Day 37
Start: Maxwell Rd.
Finish: Pine Canyon Rd.
Daily Mileage: 21
PCT Mile: 510.9
It got incredibly windy last night. We were on top of a ridge, though in a grove of oak trees which partially protected us, but strong gusts kept coming along and buffeting us. I had to put my earplugs in to get some sleep. Didn’t sleep the best, but got enough.
First thing this morning, there were lots of comments on the amount of Poodle Dog Bush on the trail ahead, and one hiker went as far as saying it was hell to get through in the trail comments. Many suggested walking the road to get around the section, but I’ve been here before on this trail a few times already, and decided that I wanted to see the trail and what was so bad about it before I decided to walk around it on a road.
The stretch of trail in question was in a burn area that looked like it had burned in the past few years. There were the typical tree skeletons, but also there was a lot of fresh erosion on the ground which can happen when the vegetation holding the ground together disappears in a fire. Overall, it gave the area a young and raw feel, like the land was rapidly changing and deciding what it wanted to be when it grew up. I quite liked it.
There was definitely some Poodle Dog Bush, but for the most part it was few and far between. There had obviously been work done on the trail to clear it in the vicinity on the trail, and it was trivial to dodge the remaining stalks of the bush leaning over the trail. Some of the comments warning of this section were definitely overstated, and I’m glad that I trusted my instincts to ignore them and make my own judgement. I left my own comments to try to combat the Fake News.
After leaving the first burn area, we entered a series of magical oak forests that shaded the land and held in the moisture. This let bright green grasses and miner’s lettuce grow under them in an unbroken carpet. Where the trail did lazy turns through these areas it was incredibly idyllic and stunning. The miner’s lettuce in particular liked to grow in these areas with its circular leaves and white flowers. I liked this the most as the sea of white and green in the sparse oak forest was amazing.
There was a climb in the middle of the day when it was heating up. Though it was getting warmer, the wind kept up making it bearable. I powered up the climb quickly. Near the top I was looking at my map to make sure I didn’t pass an upcoming water source when I noticed that I blew right past the 500 mile mark and didn’t notice any signs of it. I was 2 miles beyond when I even realized. I’m not really counting up these markers because there will be 26 of these milestones throughout the trail, but this particular mark brings The Proclaimers to mind.
At the top of the mountain there was a cistern full of water for a rare mountain top water source. Usually you grab it down below and have to carry it up. We were doing great on time, so we took a break where we were able to take in the expanse of the Mojave Desert below us. We will be crossing it starting tomorrow, and it looks very flat and hot. This is one of those notable points of the trail that you hear about ahead of time, so it will be interesting to see how it actually plays out.
Continuing on, the trail was more of the same and mostly passed through the magical oak forests. I kept taking pictures even though they probably all looked similar. Maybe in summation they will better relay the overall experience. I started going slower and took a break in the midst of the forest to relax in its peacefulness.
Shortly after, the trail began to descend towards the desert. I got enough phone signal to confirm the miner’s lettuce was in face miner’s lettuce, and which point I dug in a few times as I was walking since it was everywhere. Good fresh flavor, and quite the departure from our normal dry fare which gets old really quickly. I could see this being something I keep grabbing as I head north to give me something green on trail which is much desired. Though pizza and burgers are also much desired.
I descended to the camp that Cookie Monster and I were planning to stay at. I was before 4, and Cookie Monster arrived slightly after I did. He suggested hitting the next camp which sounded great to me, since that would shorten tomorrow when we were passing through town, so we continued downward.
We left my beloved oak forests and the vegetation got shorter as we went, though many different varieties of bushes that I hadn’t seen yet on the trail. It was a quick downhill to the next camp next to a flowing stream. There were plenty of spots free and a few other hikers around.
I’ve started supplementing my dinners with extra food since I need the calories. I made quite the pot of food tonight, and even added some green on top since the miner’s lettuce is everywhere.
I really enjoyed the forests today. They were quite different than the rest of the trail and not at all what I would have expected in the desert, especially so close to the Mojave desert in particular. Goes to show that you can’t have expectations from section to section of the trail.
