Day 18
Start: North Fork Mission Creek
Finish: Balky Horse Canyon
Daily Mileage: 15
Trip Mileage: 257.7
There had been much discussion and fear mongering about what to do about the trail today, or the lack thereof. The trail had apparently been completely wiped out by Hurricane Hillary, and the options were to skip the whole section, go up the original route either in the creek or on fragments of the old trail with a supposed 25 foot waterfall climb, or climb a trailless ridge to hook back up with the PCT.
I had decided on the ridge route as I’ve done a fair bit of off-trail scrambling and the grade didn’t look too bad. It also sounded like most of the hikers were taking this route.
Cookie Monster and I had to climb a bit before we got to the turnoff for the ridge route. In total, we had to go up 2,200 feet from our camp to rejoin the PCT in about 2.5 miles. A nice healthy climb.
The turnoff to the ridge route was clearly marked on the trail with stones, and a green bandanna was tied to a tree at the start of the ridge to get oriented. There had been a fire in the area a few years back, so there was mainly low brush which was easy enough to navigate through. There was a faint way trail from the hikers before, but it appeared and disappeared at points where the route had choke points or other obvious travel paths.
We picked our way up and quickly transitioned from the first ridge to the main ridge via a wide saddle. From there, there were many options to choose your own way up. It was steeper than a normal trail, but I have also been on steeper maintained trails. The entire climb was not difficult, and I did not feel exposed or in danger the entire way up. It seemed quite safe to me. However, I have done this type of trailless climb extensively in the past, so perhaps that influenced my mindset. In any case, I think this route should be safe for most hikers as long as they are open to find their own way without a trail.
On top, we were able to appreciate our surrounds, knowing we were safely back on trail and had accomplished the most challenging part of the day. Snow capped mountains were all around us, and there were also clear views down Mission Creek where we started, now far below. A group had collected up top to revel in the victory before dispersing as it was nearly 9am and there was still much trail to cover for the day.
We were above 8,000 feet with snow visible well below our elevation, but as long as we were on the southern side of the mountains, the sun had melted away the snow. However, when we turned the corner to the more northern exposures, we weren’t as lucky. The more limited sunlight had not yet had the chance to break through the snow, and there was crusty deep snow. However, there was a good boot path already established by other PCT hikers that we could pick our way along. The way traversed a steep slope at one point, but the boot path was good and I didn’t need to take my ice axe out. It would have been another story if I was the first person through here.
The day continued through rolling hills at high elevation, sometimes in snow, and sometimes on trail, but it wasn’t too difficult, though slow. We took breaks and didn’t have a solid target for the day. We would be in easy striking distance of town wherever we stopped, so we just let the day go and take us where it would.
There was a lot of great forest with huge old ponderosa pine and cedars in places. Even in the high mountains they were thriving.
We made good progress crossing the San Bernadino Mountains, and saw the high ranges filled with snow from rotating angles as we went around them. I wasn’t fully expecting to see the pure white snow capped peaks this far south, with not a tree to interrupt the snow on the highest. Thankfully the trail stayed a bit lower, topping out around 8,700 feet.
We stopped for the day at a flat spot we found near the trail. We were both a bit tired from all of the climbing and snow travel, and we had done enough for the day and gotten close enough to town to call it good. We had brought an extra day of food for this stretch due to the unknowns of the off-trail travel, and we were able to put most of that extra away over the past couple days. The hiker hunger is setting in, and I will need to increase my lunch supply for the next stretch of trail.
1 comment
Discovered your journey in the PCT 2024 Fb group. Really enjoyed and will be following. Enjoy your zero day!