4/30/12 East Fork Mission Creek Road, mile 225.5

(Sent as a phone text, the evening after the early morning phone call!)

I had a nice breakfast with Ziggy and the Bear at their hostel. 

Took a picture of the view back towards the San Jacinto Mts. while hiking into the San Gorgonio Wilderness. It has been a warm day, and I’m a bit gimpy from the blisters on my feet.

The landscape reminds me of the John Day area in eastern Oregon - the lay of the land, weird colored rocks, and volcanic ash deposits. I saw yet another rattlesnake. 

Tonight I’m sleeping by a gurgling creek with frogs, bats, and a silvery half moon for a night light.

-JayBird

4/30/12 Somewhere north of Fuller Ridge, mile ???

From Sarah, via short phone conversation with Jay in early morning before her work:

Jay called to say he had been hiking through some very rough country, with no phone coverage and very little phone battery. (The guidebook mentions that the trail through the San Jacinto Mts. frequently had to be dynamited in order to build it on such steep slopes, and calls the trail down Fuller Ridge “torturous”.) Jay said there was a lot of snow across Fuller Ridge, and the trail was virtually impossible to find several times. Thanks to his maps, he knew the general direction, but found it extremely difficult to stay on the trail. It was a long, frustrating day.

After 25 miles on Sunday, he came to a road and decided to hitchhike to the nearest town. Someone at the trailhead told him the nearest town had no services, and he should hitch hike into Palm Springs instead. Just as he was trying to hitch hike the much longer route, a car pulled up with two local hikers. They took him to the nearest grocery store, waited while he shopped, then took him to The Bear’s PCT Hikers’ Oasis, a hostel hosted by two trail angels, Bear and Ziggy. It is those ‘coincidences’ that reassure me God is watching over Jay!

What a relief, eat something besides trail food, sleep with no worries about a collapsing tent, and (most importantly) connect with loved ones again! Jay said Bear and Ziggy were wonderful hosts, providing exactly what every exhausted hiker needed.

Jay was a little vague in the phone call as to exactly where he is on the trail right now. But it is enough for me to know that he is okay and now has a fully recharged phone! I’m sure he will be sending more news in the coming days.

-Sarah

4/29/12 Trail Angel’s Place (aka The Bear’s PCT Hikers’ Oasis), left trail at Cottonwood Rd, mile 211, 23.5 miles

(Sent as phone text. Received by Sarah May 2 due to the mysteries and vagaries of patchy cell phone coverage. More added from journal when Sarah met Jay on May 5.)

The morning dawned still and calm. My shoes were frozen, but my water bottle was not, fortunately. The snow was frozen so hard I could almost skate upon it. Not very reassuring on steep ground while carrying a heavy pack! I used crampons to descend to about 7,000 ft, then was able to continue on dry trail.

I had a long descent to I-10 at 1,198 feet elevation with fifteen miles between water sources. Got really lucky and met a guy who drove me to Albertsons, 14 miles, then back to a trail angel’s place.  

This is a wonderful place where I’m staying. Amenities include foot bath, salad, ice cream. I’m treating blisters on my left heel and right big toe, and meeting many nice people.

4/28/12 Castle Rocks, mile 187.5, 16.5 miles

My phone battery is totally dead, so no pictures and no GPS.

It was 40˚F at 7:30 a.m.  Lots of snow on the trail today.  I used the crampons and ice axe a good bit.  I found it exhausting to go uphill in crampons, but there were places where the trail was totally covered with snow.  Most of the time I followed other people’s tracks, using my map to verify that the tracks were heading in the right direction.  The map gave me confidence in my location, the tracks gave me confidence that someone else had already made it through.  At one point I was down to following one set of tracks.  Then I met the guy who had been making the tracks, coming back toward me.  “I just can’t find the trail,” he told me, and went on backtracking.  So with unbroken snow ahead, I used the topo map and finally did find the trail.  What a relief. 

I camped at 8,500 feet altitude at 6:30 p.m..  I couldn’t have made it through today without the help of other people's tracks.

4/27/12 In the San Jacinto Mts., mile 171, 20 miles

It was a clear, breezy, cool day.  Long ascents to Fuller Ridge.  I felt the altitude on the first climb.  Trail dropped and climbed back up 1300 feet.  Then had to walk a half mile son a side trail to Apache Springs for water.  500 feet down, then 500 feet back up in each half mile.

I crossed an area with steep snow chutes, but did not need the ice axe or crampons.  I only saw two SOBO (south bound) section hikers today.  Camped with tent perched on a bluff above Palm Springs .

4/26/12 Hwy. 74, (Pines to Palms Hwy. ), mile 151

(sent as phone text)

At 2 a.m. my tent collapsed during a storm.  The door half of the tent was soaked, puddles of standing water on it.  I was left to spend the night curled into the foot end, wind buffeting my body, needing to pee, but unwilling to get soaked crawling through collapsed tent. 

It was 40˚F when I got up at dawn.  Wind and rain still my companions.  I threw everything into my pack and hiked downhill for an hour, getting off the mountain and out of the storm.  Took a picture of my drying gear when I finally stopped. 

At Hwy 74, there is a cafe with fantastic pie about a mile down the road. Had to skip it due to timing of the day. 

There has been virtually no phone coverage for the last two days. My phone battery is very low.

Today I had a long climb upward toward the San Jacinto Mountains. Found buried treasure right where I had left it. Arrrrgh!

Weather clearing.

-JayBird 

(Note from Sarah:  A week ago, on our way to the PCT trailhead, we stopped near Hwy. 74 and buried Jay’s ice axe. That's the treasure he is referencing. He may well need it in the San Jacinto Mts., especially on Fuller Ridge, but he had no desire to carry it the first 150 miles through the desert!)

4/25/12 past Trail Angel Mike’s, mile 128, 19.0 miles hiked

Packing gear (Lake Morena). Obviously a well-organized
packer! I don't know, this looks like way more than 30 lbs.
Hmmm, wonder what to leave behind?? (Just kidding!)

Before leaving home, I mailed a re-supply box to Warm Springs, as the guidebook said that the resort there had closed. So this morning I found the post office in Warm Springs, re-supplied my pack, and got out at 9:00 a.m.

I thought I’d take a short cut back to the PCT, but it didn’t work out so well. Ended up cutting through a golf course, climbing fences, skirting beehives, crossing a private campground, and wading a brush-choked creek before finally regaining the PCT.

One day's worth of food for a no-cook thru-hiker.

Very soon after returning to the well-marked, easily-followed track, (as opposed to beating the bushes through a non-existent shortcut), I decided to go ahead and eat one of the treats I had mailed in my resupply box. A shady creek called Agua Calliente was the perfect place to rest and consume a 16 ounce salami with Ritz crackers. Lightened my pack a bit, too!

I hiked through beige boulders, blooming white and purple ceonothus, oaks, and Coulter pines with huge cones. A snake lay across the trail, torpid in the cool temperatures. I nudged him with my pole and he just stuck his tongue out at me. There were also many large black lizards.

My right foot developed an ache across the top of the arch. Finally used duct tape to reinforce the bottom of the insole arch, and that fixed it.

Black-crowned Night Heron. Two Herons guarded their
territory from the ravens. These don't get their black crowns
their 3rd year, so this one was 1-2 years old.

Wind, fog, steep terrain became my companions as evening progressed. I finally pitched my tent on a tiny flat spot. I pitched the small, foot end of the tent into the wind, making it aerodynamic. This gave me the choice of sleeping with my head on the downhill slope, or cramming my head and shoulders into the foot end of the tent to sleep with head uphill. I chose uphill.