone watched the proceedings. We’re so easily amused. Marc is a professional musician, so he played the Sauffley’s guitar for a while. It was nice to have real music. That’s one thing I really miss on the long hikes.
Home | About Spirit Eagle | Contact Us | Links
The Thruhiking Papers | Trail Journals | CDTPCT Menu | Southern California | Central California
Northern California | Oregon | Washington
Created: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 Copyright © 2000-2005 Spirit Eagle
