Poodle dog and detours

Now enjoying a rest day in the shade, at Agua Dulce (mile 454.5) on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. We're staying with trail angels again, the Saufleys, at what they call "Hiker Heaven" - and it really is. They host up to 50 hikers in tents and trailers in their yard - we're sleeping in a horse box. Last night we stayed up really late (10.30pm!!) drinking beer with other hikers around a campfire. It was really wonderful to get clean, and relax and enjoy the evening - it's been a tough section.

Hotel California

For the most part, the PCT is a proper footpath with clear waymarking, following mountain ridges and offering great views. But since we left Big Bear City 10 days ago, we've had four detours to contend with.

The first one, the 2-day Deep Creek Detour, was because of landslides wiping out sections of trail in a narrow canyon. As far as we knew, the detour was still in effect, so off we went down a hot and dusty dirt road - and before long noticed there were no other hiker footprints. It turned out that everyone else knew that Deep Creek was still passable. We decided to carry on anyway, then the dirt road gradually turned into an off road vehicle racetrack, with a massive camber on every bend - great fun to drive I'm sure, but walking ...

Next up was the Endangered Species detour, to avoid disturbing some rare toads, 5 miles on tarmac then a side trail, not too bad; then the Station Fire Detour along dirt roads to avoid a huge area destroyed by wildfire.

And then, longest of all, the Poodle Dog Bush Detour. Poodle dog bush is a horrible plant which flourishes in burnt out areas, which causes severe blistering rashes which last for weeks. Some sections of trail are covered in it, necessitating the Poodle Dog Dance as hikers try to get past without touching it.

Neil and poodle dog bush

But it hasn't been all bad. There have been some great views (going up Mount Baden-Powell at 9399 feet was a highlight), some great people (we finally got to meet Lumbar and ChooChoo - Lumbar hiked the PCT with our friend Jim "Milky" Bispham from Kendal in 2007), and a really good stop at Wrightwood. An unexpected bonus of the trail is getting to visit some great little towns, and some really outstanding cafes. Breakfast at the Evergreen Cafe in Wrightwood immoblised us for hours!

Lumbar, ChooChoo, Neil and Tanya

Tanya and Neil on Mt Baden-Powell

Planning to leave this oasis of shade at 4.30am tomorrow - there's a hot dry desert crossing of 24 miles coming up, and we want to make the most of the cool morning hours!

Living by the water report

100 miles further along the trail, and enjoying a very welcome rest day at Big Bear City (mile 265 from the Mexican border). We had been in town for about 5 minutes when a lady recognised us as PCT hikers, and introduced herself as a trail angel - one of an amazing bunch of people who go to great lengths to help out PCT hikers. Her name is Bobbie, and we're now staying in her and her husband John's home for 2 nights. She has driven us everywhere we needed to go, fed us, entertained us and mothered us - it's been lovely!

We've had a tough stretch of hiking since leaving Idyllwild (mile 160), with the best scenery and most enjoyable walking of the trail so far. The traverse of the San Jacinto mountains took 3 days and it was hard. We had a long hot ascent, with both of us noticing the effects of altitude as we reached 7300 feet. We have a copy of the water report http://www.4jeffrey.net/pct/ which lists springs, caches and other water sources along the way, with updates from hikers on their reliability. Unfortunately the water source we were relying on for this stretch turned out to be a rusty cattle trough filled with yellowy water with worms swimming in it. Foolishly Tanya turned her nose up at it (Neil had more faith in our filters and water treatment tablets!) and we ended up getting horribly thirsty - the next water source being 10 miles further on and about 500 feet below the trail!

Bonnie and Tanya in the San Jacinto Mountains

So the next day, when we got to a good water source, we stocked up with 5 litres of water each, adding 5kg to each of our backpack weights - and then passed lots of flowing springs along the trail. Oh well. We also had added entertainment along the way from traversing steep patches of snow - we had taken ice axes and crampons just in case, but the only hazard was falling through the snow into voids below (postholing).

Then we had a long 13 mile descent back down into the desert to the San Gorgonio Pass, another thirsty day where we got our water from a pool in a dry creek bed, and a reedy pool under a rock - now having decided we were thirsty enough not to be fussy! It was a great moment as we walked through the underpass below the interstate highway, and found that the local trail angels, Ziggy and the Bear, had left cool boxes full of cans of pop and bottled beers for thirsty hikers to help themselves! This is known as 'trail magic'.

Filtering water in creek bed

Mt San Jacinto from San Bernardino Wilderness

The following day, after staying with Ziggy and the Bear, we headed up into the San Bernardino Wilderness - not as spectacular as San Jacinto, but with some really great walking, and some great company too. There is a bunch of us who walk at about the same pace and keep meeting up at rest breaks and camping spots. There's Georgia from Portland, Oregon, who is about 5 foot nothing, and has had a bad knee since about day 2, but is tough as anything and just keeps going and going. There's Rabbit from Florida, who has a pet mouse called Ella with her on the trail, and very much believes in doing things her own way. And there's John, trail name Lone Wolf, and Gail, aka Nightingale, who are calm, steady, experienced hikers who are great company and also full of good helpful information.

Neil, Lone Wolf and Georgia taking a break

It was great to go out last night with Rabbit and Lone Wolf for some locally brewed beer at the Big Mountain Brewery - looking forward to getting back onto the trail tomorrow though!

Hot feet & rattlesnakes

Us at the PCT Southern Terminus

 Set off north from Campo by the Mexican border fence last Monday. It's been a very hard 10 days! and a steep learning curve too. It's our first experience of hiking in a desert, and its been HOT, damn hot! We've been told it's been 100 degrees Fahrenheit and it certainly felt it. We made the big mistake of wearing our tried and tested Scarpa boots for the first 100 miles, with boiled and blistered feet as a result. They have now been swapped for lighter boots (Patagonia Drifters) and our feet are starting to recover.

We've been amazed at how diverse the scenery has been - from hot dry desert with cacti and snakes, to tall pine forest with snow patches and cool clean mountain air, and back again in a day! Also lush meadows, huge old oak trees, leafy canyons, sun baked chaparral, and granite boulder fields. The trail is brilliantly constructed, mostly very good underfoot and with a good even gradient, which makes for good steady walking.

Neil at Mount Laguna

 Not too many wildlife encounters so far, thank goodness. Though our first meeting with a rattlesnake was a way-too-close encounter for my liking! I was walking about 10 metres behind Neil as usual, when I heard a shout, looked up and saw a load of coils tumbling down the slope above the trail towards Neil. Neil leaped forward as the snake fell on the path between us, rattling away. After whipping out my camera for some photos, I then had the problem of how to get past it! Shouting and stamping made no impression, so Neil started throwing rocks towards it. Still no result, just lots more rattling, until a rock actually fell on to it and it retreated behind a rock about 2 metres off the trail, and I sprinted past and away.

Sadly the snake didn't accept its defeat graciously, and rattled at the next 3 hikers who walked past, as we found out later that day. We had to apologise for putting him in such a foul mood.

Pissed off rattlesnake

Other hikers out on the trail at night have reported sighting big cats on the prowl along the trail, but we've not seen one yet - and we're quite happy for it to stay that way!

Currently having a couple of days off in Idyllwild waiting for a storm to pass, before heading up into the San Jacinto mountains with our ice axes and crampons - looking forward to it.

Last minute nerves

Finally, we are ready to go, rucksacks are packed and weighed and our 'lightweight' approach has been found wanting. They weigh a ton. To be more precise, base weights of 9.8kg (Tanya) and 10.2kg (Neil). With 3 days of food and 5 litres of water our starting weights are going to be around the 17kg mark. We've carried these weights before, but something will have to go before we pick up our ice axes and crampons. Nervous? Definitely, but still looking forward to getting started in the morning.

Off to bed now, getting up at 5:15 for a 6:00am drive to Campo on the Mexican border, should be starting to head north by 7:30.... 

Things to do in San Diego when you're ....

Sunny California

Here we are in San Diego, California, and it's ...raining. And windy. But we don't start walking until Monday, so we are hoping it improves! We had planned to mail our waterproof trousers, ice axes and crampons to ourselves a long way up the trail, but are now carrying full waterproofs with us from the start, and the snow gear is going to Warner Springs, about seven days walk away (120 miles).

We are being very well looked after by Scout and Frodo, who open their home to PCT hikers every year, and feed them and ferry them to the Mexican border to start the hike. It really is PCT Central here, with all the information and facilities we could possibly want. There are hikers from Israel, Switzerland, France, Arizona and Philadelphia, all preparing with varying degrees of nervousness to start their hike.

Walking boots versus trainers, the debate is ongoing - early signs are that the Europeans will be in boots and Americans in trainers, but it could all change!

Packing at last

After months of list-making and weeks of shopping, the time has finally come to throw everything into battered old suitcases. My lightweight rucksack is far too delicate to get thrown onto a plane on its own, hence the case.
Here's Neil in our yard, moments before it started to rain (inevitable really)!
Tomorrow we leave Kendal; spending the next few days with friends and family before flying out to San Diego on Wednesday.

One chilly night!

Testing our tarp tent

Last night we tried out our new tarp tent - a silicon-coated nylon skin with a mosquito net inner. It only weighs a kilo and sets up with two walking poles. It's not really designed for the British climate though, chilly in the night and heavy condensation this morning, but should be good in California.

Our tarp tent is the Lunar Duo from Six Moon Designs.

Not long now ...

Just 8 days to go before we hand over our house to our tenants, Graham and Phil, and so much to do!

There's been some last minute shopping as a result of the 11th hour warm weather training - lighter everything required. Still need to figure out how to attach my umbrella to my rucksack though!

Current plan is to try out the tarptent tonight, see how easy it is to put up, and how cold it is inside, having only a mozzie-net inner.

We've also been playing with our SPOT device to persuade it to talk to our blog and update our position, so apologies if the PCT appears to start in Kendal.