Fannypack's PCT2001 May journal w/pics

Day 41- Thu, May 31 - 20.5/648.2 miles -start-0510 end-1410 sunny, hi-90s -Walker Pass then to motel in Kernville -elevation-5100' Up at 0445 & Griz & I were on the trail at 0510. We came upon Starman at 0605 As he was preparing to leave. We climbed about 1400 ft to start the day & it was already heating up. We don't expect to see JoAnn, Willow & Brooke again since they kept hiking (how far we don't know) last nite & they plan to conclude their hike at Onyx. Maybe we will see them in town. We stopped for a short break at 0740 at the side trail to Yellow Jacket spring. We decided to move to McIvers spring which was 6.7 miles & we arrived there at 1025. We see that in the register the following signed in this morning: George & Hegit, Eric & Jane. We plan to leave here at about 1130 hoping to do the 7.9 miles to Hwy178 then hitch the 17.6 miles to Onyx. Then we may take a bus to Lake Isabella or Kernville for food, both of these are 20 miles from Onyx. Griz & I stated hiking again at 1237, Starman decided he wasn't going to hitch to Onyx so he was taking his time leaving McIver's Cabin. We were hiking thru a forest of dead trees, these trees were killed by fire. Since there no vegetation for the 1st 3 miles, the sun rally was cooking us. As we started the 4.9 mile downhill to Hwy178, we could see snow covered peaks in the distant, according to the guide book these mtns are in the Mt Whitney group. We recently herd that the snowline is now 9800 ft and the snow is melting fast. Griz & I arrived at Walker Pass Campground at 141 and found the following hikers lounging uner a tree: JoAnn, Willow, Brooke, GI Jane & Eric. Today is the last day on the trail for JoAnn, Willow, Brooke, they have completed the section they planned to do. Griz & I went out to Hwy178 to hitch the 17.6 miles to Onyx. After 5 minutes the 1st vehicle going our way came by & he picked us up. We arrived at the Onyx PO & found George & Hagit there. At the Chevron station, Griz & I bought some bread & baloney to make sandwiches. We returned to the PO & I spoke to a local man & he told us that the current high temps should end on Saturday. I was interested n getting out of this heat so while talking to the local man, I asked about the bus going from Kernville and he suggested talking to the postal worker at the front counter. She said she could call the bus compay so i could get te schedule. The bus company said that the next bus would stop in front of the Chevron at 1605. It is now 1535 & Griz & I are eating baloney sandwiches while sitting on the floor of the PO. I told Griz, Hagit & George that I wanted to go to Kernville but I didn't want to move fast enough to catch the 1605 bus. A few minutes later the PO lady stuck her head around the corner & said she could give all 4 of us a ride to Kernville. I said that at the moment I was the only 1 going. She said she gets off work at 1620 & we could leave. With the current heat wave it was very soon that Griz, Hagit & George decide d to join in the air-conditioned motel. This lady is truly a trail angel. She drove us the 20 miles to Kernville & we are currently at the Kernville Inn. Cause the heat is supposed to let up on Saturday, we decided to stay in Kernville tomorrow. At he motel, we washed our clothes & went to dinner at the cafe right next to the motel. It is now 0021 on Friday morn & must say "good nite, it has been the most wonderful day". Before leaving u I must share the following humorous msg sent to me by a former co-worker at AT&T: "Seems like I should do one of these hikes from border to border, from what I can tell it's basically something to do in between meals. (Hamburgers, Chinese and Frosties....Oh MY!)" Thx to Martin for this wonderful quote, this kinda sums up the life of a long distance hiker. Pics from 2001-05-31

Day 40- Wed, May 30 - 23.0/627.7 miles -start-0555 end-2040 sunny w/ high clouds, hi-95 -camped 1/2 mile north of Bird Spring Pass -elevation-5500' We tried to get up at 0430 but we finally got up at 0500 & were on the trail at 0555. We are having a few more views today. After 2+ miles we get a view down into Kelso Valley. It is very easy hiking down to Kelso Valley Rd & Griz & I get there at 0815. There is a water stash, 10 to 15 gallon jugs of water (3 or 4 of them at full), left by a local, Mary Barcik.... THANKS Mary. Starman joins us about 30 minutes later & gives me one of his hiking poles cause he is going to use his umbrella in the next section. We start hiking again at 0905 & come upon a trail register just 50 yds from the road. We sign in & see that Wolfhound signed in this morning, along with JoAnn, Brooke & Willow. We hike to Butterbrecht Canyon Rd & find 3 gallons of water left by White Root, Starman packs off an empty jug, THANKS White Root. In the next section we climb for about 2.5 miles (some is down or level) & we take a break at 1100 cause it really started to get hot &there is very little shade on the trail. After our break we come upon Willow, Brooke & JoAnn taking a break in the middle of the trail (one of the few shady spots available). We hike on & take another break at 1230, it is really hot now. At 1315 we hike on till we decide that we need to find some shade & rest till 1600 or 1700 before we hike on. So we stop at 1415 & lay down behind some big boulders. We hope to make it to Bird Spring Pass, it is 5.3 miles from here. Gotta rest now. We start hiking at 1630 but it is so hot that we stop after 20 minutes & lay down in the shade of a Joshua tree. At 1745 we hike again & it is still hot but we get to a less steep grade & we finally make it to a water cache near Bird Spring Pass at 1915. There are 2 full 5 gallon containers. We, Griz, Starman & I, fix supper. Joann, Willow & Brooke hike in & fix supper. We all decide to hike on cause there are no good campsites & we are very close to the road. Griz & I only go about 1/2 mile pass the road & camp in the middle of the trail (See pic of this). I plan hike about 20 miles tomorrow & hitch to Onyx to get some more food. It is now 2105, good nite. Pics from 2001-05-30

Day 39- Tue, May 29 - 15.4/604.7 miles -start-0650 end-1800 sunny w/ clouds, hi-90 -campsite 3/10 mile off trail on SNF Road 29S05 -elevation-3800' Up at 0530 but I don't feel rested so I don't get ot of camp till 0650. I am the last to leave. Along the trail we pass a huge bull who doesn't seem interested in us. Griz, Starman & I take a break at Hamp Williams Pass and Jonathan, Kate & Keith are already there. On the way to Robin Bird Spring we walked on a dirt road that huge bear tracks. I saw the following hikers at Robin Bird Spring: Chris, Wolfhound, Hagit, George, Griz, Starman, Keith, Jonathan, Kate, JoAnn, Willo, Brooke, Eric Wiese & Bushman. I arrived there & didn't leave till 1515. I wanted to rest & eat so that I can regain the energy that seem to have lost. I went over to talk to Eric & when I returned ants were covering every bit of my gear. It took me about 15 minutes to get rid of all the ants. I have decided that I will only hike 6 more miles today. So I am camped here with Griz & Starman, we plan to get up at 0430. Tomorrow is the beginning of a 35 mile waterless stretch & I am carring 7 liters of water. There are 2 spots in this stretch where a local person is putting jugs of water for the hikers but we cannot count on that water to be there. Sorry the last couple of entries have been short but I have been tired. Good nite. Pics from 2001-05-29

Day 38- Mon, May 28 - 24.4/589.3 miles -start-0655 end-1935 sunny w/ clouds, hi-70s -campsite just south of an east-west road -elevation-3800' Up at 0500 at White's Motel, after packing went to McDonalds w/ Griz & Starman for a sandwich. The wind is still blowing hard. Maureen, a front desk clerk, gave us a ride out to the trail. We had to climb about 2400 ft in 4 miles. It was 65 degrees & with the wind blowing it was kinda cool. The 1st water source was 15 miles & on the way we seethe following hikers: Joann, Willow & Brooke (a mother & her 2 daughters), Jonathan, Kate & Keith. When i got to the Boulder Oaks Spring at 1415, I found Eric Wiese in his sleeping bag. Also there is Chris & Wolfhound. I took a break until 1600 & then starting hiking hoping to make it to a campsite which was 9.5 miles from here. I ended up arriving at the campsite at 1935. At the campsite are: Griz, George, Hagit, Starman, Chris & Wolfhound. I set up my tent & am asleep by 2030. Pics from 2001-05-28

Day 37- Sun, May 27 - 0.0/555.1 miles -start- end- sunny w/ clouds, hi- -Tehachapi Pass on trail, White's Motel in Mojave, CA -elevation-4150' Up at 0625 & just sitting here in Rm 261 talking with Griz & Starman. I anyone likes to call here to talk with us, the Whites Motel number is: 661-824-2421, if u miss us pls leave a number & we will call ya back. Forgot to mention that there many hikers signed in at the Mojave PO including: Mindy, Skywalker, Barak. Also I see that High Country & Phil Marshall were here on 5/22. Well we are going to breakfast at 0830. Also Tex, u & Helen should visit (vacation) in this area & stay at White's Motel so u can talk with Roger White, better hurry Roger is 88 yrs old. BTW, the air-conditioner is working fine. Breakfast at Mike's Roadhouse was great & now Chris from WA now has said that he has met someone at Elks Lodge that has invited him to a party today at 1430 at California City (15 miles from Mojave). We are back at the pool at White's Motel, hikers here are: Daybreak, John & Jocelyn, Mark & Terri, Mr Roger White, George, Starman, Grizzly. 1400, off to the retrement party, Patty is driving us (Starman, Griz, Chris & I). We ate food at the party & left about 1730. There were some nice people there & we had fun pitching horseshoes & meeting people. Of course, we were asked "why did e want to hike across the desert"? Our answer was that the PCT goes thru the desert. Even though we didn't want to leave the party, we decided to leave at 1730 so we could get some rest & get our packs together for our ride to the trail at 0615 Monday morn. Tonite we went to Mike's Roadhouse for dessert. Also I spoke to Slyman. He told me some stuff about the upcoming towns. Thx, Sly. 2100, the wind in Mojave is currently gusting to at least 5 mph, it was difficult to walk back from the restaurant. I forgot to mention that Pam & Eric, a married couple from Woodland Hills, CA, came into White's Motel this afternoon. Pics from 2001-05-27

Day 36- Sat, May 26 - 8.0/555.1 miles -start-0610 end-0940 sunny w/ clouds, hi-93 -Tehachapi Pass on trail, White's Motel in Mojave, CA -elevation-' Up at 0530 & hiking at 0610 on the access parallel to the aqueduct. I hiked till I saw a paved road which was Techacapi - Willow Springs Rd, then I hitched to Mojave where i found Chris, Wolfhound, Hagit, George, Grizzly & Starman at Whites Motel. I am in a room with Griz & Starman. Let me recap the last 2 days of hiking. We started from mp477 and only hiked 3 miles on the PCT in this stretch of trail to mp555.1 . We came across the Mojave Desert to eliminate this section. For the most part this section was not very appealing we decided to skip it but we wanted the experience of walking across the desert at nite. I got 2 double cheeseburgers for breakfast at Burger King. Got a shower, boy to the balls of my feet hurt, feels like I have deep blisters on both feet. We were down at the Whites Motel office talking with the clerk when we met the 88 yr old owner of Whites, Roger White. He told us story after story about celebrities that he had met. He told us that in 1927 he met & talked with Wyatt Earp. He said that Earp was providing security for gold shipments traveling by stagecoach. Mr White said Earp was easy to talk with & was a nice guy. Other persons who Mr White was friends with are: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Sonny Barger (a Hell"s Angel), Chuck Yeager & many more. Mr. White is a great man, hope to talk with him more tomorrow. About 1800, we went to a Chinese AYCE place. We met 3 hikers from Seattle: Jonathan, Keith, & Kate. It is about 2200 & we all seem to be crashing; Well I am going for a Frosty at Wendy's before bedtime. Pics from 2001-05-26

Day 35- Fri, May 25 - 26.0/??? miles -start-0945 end-0130(Saurday) sunny w/ clouds, hi-90s -elevation-3800' Up at 0530 & went to coffee shop for donuts & bagels. As of 0830 we are still lounging here. Joe took us to the trail & we starting walking at 0945. There was a change in plans, we decided to walk 3 miles on the PCT then take a dirt road down to Lake Hughes PO. There are several persons that need to give Whites Motel permission to pick up their packages at the Mojave & Tehachapi POs. I continued on to the Harleys Rock Inn, http://harleysrockinn.com . Grizzly was already at the Rock Inn with our equipment that we didn't carry. 1300, we are eating lunch now & plan to leave from Lake Hughes at about 1900. We think we have 30 to 35 miles to Mojave, CA. We left Lake Hughes at 1610 & hiked up the hill, the heat was not too bad. We reached an open aqueduct at 1800 with water flowing to Los Angeles. We are walking on dirt roads until we reached 170th Road which is paved. We hiked, took breaks, hiked & took breaks, everyone's feet were hurting from walking on the road. Finally we reached Rosamond Blvd at 2300, we took a break for 1 hour. 170th Road changed to a dirt rd & we followed it for about 3 miles where we found the aqueduct (underground with sealed access points). I stopped here & camped at 0130, they went on. So I walked about 20 miles from Lake Hughes. Pics from 2001-05-25

Day 34- Thu, May 24 - 22.7/477.6 miles -start-05:15 end-14:55 sunny w/ clouds, hi-92 -San Francisquito Valley Rd then to Joe & Terri's home in Green Valley -elevation-3385' Up at 04:25 and on the trail at 05:15. All of us are walking in the dark to beat the heat. We have 2.5 mile roadwalk to reach the trail. We reached Bouquet Valley Rd at about 09:15 & took a break. There was a water cache there provided by Joe & Terri. We hiked to the road in Spunky Canyon. There was a water cache & also a cooler with pop & beer (provided by Joe & Terri). At this point, 5 of the slacksters decided that they should take an alternate route to Green Valley by taking a 3.6 mile roadwalk rather than the 6.2 miles on the PCT. The rest of us hiked over to San Francisquito Valley Rd. Joe was waiting for us at the ranger station. He gave us a ride to his home. We all got a shower at Joe & Terri's home. 1710, Grizzly & I walked (1/4 mile) up to the coffee shop and got a milk shake & sandwich. Boy, that chocolate shake was great, cannot get this on the trail or carry in my backpack. Terri was home about 1800 & she started grilling chicken & steaks. In the meantime we had cheese & crackers. This is what u call "trail magic" and BTW, we will sleep here tonight, on the floor, on the deck, in the garage, & outside on the ground. We have decided to do the old PCT into Mojave, CA. We decided this because there is a 30 mile waterless, non-descript stretch & we don't want to carry to 2 to 3 gallons of water. Since several persons have maildrops in Mojave & Tehachapi, we have decided to call Whites Motel in Mojave to see if they would pick up the packages so we will not have to hurry to get to the post office on Saturday before it closes. Remember, since Monday is Memorial Day we would have to wait till Tuesday if we missed the PO on Sat. We will go to Lake Hughes PO today & show our id & then Lake Hughes PO will call Mojave to let them know that Whites Motel people can pick up our packages. BTW, Whites Motel is very hiker friendly & they have agreed to do this for us. We had entertainment provided to us by George, he did a drum "presentation", He used his hiking poles (taken apart) as drum sticks to drum. He used a ice chest & some cardboard boxes as his "drums". George has recorded drum solos while in Israel. George really got into it & worked up a sweat. We all (except Hagit) were surprised by the quality of the "drumming" & by George's intensity. Well here's the plan for tomorrow, we will slack 10 miles to Lake Hughes, Joe will bring our packs over. We will hangout in Lake Hughes during the day, like noon to 1800, then start hiking with our packs on the old PCT. Since we will be walking later in the day & at nite, it will cooler & we will need less water. Also since we will be hiking about 17 miles on a road (170th Street), we shouldn't have any trouble staying on track in the dark. We plan to stop at Cottonwood Creek for water & then continue on to Mojave by hiking on along the aqueduct (there is an access road next to the aqueduct). So we may get into Mojave Saturday nite or we may hangout at Cottonwood Creek on Saturday during the day (to avoid the heat & to rest). Also hopefully we will make a run to the coffee shop in Green Valley for donuts & bagels early Friday morning. Gotta take advantage of town offers while we are there. We are on VACATION so we are trying to enjoy what the trail & towns offer us along the way. Pics from 2001-05-24

Day 33- Wed, May 23 - 0.0/454.9 miles -start- end- sunny w/ clouds, hi- -Jeff & Donna's home in Aqua Dulce -elevation-2530' Up at 0530 to go to restroom & it aleady s a beautiful day, usually is beautiful when u are taking a zero day. WE just hung out at Donna's all day watching videos. It looks like we may slack tommorrow, 22.7 miles & stay with a family in Green Valley. 1930, Terri & her son from Green Valley came by. Nine of us put most of our equipment in her car so we can slack over to San Francisquito Valley Rd & then walk down to Joe & Terri's home. We hope to leave by 0430. We will walk 9/10 of a mile back to the trail & then start a 2.5 mile road walk. It should be allot of fun with 9 of us slacking. The slackpack crew is: Grizzly, Wolfhound, Starman, Andreas, Chris, George & Hagit, Kris, & I. I am sleeping outside again tonight, I am on an air mattress. BTW: Terri said Mindy, Doug & Eric came down to their house yesterday about 1300. Good nite. Pics from 2001-05-23

Day 32- Tue, May 22 - 0/454.9 miles -start- end- sunny w/ clouds, hi- - -elevation-7900' Up at 0605 doing e-mail & going thru my bounce box (drift box - i send his box to every other town stop, & this box has items like alcohol swabs, duct tape, & other items I don"t want to carry in my pack & it is convenient for me to not to have to shop in town for these items) to what items i can send home. Also I must buy 5 days of food to get to Mojave, CA then buy 4 days of food & mail to VVR (Vermillion Valley Resort). VVR does not have a very good selection of hiker staples & what they have is expensive. My bounce box will be sent to Lone Pine. White Root, Nick, Aaron & I used the jeep that the Saufleys let hikers use to go to breakfast & grocery store. Also Aaron bought a new backpack. I got groceries to make it to Mojave. I also ordered new Black Diamond hiking poles & they will be sent to Kennedy Meadows. I broke 1 of the poles that i have now when i fell in the snow. "H", I will send these poles back to u, u mentioned u have extra parts, let me know if do not have the replacement for the broken section and i will buy it. 1130, I am sitting outside Albertsons waiting for them to pick me up. Well, we are back at Donna's & 2 of my AT friends just came in, Grizzly, 1999GA2ME & 2000GA2ME, and Wolfhound, 1998GA2ME. I hope to hike with them starting Thursday. 1800, George & Hagit just arrived. Pics from 2001-05-22

Day 31- Mon, May 21 - 9.7/454.9 miles -start-0535 end-1020 sunny w/ clouds, hi-90s -Aqua Dulce at Donna & Jeff Saufley's home -elevation-2530' Up at 0500 & on the trail at 0535. I need to fill u in on the happenings of last nite after 1730. I laid at the pool till 1730 with my feet soaking. Myk (mike, he spells it Myk, I misspelled it yesterday) & Cathy came by the pool on their way to the grocery store & invited me to supper. I went over to their trailer at 1800 and Myk made us burritos & they were good. At about 2030 Cathy asked if that was my backpack on the porch next door, & I looked over & saw the pack, & it was Aaron's pack. He was on the telephone ordering pizza. Myk, Cathy & I went over to invite Aaron over. We stayed on the porch with him till his pizza was delivered and then Myk & Cathy invited us to stay in their trailer for the nite. I slept on a mattress on the floor & Aaron on a sofa. Myk has hiked on the AT in the Harpers Ferry to SNP area, he knows about the roller coaster. We left at 035 & at 0550 when I went to take a pic I realized that i has left my 8 AA rechargeable batteries at Myk's trailer soooooooo i had to o back to get them. Aaron waited with my pack while i went back. The hike today was easy until we went thru the culvert under Freeway 14 & we went right o a trail instead of left on the PCT. We ended up bushwacking some, got a few more scratches but we finally made to it some private property & we got on a local dirt road that lead us to Escondido Canyon Rd where we turned left & reached Aqua Dulce Canyon Rd in about 1.5 miles instead of the .3 miles that we should have hiked if we stayed on the PCT. Oh well, another day in paradise, especially when we reached the store. Aaron & I ate & drank for an hour then started walking to the Saufleys. Along came White Root driving one of the Saufleys vehicles, so he gae us a ride. The Saufleys are great, Donna washed my clothes & returned them to me within 4 hrs. Also she took Aaron & I to an AYCE Chinese place. Hopefully tonight I will go grocery shopping so maybe i will leave on Tuesday, no zero day, can u believe this Tex? Well, no groceries tonight so I will not be able to leave till tomorrow afternoon (the heat will be to bad, 100 or so) and i will do 10 miles or so before dark. We have ordered pizza for dinner. I had Ben & Jerry's Chocolate fudge brownie for dessert. BTW: Eric, Doug & Mindy left, they were tryng to go 10 miles. Pics from 2001-05-21

Day 30- Sun, May 20 - 8.7/445.2 miles -start-0825 end-1130 sunny, hi-90s - -elevation-2237' Up at 0515, oops, had to go back to sleep. Finally up for real at 0645. The other thru-hiker who camped here with Andrew & I,  is gone but Andrew is still in his tent (these youngins, what are we going to do with them?).. Of course, Andrew can do 3.5+ mph so that helps to make up for his normally late risings. It was sooooooooo warm here last nite, it felt great. I guess it will be hoooooooot today as we descend to 2000+ ft. I haven't mentioned much about the views since leaving Wrightwood & the reason is that many times our view of the valley (especially when looking west) has been obscured by smog. On Mt Baden-Powell, the view to the east was great & clear but to the west looking into the Great Basin, smog dominated the picture. Finally on the trail at 0825 & Andrew soon leaves me behind. Easy hike down to Soledad Canyon Rd with the normal little ups just when u think it is all downhill. It took me 10 minutes to find where the PCT crossed the railroad tracks. After I found the crossing i decided to go down to find water before doing the last 9 miles to Aqua Dulce. There is a RV park nearby (to west) so I went looking for water & maybe some food. I found Andrew, water & a soda machine. Filled up with water &we were about to leave when I said "let's hitch to Acton for some food & maybe a motel." Andrew said okay. A fellow named Mike picked us up & took us to a bar/salon in Acton & we got burgers to go. Mike is a cartographer & also works part-time at an RV park adjacent (east) o the PCT. Andrew wants to go to Aqua Dulce so Mike& his girlfriend, Cathy give us a ride to Donna & Jeff Saufley"s home in Aqua Dulce. There were allot of hikers & they have a beautiful home & yard. I returned to the RV park where I am staying tonight for $5. I just showered & am washing clothes & will go swimming soon. I plan to camp next to the swimming pool & hopefully hike out between 0500& 0530 so I can get to Aqua Dulce before it gets too hot. BTW, the reason I stopped after 9 miles today is because I just felt hot & would rather LOUNGE HARD in the swimming pool rather than hike in the sun. Hope to see y'all at Aqua Dulce tomorrow. go to http://hikercafe.com & page down to the maildrops link & there u will get a mapquest link for each town i will go to and also a weather.com link for the weather of each of those towns... I think this will help. Thx for your interest. -Fannypack aka Bum Bag aka David Atkinson -http://HikerCafe.com - journal, maildrops, & more are here -voice mail: 1-800-MY-YAHOO my mailbox is: 327-327-1950(BTW: my greeting msg will tell u my latest greatest location) (1 minute limit on your msgs) -fannypack96@bigfoot.com (always use this e-mail so I will get your msg on Yahoo & my Pocketmail accts, THX) Pics from 2001-05-20

Day 29- Sat, May 19 - 29.6/436.5 miles -start-0635 end-1940 sunny w/ clouds, hi-85 -North Fork Saddle Ranger Station -elevation-4210' Up at 0515 and on the trail at 0635. Yesterday was a terrible day mentally & physically. Today I feel good, of course, I took 3900 mg of Ecotrin as well as soaking my foot/ankle in the cold creek water for 1 hr. I reach Andrew's camp at 0815 as he is preparing to leave. He told me that Eric, Doug, & Miindy camped there last nite & they were shooting for North Fork Saddle Ranger Station today. I hiked the 7 miles down to Mill Creek Ranger Station, got water, took a 80 minute break while I ate stove top stuffing & lunch meat on a tortilla. Andrew joined me. We left a little before 1200 trying to make Messenger Flats Campground for water & supper. Andrew arrived ahead of me, I came in about 1630. 2 mountain bikers had passed me on the trial. Andrew & I ate & decided to move on 5.5 miles to North Fork Saddle Ranger Station. Andrew arrived ahead of me & I pulled in at 1935. Boy am I glad that I came here tonight. The CA Trail Users Coalition runs this "old" ranger station & provides a caretaker. Todd is the caretaker & he has soft drinks, hot showers for the hikers for a donation. Andrew also enjoyed some lasagna & brownies. We were told that Eric, Doug & Miindy hiked on either 4 or 9 miles more. Also Donna & Jeff Saufley have 27 PCT hikers at their home tonight. -Fannypack aka David Atkinson Pics from 2001-05-19

Day 28- Fri, May 18 - 17.2/406.9 miles -start- end- sunny w/ clouds, hi-85 -Sulfur Springs Campground -elevation-5200' Up at 0230 eating candy bars. Up at 0430 to do yesterday's journal. Hiking at 0605. One problem, my right foot/ankle are stiff & i cannot hike my normal speed. It takes me an hour to go 1.3 miles. By 0900 I have taken 2000 mg of Ecotrin. As the day goes on I am able to do 1.5 mph, the to finish the day, i was hiking about 2 mph. I took 2 one hr breaks today, one of these breaks at 1000, i soaked my foot/ankle in a cold creek. The only hiker i saw today was Andrew from Savanah. Saw him early & he was planning on hiking 4 miles further than my current camp. Andrew said he thought White Root aka Alternate Route & Caithlin were only 10 miles ahead of him. Eric, Doug (Skywalker), Miindy (GI Jane) were trying to make Mill Creek Ranger Station so they could make it to Aqua Dulce early on Sunday. Remember, Eric Wiese only has 3.5 months to complete his so he can be back in school at UTC in mid August. A 3.5 month hike is about 25 miles per day avg including days off. Finally when i came into the campground a fella said they had the whole thing rented, so i asked if they was anywhere i can camp nearby & he said it was a big forest & could probably pitch over in this dirt cause thy probably. They were several other adults who said nothing, they didn't even ask a single question about hiking. This has been the most non-hospitable anyone has been towards me on this trip. Other problems from yesterday's fall: broke the middle section of one of my hiking poles, bruised the back of left thigh, many scratches on lower right leg. It is now 2030 & i am tired & i currently have 48 miles to Aqua Dulce where i will take at least 1 day off. Will try to stretch right foot/ankle tonight, good nite. Pics from 2001-05-18

Day 27- Thu, May 17 - 17.8/389.7 miles -start-0850 end-2005 sunny w/ clouds, hi-80s -camped on the PCT at cutoff for Mt Williamson Summit Trail -elevation-7900' Up in motel at 0630. Ran over to grocery for cold Gatorade & candy bars. Packed & ready to go by 0730. Carol, the local, is picking up Aaron, Jane & I at 0800 & giving us a ride to the trailhead. Well we are off for the trail at 0830 & start hiking at 0850. Jane hikes out 1st, then Aaron as I go to the bathroom (pit toilet). A car drives up & out comes Eric & Skywalker, they had ad stayed with Hans his wife in Wrightwood. Forgot to mention that i met a the motel 2 PCT hikers, George & Hagit. They were hiking out this morning but they were at the Acorn Trail, 6 miles behind us. 1st 4.6 miles over to Vincent Gap are easy. We are now at the base of Mt Baden-Powell. We will climb 2600 ft in the next 4 miles. We encountered snow patches on the trail until we got about 1 mile from the top. At this point, Aaron & I completely lose the trail so we start hiking straight up the hill in the 3ft or more of snow. We sink only about 6 inches but we finally reach the spur trail the summit. It has taken us 3 hrs to go 4 miles. We see someone on the summit& Aaron walks up there w/o his pack as i continue on the PCT which is snow covered. After about 10 minutes, i see Eric, Skywalker & jane coming from the summit. They flew by me saying something about on the ridgeline so i follow them. We are on & off trails. It is obvious that the PCT is snow covered. At one point i stop to look at the map & i lose sight if them. We are probably 1 to 2 miles north o Mt Baden-Powell & I start looking for the trail rather than staying on the ridge. After a while I find myself i couple hundred ft below the ridgeline & i decide that i am not going to find the trail so at 1545 i start descending a very steep snow chute. I see Hwy2 below me & i am trying to make it down there some i walk on the road to the place when the PCT crosses Hwy2 again. This was a bad decision on my part. The snow chute was very, very steep & after above 15 minutes i slipped & started sliding down the snow, after 30 to 40 ft i was able to catch my foot on some rocks adjacent to the snow chute. My legs were a little scratched & I think i sprained m right ankle & I was definitely shaken. I continued on down to the road, it was at least 500 ft more to descend. I reached the rd at 1630 & started walking the 6+ miles to the PCT. Shortly after reaching the PCT, Eric, Skywalker & Jane came down off the ridge. They decided to hike 4 more miles. The next 1.6 miles go up 1500 ft. I arrived at the top of this climb so I camped here. Good nite. Pics from 2001-05-17

Day 26- Wed, May 16 - 14.9/371.9 miles -start-0635 end-1255 sunny w/ clouds, hi-80s - Hwy2, the to Wrightwood, CA, Crystal Inn Motel -elevation-7386'. Last nite the stars were very clear, I wish I knew more about identifying them. Up & on the trail at 0635. Jane & I had camped about 2 to 3 miles south of Eric & Skywalker & Aaron. This morning is just like any other morning on the PCT, we are JUST WALKING in out of canyon with a switchback here and there. All 5 of us decided to hike Hwy2 & then hitch the 5 to 10 miles to Wrightwood rather than taking the 2 mile side trail & the additional 2.5 miles on the road. Also if we took this side trail we would have to walk back up this 4.5 miles & we do not like to hike off trail miles. The last 6 miles to Hwy2 had plenty of snow patches on the trail. This section of trail is near 8000ft. The snow was from 1 to 5 ft deep, most the time u just walk on top of the snow but twice I walked over snow bridges & I broke thru & fell once. A snow bridge is where the compressed snow has water running underneath & melting the snow from underneath & therefore creating a snow bridge. I have been told that in the Sierras, snow bridges are very common & dangerous. Almost all the hikers I know on the PCT are using hiking poles (similar to ski poles) which will be valuable when walking thru snow you can probe for a snow bridge. I made it down to the road at 1255 & Jane came down at 1315 and Aaron was 10 minutes behind Jane. Eric & Skywalker were ahead of us & we assume they came into town but after that we are not sure where they went. At 1320 the 1st vehicle I saw going towards gave Jane & I a ride. Jane rode in front & I laid down in the back of the pickup so I would not be seen by the police. California law says every passenger in a vehicle must wear a seat belt so anyone riding in the back of a pickup in violating that law. Shortly after we got to town Aaron came in. Aaron & I got a sandwich at a bakery while Jane read her mail & used the telephone. There was a motel right across the street from the grocery store so Aaron & I decided to check it out. The motel is the Crystal Inn Motel & the rooms are $65 for up to 4 persons but John, the guy who runs it said he could let hikers have the room for $55. So we got the room while Jane tried to reach some families in Wrightwood who take in hikers. When she couldn't get a place to stay she decided to stay with us. These rooms are great, satellite TV ours has 2 double beds but Jane has decided to sleep on the floor so Aaron & I don't have to share a bed. I forgot to mention that I met a lady named Carol who is giving us a ride to the trailhead at 0800 in the morning. Well hopefully, u will hear from me on Monday from Aqua Dulce. NOTE: go to http://hikercafe.com & page down to the maildrops link & there u will get a mapquest link for each town i will go to and also a weather.com link for the weather of each of those towns. Pics from 2001-05-16

Day 25- Tue, May 15 - 25.7/357.0 miles -start-0600 end-2005 sunny w/ clouds, hi-80s - -elevation-6000' Up at 0530 & on the trail by 0600. We hope to make it the 13.4 miles to I-15 by 1100. Jan & i climb out of the Silverwood Lake area & reach a ridge overlooking the westernmost end of the lake & there we take a break. I feel great & we see a few more rabbits on the way up the hill. I have been told that when u pee that the color should be clear if u are hydrated, is this true? Up until yesterday my pee had been yellow but now it is clear. The heat has not been as bad as it was earlier but i am hiking faster & stronger each day. U known, my hike may end tomorrow but i sure am enjoying this hike each & every day. Hey, Slyman, u told me that each day would be better than the next & u have been so right. Today has been great cause i was able to make it to I-15 at 1045 & currently am enjoying a break till about 1500 when we will start hiking again, will try to make 15 miles by 2000 or 2100. I don't like to nite hike cause it seems too stressful & also i will miss the views. While taking a break I have enjoyed some Mikey Ds & some Gatorade, 1.5 liters of cold water from the mini-mart. BTW, one hiker said they were scared of rattlesnakes my response was "if they get u they get ya", what is that i respect rattlesnakes but i don't have time to worry about the. iF i get bitten i figure i will hike out to the doctor& be off trail for a couple of weeks, no big deal. Take one day at a time & out here on the PCT each day seems to be "another day is paradise", no schedule, no boss, no alarm clock JUST WALKING. Another hiker said that "there are a bunch of horny old men out here". My comment is tat men are men on or off the trail. Back to my hike, hopefully we will at least hike 15 miles north of I-15 this afternoon so we will only have 2 miles to get to Hwy2 where we will hitch to Wrightwood for supplies. Eric & Skywalker left here about 1230 & Aaron just left at 1400. Jane & i plan to leave at about 1500. I want to thank my brother-in-law, Robbie Lewis, for sharing my journal with ss in Henrico County (outside Richmond, VA) This is a few brief messages from my students who are 7th graders and interested in what you are doing. Denver-Do not get dehydrated. Chris-Have fun, look out for animals that are carnivores. John-Good luck. Robert H.- Drink plenty of fluids Devin-What is the plant and animal life like? animals/reptiles seen: deer, squirrels, rabbits, bobcat, at least 20 lizards a day, rattlesnakes, garter snakes, hummingbirds, bear scat on the trail plants seen: plenty different types of cactus and plenty of blooming flowers, don't know their names but hopefully the pics will be on the website: http//hikercafe.com soon.  We plan to hitch in & hitch out but White Root & Caithlin may already be there so we may stop to see them. Well Jane got back on the trail at 1435 & I started at 1500. The 1st I did was take a wrong turn it wasted 10 minutes, I took an obvious path rather than reading the guide book carefully. We climbed a lot this afternoon. We started from I-15 at about 3000 ft & have gained 3200 ft to my current campsite. The trail came up one side of the valley then went across the valley floor, then we started a long slow ascent on the other side of the valley. To reach Wrightwood, we will have to go up to 8000 ft, we saved the rest of the climb for Wednesday. I met 1 SOBO hiker, it was Norma (I think) from Vancouver. For those of you at the Kickoff at Lake Moreno, she was the lady riding the bike. She said that we could camp in her yard FREE, shower, & do laundry when we complete the PCT. It was 19:40 & I was in a hurry to get to a campsite so I didn't get her phone & address & e-mail, does anyone have it?? I hiked another 25 minutes & came upon Jane camped about 15 yds off the trail. She said she was tired & I told her that I had taken too long a break today & didn't take into account the elevation gain. I asked if it was alright with her for me to camp here, she said fine. So I am tired also, no hot meal, some beef jerky, fig newtons & water for supper. It is now 21:10, good nite. Pics from 2001-05-15

Day 24- Mon, May 14 - 22.1/331.3 miles -start-0605 end-2045 sunny all day, hi-80s - camp 1/10 mile north of Hwy138 underpass -elevation-3395' Up at 0515 & on the trail at 0605, just cannot seem to pack any faster than 45 minutes. The hike is another easy one. At 1045 I reached a jeep rd that goes down to Hwy173 & to the Summit Valley Store. White Root & Caithlin get to the store right after me, they had taken a 20 minute break earlier after passing me at the Mojave Dam. The store is run by a very friendly fella who has pics of past yrs PCT hikers. I saw pics of 2000 hikers: H (u looked like a convict), Tripod & Dawn, Tapeworm, Time to Fly, Swiss Miss, Aussie Crawl & more. Jane & Aaron joined us at 1145 or so. We had a long talk with the store owner about the CA power situation, poison oak on the trail, snakes on the trail & more. The owner is trying to sell the store. After walking the 13+ miles to get to the store I definitely had an appetite, i ate & drank: qt of Gatorade, roast beef sandwich, bag of Doritos, 3 ice cream sandwiches, & a pt of Phish Food (Ben & Jerry's). After a 3.5 hr break I returned to the trail at 1555. It is now 1730 & i am lying (lounging) on a sandy beach of Lake Silverwood. I have been here for about 35 minutes just enjoying my vacation. BTW, I am also listening to FM 106.5, an oldies station. I have only hiked 4 trail miles from the store but remember i am on vacation & since i have the beach to myself i am going to enjoy it, may not ever be here again. Well it is about time to move on to the next lounging area, have to close down this lounge. Hiked over to the bike path which leads 1/2 mile to a picnic area with bathrooms & water. I waited about 10 minutes & Jane showed up. We decided to leave Aaron a note & we went down to the picnic area to supper at 1910. We planned to stealth camp in the picnic area which is right next to the lake. We each ate 3 dinners & Aaron hasn't shown. It is dark now we are hiking back to the trail & we make it to the Hwy138 underpass. At this point the trail is hard to find in the dark but Jane sees 2 rocks on top of each other & sure enough the trail is here. We walk 1/10 of mile & find a flat spot 10 yds off the trail, throw down our ground clothes & get in our sleeping bags. I have been told it doesn't rain in Southern California so a tent is not necessary. Good Nite. Pics from 2001-05-14

Day 23- Sun, May 13 - 0.0/309.2 miles -start- end- sunny all day, hi-80s -tented at Deep Creek at the Hot Springs-elevation-3535' HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to my mom, Helen Elsie Winter Atkinson. Up at 0600, filtered water & went to sit in a hot pool for an hr. I am planning on hiking out by 12 noon. White Root, Caithlin, Aaron & Mindy are planning to take a zero day here at the hot springs. At about 1000 i decided to stay here for the day & enjoy the hot springs, cool water in the creek & just relax. This is the 1st zero day i have ever taken on the trail (PCT or AT). These hot springs are maintained by a group of local volunteers & are located in the San Bernadino National Forest. Since these hot springs are within 2 hrs from Los Angeles, they are visited by many persons living in Orange County. Since this is Sunday, there are many people, men & women, allot of them are naked in & out of the hot pools. I have been told that this place was a hangout for Charley Manson. Just think, i walked 33 miles yesterday to get here so i could enjoy myself ALL day today. I am currently lying in the shade typing away on this msg. I have to remind myself that i am on vacation, while on this vacation i will be walking from Mexico to Canada on the PCT. Eric & Skywalker, supreme lounge lizards, joined us at about 1500. They camped last nite about9.4 miles south of here & didn't start hiking till noon today. H & Tapeworm, Eric is trying to earn his lounge lizard card. I must share with u some info told to me by several persons who have visited New Zealand. I have told if I visited New Zealand that i would not be able to tell anyone there that my trail name is Fannypack. They would be offended by the use of the word "fanny". I have been told that in New Zealand that "fanny" is used to to a certain intimate female body part. So in New Zealand my trail name may be "Bum Bag". Tomorrow, after hiking 13 miles we go within 3/10 mile of a country store, we had heard that it aye closed but a local just told us it was open 8 to 5. So if the payphone is functioning, then u will receive this msg from that store near Silverwood Lake. 1900, things are winding down here at the hot springs at Deep Creek more persons are except vacationers, also known as thru-hikers. I tried some stuff top stuffing with my liptons & i turned out great, i forgot to buy the gravy for it. Hope to get some lunch meat a the store to eat on my tortillas. I usually try to et the lunch meat in the 1st2 days after i buy it. Soon i will start buying hotdogs when i leave town to provide some more variety in my meals. On Tuesday we will cross another 20+ mile stretch w/o water. During this section we go under I-15 & when we get to I-15 we will be within 5/10 mile from a McDonalds & a restaurant. We plan to stop at one of these businesses in the middle of the day, get food & water, & then hike on later in the afternoon when it is cooler, maybe hike to a little after dark. Pics from 2001-05-13

Day 22- Sat, May 12 - 32.9/309.2 miles -start-0730 end-1945 overcast w/ rain, hi-70 -tented at Deep Creek at the Hot Springs-elevation-3535' Up at 0500 & it was drizzling by 0530 so Skywalker, Grizzly & I went in firehouse to pack our packs. Grizzly is a friend from the AT (thru-hiked in 1999 & 2000), he came in last nite frm Onyx summit, hitched in on Hwy38. Grzzly is from Kentucky, he plans to slack over to Van Dusen Canyon Rd after taking today off. Also here is Mike from Three Springs, PA (near State College). Well, I started walking the 3+ miles to the trail when I realized I could call my sister about the Aqua Dulce maildrop, so I stopped at a gas station, called her & confirmed the items to be mailed to Aqua Dulce. After visiting the restroom for the 5th time this morning, I felt it was safe for me o attempt to walk out of town. NOTE: every time I leave a town I seem to need to jump off the side of the trail to go to the bathroom, today is no exception, but since i was so slow leaving town this morning i may have excreted all my waste before hitting the trail. On the trail, hikers seem to be so regular that once each morning is enough. Well enough of these bathroom details. I walked past the airport & a van turned in a driveway in front of me. Out jumps a guy named John Justice & he offered me a ride to the trail so I would save 2.5 off trail miles. Ww talked on the way & I found that the was a UVA grad as well as a UCLA graduate school grad. So this is the 2nd person i have meet with Va ties. John had lived in Fairfax County while in high school so i was telling him how Northern Va. had grown specifically how Rt28 was now 6 lanes instead of 2 lanes. So i finally started hiking at 0730 & I was welcomed back to the trail by the gentle grade of the PCT. I walked for a couple of till i reached a side called the Cougar Crest Trail & I almost hiked on this trail. It would have been easy to mistake this trail for the PCT because when u walked straight ahead u were on this trail instead of the PCT. This trail would have taken 2 miles back down the hill to town. I turned around at the Cougar Crest trail sign & then saw a sign for where the PCT continued. I reached Little Bear Springs Trail Camp at 1105, so-I had done 10.7 miles & I realized i was hiking at 3mph. At this point I started thinking that it may be able to reach the Hot Springs today. The Hot Springs are 33 miles from Van Dusen. I forgot to mention that it is still overcast about 60 degrees. n my way to Little Bear I could see Big Bear Lake down to my left. I left a note on the picnic table for Eric & Skywalker. The note said I intended to try to hike 25 to 30 miles today. I ended the note by writing: "Just Walking", this a favorite expression of Eric Wiese. He uses this expression to describe hiking. At 1615 & after 23+ miles i reached a 90 ft steel bridge across the Deep Creek.At this point I had 9.4 miles to the hot springs so I thought I had a chance to make it by dark so I continued on after a 10 minute break. I ran into 2 dayhikers from Orange County. As i got closer to the hot springs i was constantly looking down into the gorge where the Deep Creek flows. I was looking for 4 hikers who should be camping at the hot springs. Finally at 1945 i saw Aaron, Caithlin & White Root's tent. I had accomplished my objective & i felt good. I hiked down 50 yds to their campsite & dropped my pack & went & sat in a hot spring pool. The water i about 105 degrees & there are 4 pools. Walls of rock & sandbags are what creates the pools of hot water, they are about 3 ft deep. After sitting in the water for 30 minutes, my feet & body felt better. I had some tortillas with cheese, deli sticks & some jerky as well as 1+ qts of Gatorade. Returned to the hot pool for an hr & went to sleep about 2200. Eric & Skywalker never showed up. There were very few views today since we just kinda followed the contours of the canyon, of course we were in several canyons during the day. I felt strong today & made good miles but the overcast skies & 1 hr of rain helped make it a pleasant hiking day. BTW: 32.9 miles is the most hiking miles@I have done in 1 day. On the AT I did a 30.9 mile day in PA. Pics from 2001-05-12

Day 21- Fri, May 11 - 0.0/276.3 miles -start- end- sunny with a few clouds, hi-80 -Big Bear City, CA, camped on firehouse lawn -elevation-6829' Up at 0300 & sat at table in firehouse while wrote e-mails & prepared the compact flash card to be sent to my brother. To prepare the CF card, I suffixed the 1st pic of each day with the date & time the pic was taken. For example, the pic could could be named DSCN1254-2001-04-20-time0545, so this pic was taken on Apr20 at 5:45am. The next pic would be named DSCN1255, then, DSCN1256 & so on until the 1st pic of the next which may be DSCN1263-2001-04-21-time0700. So if a pic is named DSCN1298-2001-04-22-time0923, that means that the pics 1263 thru1297 were shot on Apr21. THE DSCN is a Nikon prefix & it is not significant. At 0600, i sent e-mais & went to breakfast at Thelma's, 100 yds away. During the day i fully charged my 8 AA batteries using the plug in charger that is in my "bounce box". The bounce box or drift box is a box i mail from town to town with i may need but don't want to carry in my pack. After breakfast I just hung out for a couple of hrs then decided to get my grocery shopping done. Had to talk a bus 3 miles to Big Bear Lake. My food bag is very heavy but i must start eating more so i can keep my energy up. I returned to the firehouse about 1300 & i found that 6 hikers are leaving today & only of us: Eric, Skywalker I will leave early tomorrow. We will walk the roads the 3+ miles back to the trail. I forgot to mention that i mailed my bounce box to Aqua Dulce & I mailed so items home to my sister. I went to Thelma's for a burger with a couple named The Ravens (from San Diego). In a few days we will go under I-15, an interstate that runs from Los Angeles to Reno. When we reach I-15 we will be in the desert again. I am a little apprehensive about leaving town tomorrow with a full (heavy) pack. As always I will "hike my hike". Pics from 2001-05-11

Day 20- Thu, May 10 - 8.9/276.3 miles -start-0845 end-1145 sunny all day, hi-70s -Van Dusen Canyon Rd then back to Big Bear City, CA, camped on firehouse lawn -elevation-6829' Up at 0530 & it was 30 degrees. White Root will pick up about 0800 to take us to Hwy 18 where we will slackpack 8.9 miles over to Van Dusen Canyon Rd them we will return to town on this dirt rd & several paved ones. The hike was pretty easy today with only views of the empty Erwin Lake. Today i am hiking with Jane, Skywalker & Eric Wiese. We stopped for one 10 to 15 minute break, otherwise we kept a better tha 3 mph pace. Since Van Dusen Canyon Rd is lightly traveled we had to walk all 3+ miles back to town. On the way into town we meet 4 more PCTers. 3 of them are from Seattle & 1 is from Bend, OR. When we reached town we all went to the market, I got 2 bottles of Gatorade. Hey "H", can u believe it, Eric Wiese slacked with us? Should we cancel his membership in the Lounge Lizards? or should we make him a board member? 1545, doing laundry now. I called Jim, the guy with my bounce box, & left him a msg that i am in town, maybe he will be able to bring it down to the fire station tonite. Also I meet other hikers today: John from Seattle, Lightning Bolt from NC, & GT from OR. I will take the bus to Big Bear Lake to go to a larger grocery store, Vons or Staters. Also I hope to get my CF (compact flash) card "cleaned up" so i can send home the pics from the 1st 20 days of the trip. Up to now i have taken 500 pics, at this rate, on a 160 day hike i would take 4000 pics (don't think i can afford the space on the web to put them all up, we will see). BTW: there will be NO captions for the pics, only the sequential assigned by my Nikon Coolpix 990 camera. I will rename the 1st pic of each day by suffixing the sequentially assigned number with thge date, so u will know when each days pics begin. The pics will put on the web & a link will be provided for each week or part of a week that i send. Since my brother has other things to do, the pics may take 2 fo 3 weeks to appear on the web but beginning with Aqua Dulce i will send home the CF card at each town where my bounce box is sent (which should mean about every 2 wks). Feel free to print any of the pics u like but if u plan to show the pics on a website, pls link to my site rather than copying the pic to your site, thx. Oh, forgot to say that Barak, the 23 yr old Israely (sp?) helicopter pilot hiked out to the trail with his 70 or sio pound pack. My body feels great but I have learned that I must eat more than pop tarts, snickers & liptons on the PCT. I got away with this on the AT but i cannot do it here. (Part-2 follows). Lastly, my brother has been able to these journal msgs up to the web within a day or two of receiving the e-mail so if u like u may view the journal at http://hikercafe.com . Using Pocketmail device i can only send this msg to only so many persons, some of u will stop receiving it cause i want to let some other friends know about this hike. Also a correction for part 1 of this day's journal, the empty lake we saw today was Baldwin Lake NOT Erwin Lake. In future posts I will attempt to express more of my emotions, fears, anxieties (sp?) as well as tell just how I am enduring. Sometimes I get so caught up in documenting the facts of what I see & do, I forget to say how I feel. NOTE: part 2 of this journal entry was necessary cause my Pocketmail device only allows 4000 bytes per msg. Pics from 2001-05-10

Day 19- Wed, May 09 - 19.3/267.4 miles -start-0655 end-1505 sunny all day, hi-80s -Hwy 18, Big Bear City, CA, camped on firehouse lawn -elevation-6829' Up at 0600 & it was 50 degrees, nice hiking weather. The 1st 1.3 miles gained 500 ft & after that was pretty easy hiking most of the day, mostly downhill. After 5 or 6 miles we passed a fenced in area about 50 yds from the trail, in this ara was a black bear & a tiger and found out later that one of this guy's tigers was in the movie, Gladiator. 9 miles into the hike we stopped at a campsite with a water faucet & there we had a birthday party for Kamiakin, his 50th. Coppertop made some cheesecake. We hiked on to Hwy 18 & we had decided we would hitching to Big Bear City, try to slack from Hwy 18 over to Van Deusen Canyon Rd. Then we will walk the 3 miles to town & I will take Friday off. So here in town are: Joe Moon, Simply Seeking, Willow, Brooke, JoAnn, Kamiakin, Coppertop, Caithlin, White Root, Jane, Skywalker, Eric Weis. We haven't seen Aaron since the 9 mile of today's hike. At 2330, I hear someone outside my tent, t was Barak & Aaron, they had hiked all the way to VanDeusen Canyon Rd,-a-29 mile day, & then walked the 3 miles into town. Pics from 2001-05-09

Day 18- Tue, May 08 - 15.6/248.1 miles -start-051 end-1830 sunny all day, hi-90s -Coon Gap group camp -elevation-8090' This morning the trail crossed Mission Creek many times as we made our way up the canyon. I am really dragging today. I reached a dry stream bed about 0830 & laid down for a rest. After being there for 30 minutes I woke up & found that White Root, Caithlin, Eric Weiss, Skywalker were there & Aaron joined us later. BTW: "H", we have got Eric to lounge with us, he resisted by we are getting to socialize a bit. The next 3 miles to the headwaters of Mission Creek took me 2+ hrs to do, these3 miles started with 8 switchbacks up (the book says 8, I didn't count them). To get up this hill& several others during the day, i walked from shady spot to shady spot (this method is kinda like what my father said he did when he started running at age 50, he would run from telephone pole to telephone pole.) when i arrived at the headwaters of Mission Creek, there were White Root, Caithlin, Aaron * Eric, Jane joined us later. When I lounged till 1615, & while lounging ate 2 Lipton meals (thought they may give me some energy). Actually everyone is feeling drained, i guess it is from the heat. After getting water, we hiked on 7+ miles to just beyond Coon Gap Rd. There is an old building here with privy, all windows are gone. Here tonite are: Anna (i meet her at Paradiise Cafe), Eric, Aaron, Coppertop, Kamiakin, Skywalker, Barak, White Root, Caithlin, Jane. Long day, hardest one yet for me.. i believe i have said this before. Pics from 2001-05-08

Day 17- Mon, May 07 - 19.0/232.5 miles -start-0500 end-2000 sunny all day, hi-90s -camp next to trail 3+ miles north of 1st Mission Creek crossing -elevation-3660'? Up at 0415 to try to beat the heat, hey it didn't work. The 1st 5 or so miles we moved up Gold canyon until we reached a gap & we were never in the sun. Then we went down around another canyon until we reached the dry creek bed for the Whitewater Creek. We walked thru this desert-like creek bed until we did reach a very strong flowing & cold Whitewater Creek. The creek was about 10 ft wide & we soaked our feet & filtered water. I took a 1 hr break. All of today's hiking was in the open, no tree cover. Our objective was Mission Creek & about a mile from there I felt overheated so I stopped for 15 minutes in a shade spot (scrub bush), only shade for my upper body. I drank water & cooled off. I continued to Mission Creek, filtered water, soaked feet & stayed to walk a little farther north looking for everyone else, since they were all ahead of me. I came upon Barak asleep next to the trail & decided to stop & camp with him. Actually Barak, Coppertop, Kamiakin nite hiked here beginning at midnite & arriving at 0900. They plan to nite hike again tonite to beat the heat. Well it is 1720 & i have been here for 4 hrs & i have eaten, filtered water & slept a little. I will try to sleep a liittle more now. BTW: we were able to see Mt San Jancito (10,000+ ft) to our south for most of the day, it still has snow & we passed it midday last Saturday. Change in plans, we at hiking another mile or so, it is now 1840 & the sun is behind the mtns (we are in a canyon, hiking up it). So I hiked till 2000 & setup my tent about 10 yds from the trail. Pics from 2001-05-07

Day 16- Sun, May 06 - 21.3/213.5 miles -start-0525 end-1500 sunny all day, hi-102 -Pink Motel(Don's cabin/trailer) -elevation-1690' Up at 0440 and left just before light. We are trying to get to desert at I-10 before afternoon. Today we hiked down to Snow Canyon Creek water faucet, this is a total of 16 miles, all downhill. Everybody is ahead of me except Skywalker, GI Jane & the Canadian woman (they slept in). Besides the fact that i am not a fast hiker, the back of my left knee still hurts. I am NOT taking Vitamin I but am now taking Ecotrin (3 every day) & Glocosamine/Chondriatin (sp?) (3 every day). I passed 3 persons working on the trail. They had horseman bring the tools up for them & we saw the horsemen coming up as we went down. Thanks to these trail maintainers for their hard work. We figure that this 16 mile section of the PCT is only used by thru-hikers so we definitely appreciate this trail work, THANK U. We also told trail workers about 2 blowdowns: 1) 1/4 mile south of Fuller Ridge trailhead parking area 2) 1 to 2 miles north of Fuller Ridge trailhead parking area. After getting tothe water faucet at Snow Canyon Rd at 1215, I took at 30 minute break before walking the 4 miles across the desert floor to I-10 culvert. I struggled to make these 4 miles, i was soooooooooo hot. When I finally got to the culvert Kamiakin told me that the desert temp was 102 degrees. After a 10 minute break, Kamiakin, Coppertop, Skywalker, Barak & I hiked the 1.5 miles to the Pink Motel. Already at the Pink Motel were White Root & Cauthlin & Aaron. The Pink Motel is actually a cabin/trailer owned by Don & Helen Middleton. Don has food here for hikers & his place is only about 150 yards off the PCT. If this place was not here we would have probably camped under I-10. We are still waiting (1630) for GI Jane & the Canadian woman. We hope that they can do the desert in this heat or maybe they will wait at the water faucet till it cools off. We hope Don comes by to take us to the store, we want some watermelon, Gatorade, & other fruits. Jane made it here at 1640. 1700, Don & Helen just came by to say Hi, no store run, shucks. Canadian is here now. Pics from 2001-05-06

Day 15- Sat, May 05 - 12.0/192.2 miles -start-0955 end-1740 sunny all day, hi-70 -campsite at Fuller Ridge Trailhead parking area -elevation-7750' Up at 0630, got a ride from motel worker to trailhead. Took 1.5 hrs to hike the 2.5 mile side trail up 1600' to the PCT. I was either passing or being passed all day by Barak, GI Jane, Coppertop, Kamiakin, Skywalker. There was snow on the trail allot today. There was snow on the section of trail just before the PCT goes o the west side of the ridge on the way down to Strawberry Junction. The 1/2 mile of trail just south of the the Fuller Ridge Trail (PCT) & Deer Springs Trail. The Fuller Ridge Trail is clear until we reached Fuller Ridge on went on the north side of te ridge, allot of snow was here but u could follow the trail by following the hiker tracks. When the trail went to the south side of Fuller Ridge the trail was clear but when we returned to th north side of te ridge the trail was covered by snow at least 75% of the way to Fuller Ridge Traihead parking area. Msg to maintainer: about 1/4 mile or so south of Fuller Ridge Traihead parking area there is a 24+ inch blowdown. Also along this last mile or so of the PCT just south of Fuller Ridge Traihead parking area the snow on the PCT was sometimes 6 ft deep. We hope to hike 20 or so miles tomorrow & go under I-10& pssibly stay at the Pink Motel. Camped here tonite are: Barak, GI Jane, Coppertop, Kamiakin, Skywalker, White Root & Caithlin, and a Canadian Lady. Pics from 2001-05-05

Day 14- Fri, May 04 - 0/180.2 miles -start- end- sunny all day, hi-70 -Tahquitz Inn in Idyllwild -elevation-5300' Well I was about to leave town at 0900 & I saw White Root & Caithlin at Jans Red Kettle Restaurant & now I am staying another day. White Root is David Patterson & he is from Highland Springs, my hometown. BTW, for persons from Highland Springs, David Patterson's uncle is David Thurston, a high school acquaintance of mine. David Thurston is married to Marlene Patterson, who was a HS classmate of mine. Hey, Dan Atkinson, could u tell David Thurston to check the website for the journal updates. Just went to grocery store for fruit & watermelon. I really didn't plan to take another day off but I enjoy talking with White Root & I will have someone to hike with on this next snowy section. We will got up to 9000 ft in the 1st mile the descend till we cross I-10 at a little over 1000 ft. WR seems to think we can make it to Big Bear City in 5 days so I am hoping to be there by Wed. We had some pizza for lunch back to the motel for rest, a little TV, and I will pack my pack for a 8 to 9 am start. Pics from 2001-05-04

Day 13- Thu, May 03 - 0/180.2 miles -start- end- sunny all day, hi-70 -Tahquitz Inn in Idyllwild -elevation-5300' Up at 0530 and started to make my list for the store. Yesterday afternoon, i got a haircut & beard trim. Also i forgot to mention that Coppertop, Kiamikin, Mindy & Joe Moon are here at the motel. I hear on the weather channel that there were unconfirmed reports of 80 to 100 mph wind gusts on the Mojave Desert, glad I am not there yet. Barak came in this morning, he is 23 yr old from Israel, just served 5 yrs in military. Joe Moon left for the trail at 1330. Everyone else plans to wait till Sat morn to start back on the trail. I plan to start Fri morning. Pics from 2001-05-03

Day 12- Wed, May 02 - 12.8/180.2 miles -start-0600 end-1400 sunny all day, hi-70s? -Tahquitz Inn in Idyllwild. Up at 0515 and started hiking at 0600. Today I saw 3 deer, 5 to 10 squirrels, more than 10 lizards & 1 black snake. I felt good today but it seems that today's ups were steeper, even the switchbacks seemed steep. There were patches of snow on the trail after 3 miles of hiking. The snow was not a big problem until the last 3.8 miles of the day. It was very difficult to find the trail cause the snow was from 6 inches to 3 feet deep. On April 21st, there was a snowstorm in Mt Laguna (which is 140 trail miles south of here) that dumped 8 inches. Mt Laguna's elevation is 5980 ft & where I hiked today is over 8000 ft. There was a 6/10 mile part of the trail that went from 8000 ft to 8500 ft and i completely lost the trail, i was following some tracks but i didn't see where the trail continued so i knew that the PCT turned north so headed uphill (West) on some ground where the snow was melted. I found the PCT & continued the next 1.3 miles to the side trail to Idyllwild. I then hiked 2.5 miles down to the trailhead parking lot & ten started walking the 2 miles to town. A man i saw on the sidetrail gave me a ride to the Tahquitz Inn. Today was the toughest hiking day yet. I plan to take Thursday off & start hiking again on Friday morning & hope to make the 96 miles to Big Bear City in 6 days, so i should be there on Wed, a week from today. Pics from 2001-05-02

Day 11- Tue, May 01 - 16.7/167.4 miles -start=0600 end=1900 sunny all day, hi=90s? -tented just before Fobes Ranch Trail. Up at 0530, Coppertop & Kamikim (sp) walked by about 0535, they started hikng at 0230. I walked by Joe Moon's camp about 1/2 mile south of RT74. At RT74, Joe & I walked to get water at the restaurant about a mile west of the PCT. We got a ride from a couple from CO. Got to the restaurant at 0730 & it doesn't open till 1100. At the restaurant are Anna & Rob from San Francisco, Anna is hiking CA. Joe Moon decided to go back to the trail & the couple gave him a ride. So I am here catching up on my journal hoping to hike 12 more miles today. Fix-It came in at 0945 & says he is leaving the trail. Also Fix-It camped with Skywalker& Mindy last nite & they are not coming to the restaurant. This will be a nice 5 to 6 hr break & I am drinking plenty of water. Well it 1105, looks like the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. Oh well, got the journal caught up. Walked back to the trail & started on PCT at 1130. Just beyond the trailhead parking is a memorial plaque to a trail! worker killed in 1989. This is something we, hikers, take for granted, i.e., that the trail will be maintained for us to hike. Thanks to all the volunteer maintainers, especially this one who gave his life while working on the trail. Hiked up to Penrod Canyon Creek & it had multiple large pools of water but the creek didn't seem to be running. The trail stabbed up the canyon up it reached a gate about 6 miles from RT74. Today there are many pine trees along the trail to provide us with shade, a welcome change. Stopped at the Live Oak Spring Trail to change socks & found a blister on my big toe. I duct taped the toe & continued on at about 1445. About 1600, Mindy overtook me, she had been getting water at Live Oak spring. Her objective was Cedar Spring which is about 2+ miles. WE arrived at Cedar Spring side trail at 1700. She thinks Skywalker, Coppertop & Kiamikin will be there. BTW: i am the 1st hiker Mindy has seen all day. She started about 5 miles south of RT74. She gave me one of her suppers cause I told her I may not make it to Idyllwild tomorrow. I continued on & stopped at 1730 to have supper. Had a Lipton dinner & continued on at 1800. At 1900 I saw a flat spot about 20 yds off the trail so i decided to tent here. I will see tomorrow exactly where I camped. I think I am just short of Fobes Ranch Trail 4E02. From the Fobes Trail, I have 12.3 miles to the side trail to Idyllwild. FYI: I carried 2+ gallons of water up the hill from the restaurant so I would not have to take either of the side trails to a spring. Pics from 2001-05-01