4/20/14 - 4/23/14 From oak savannah to the desert. From beautiful flowering Yuccas to snakes.

We were thinking of leaving the Warner Springs Community Center when they announced last call for cheese burgers. Our hands shot up!  No need to cook  a camp dinner if we could go out with full tummies from Warner Springs. We got on the trail at 4:30pm traveling through oak trees and meadows, working our way into foothills up to Agua Caliente Creek and campsites by 7pm. We got tents up, filtered water for tomorrow's miles (which we hear are to be pretty warm) and tucked into bed listening to choruses of frogs.

Our tent site under a huge Live Oak Tree.

4/21/14 Monday   12 miles

Resting along the trail

Today it feels hotter that it has been, we took a breather by the trail, drank Gatorade and hiked on. We entered more desolate desert areas filled with granite boulders. 

Peggy & I both use Golite umbrellas which have proven helpful in the hot sun.

Just after this photo was taken I saw a 2-1/2 ft garter snake,  I'm glad I saw it because after that I began to be more vigilant than I'd been previously.

Needing more breaks due to heat but trying to get some miles done while we were able, we traveled into a huge boulder strewn valley & met a couple struggling in the heat too. They were from Yellowknife, Canada & hiking the PCT. We'd seen them in Warner Springs. After a bit I was walking along between boulders &  heard a loud rattle, I knew it was a rattlesnake but I couldn't see it... I danced around and eventually fell into a bush on the uphill side of the trail, I just knew I was falling into that snake.. I was a goner.   Peggy grabbed my hand and hauled me up as we backed up the trail. The snake was just off trail on the other-downhill side, I never could see it but it was sure loud.    Once the adrenaline rush subsided, we dashed away up the trail, nervous energy flying around, glad to have escaped CERTAIN DEATH.  I think of the episode as Shake, Rattle & Roll. 

I actually saw another rattler an hour later 3 ft ahead of me lying stretched out in the sun.  This time I stopped quickly and the snake slithered off the trail rattling as it went & Peggy saw it too.  After 3 snakes that day I was ready to be finished hiking.  We found a grotto of shade and holed up for an hour then made the final 3 miles to a water tank.  This tank &  property is owned by a man who allows hikers to use his water, pitch tents in his yard,  and for a fee, he'll serve dinner.  It's a welcome oasis in the desert.  We put up tents, chatted with other hikers and had a decadent lasagna dinner. It was a long hot day but we ended up having good conversation with the couple from Canada. 

This doesn't look like desert but it is.  Very dry, boulders with chaparral, cactus and some surprising wildflowers.

4/22/14 Tuesday.  17 miles

Peggy & I were up earlier than usual trying to get a jump on the heat. Yesterday had been a hard hot day for all of us and we all had the same idea...get up and out early. 

We climbed up to about 6,000 ft elevation and entered  part of the Anza Borrega State Park.  Pink, red & cream colored granite. I was wondering out loud what made the bright colors on the rocks so  Peggy gave me a lesson on 1 celled spores that land on rocks and consume sulphur, antimony and other elements giving off the wonderful yellow, burnt orange and bright green colors.  By the time the hike is finished I may have credits in Biology 101!

There was a breeze all day and cooler than yesterday, it was a pleasure to hike so we made good time.  We decided to pass going to a spring and opted to stop at a cistern to collect a liter of water. We stopped in the shade of a juniper tree and chatted with a man from Corvallis, Oregon hiking the trail too.  This is what a lot of the country looks like.

Back on the trail around 3pm we got to a water cache created and stocked by trail angels. It's a life saver, I don't think I can hike fast or far enough to make it without a couple of the caches. We take only as much as we need to get to the next water source,  never waste the cache water.   Peggy & I decided to hike 1 more mile and camp on a ridge of big boulders. There were about 8 of us camped amongst them and there was a pretty stiff breeze so we knew it would be a cold night.

Night fell quickly, winds were stiff and coyotes  were yipping.  Not much sleeping was going on in my tent. I was hoping the big rocks I'd carted to my site would hold my tent, no way to pound a stake in the rocky soil.

4/23/14. Wednesday.  8 miles to Paradise Cafe (+1 mile walk from the Hwy)

Brrr, cold and windy ALL night long!

Up at 5:30 hiking by 6:30 it was a while before we warmed up. Kind of boring hiking these 8 miles but we did see the result of water on the granite hills. It looked like a mini Grand Canyon.

We arrived at Paradise Cafe at 11, ordered huevos rancheros and chowed down, we were hungry girls!  Then we hitched a ride to Idyllwild with a young woman named Kathleen who gave us all kinds of information about the trees, the burned area where the trail is closed for 28 miles etc.   Thanks so much, Kathleen, for the ride to town! (here's a photo.)

Once registered at Idyllwild Inn we showered, had laundry done,  washed gear, caught up on email at the library, researched bugs, trees & plants that we'd seen, grocery shopped etc. You get the idea. It's lots of work taking a rest!

We are here 1 day sooner than expected and will take advantage of their outdoor stores and facilities to fix gear etc. and we're planning on getting a ride back south to Lake Morena to attend the PCT kickoff. There will be a water report, gear venders, opportunities to get advice from hikers who have experience hiking long distances.  Peggy wants to discuss her tent with the maker of it and maybe pick up tips on her hiking poles. 

We plan on being at kickoff from Friday- Sunday 4/25-27 and resume hiking either Sunday or Monday 4/27 or 4/28. I'll let you know!