5:30 a.m. Heather and Remy are quietly packing up. 5:35 a.m Good To Go announces that it is “time for milking”! 5:55 a.m. I am hiking. Our collective goal was to do several miles to beat the heat then find some shade for the afternoon hours. The 3.5 miles out of Deep Creek Canyon were a gentle side slab on the canyon wall. Unfortunately, most of this section was littered with graffiti writings on rocks along the route.
I reached the Mojave River Forks Dam and chose to walk up and over the dam while the others hiked along the river. We simultaneously reached the fording point of Deep Creek, removed our socks and shoes, then waded across the sandy, silty creek. The trail resumed along the creek for a half mile where the trail itself was difficult to find due to massive washed out areas.
Soon we departed from the creek bed and climbed for a few miles to hillsides overlooking the valley floor. We pushed on until just before noon, where I caught up to Heather and Remy who were walking toward me and appeared to be confused. They had been searching for the trail at the confluence of a couple of dirt roads and the base of Silverwood Lake Dam. They had the databook and Yogi’s PCT handbook but not the detailed guidebook. I got mine out and we studied the information for a few minutes, then proceeded down a dirt road, then did a half mile highway walk, finally skirting off the highway up a poor dirt road, then back to the trail.
The heat was stifling, and it was noon and there was a dense patch of trees that offered shady relief. The three of us stopped for lunch and afternoon rest. About 45 minutes later, Good To Go and Brian showed up and joined us, followed by Doodlebug, Phantom, and Nitro another 30 minutes later. We stayed under the shady canopy until 3:30pm when Brian decided to hike on, then Remy and Heather, then Doodlebug and me, followed by the rest of our group by 4:30 p.m. We hiked at a slow pace in the heat, meandering around the steep hillsides leading down to the water’s edge of Silverwood Lake, which was filled with weekend jetskiers and boaters as well as families picnicking on sandbar beaches.
We made it to a picnic area on the far side of the lake around 6:00 p.m. and stopped to take advantage of flush toilets, running water in a sink, and a shaded picnic table from which to cook. I was struggling with heat and felt a little queasy and most definitely was hungry. While the rest of the hikers were planning a lake swim, I was cooking dinner. They came back, unable to swim due to excessive mud getting to the lake, and instead joined me in cooking dinner. We all planned to hike after dinner another 3.6 miles up to the top of a ridge to get closer to tomorrow’s planned mid-morning stop at a McDonald’s just .4 miles off the trail where we will cross I-15 at Cajon Pass.
Jump Back and Pepper Man decided to stay for the night at the picnic area. The five of us (Nitro, Doodlebug, Phantom, Good To Go, and me) pushed out of the picnic area around 7pm, figuring we would be night hiking by moonlight to our planned stopping place. Near the beginning of our climb, we encountered a PCT detour sign which pitched us straight up the mountain with a steep ascent. I got excited about the climb because for the first time on the PCT I felt like I was on the AT in New Hampshire or Maine. I pushed up the steep climb with Good To Go and we were able to make the ridgeline before darkness fell.
There were excellent views from the ridge looking back down to the lake, and in the other direction a view to the desert floor as well as mountains that we will soon climb to and cross over. We found a flat spot with a nearly full moon and the Big Dipper directly overhead. Doodlebug and I encountered another rattlesnake (juvenile) on the trail this afternoon. The score is now Rabbit 6, Phantom 5 in the rattlesnake department. Unfortunately, as we continue our general west northwesterly trek toward the Los Angeles area, we are seeing lots of smog across out wide open views to surrounding valleys and mountains, and we are no doubt breathing polluted air in mass quantities as we sweat and toil long trail miles.
Still, So Cal is beautiful! On a technical note, the PCT lacks the regular routine trail maintenance that one usually encounters on East Coast trails. We routinely encounter overgrown shrubs that tear at the skin as well as grassy areas that are at times over our heads. Many of the side slabs on mountain sides are washed out or have experienced rock/mudslides, making the walking at times difficult and sometimes dangerous.
Today’s weather: sunny and cool, then hot. Low: 52; high 98. Today’s mileage 23.3; cumulative mileage: 331.9.
