Embedded Files
May 5, 2011:
On the road at 6.
6:10 - Third Gate (91.2). Giant water cache!
11:20 - Great angel stop:
WALLY and GINNY (PRINCESS)
1619 Buckskin Drive
Escondido, CA 92029
DOUG and MARILYN also.
"SLACK PACKING" - sending your stuff ahead.
"FLIP FLOPPING" - Doing different sections out of order and/or direction.
EMILY MATHEWS (HALF STEP): daughter-in-law of Max Mathews, the "father of computer music" - Stanford. Daughter RAMBLING ROSE.
12:20 - After drinks and hot dogs, I'm off.
4:15 - Onto highway, hitch to Warner Springs (109.6). Doubled up with DAN: $27/night each in bungalow. Hot and cold pools, washer/dryer (but 4 hr wait), will try restaurant tonight. Feeling achey, especially sides of lower back. It was another hot day, but a little bit of wind in the afternoon helped. Tried out my umbrella - seems pretty good, glad I have it. But pack seemed heavy, even when I was down to very little food and water. Am I packing it badly? Tomorrow I'll send some stuff home, and pick up the box of meals I sent to myself 4/21. Took 3 Ibuprofen (VITAMIN I), will see how I feel tomorrow. Other hikers having problems, too: blisters, mainly. I have a small one on my left little toe, but I put moleskin on it, and it seems to be doing OK.
Saw PATCH at the pool. He says it's better to hike mornings and afternoons, and rest during middays. I'll try that next. Walking all day is tough!
Met CRUMBS at dinner - she was hanging with PATCH. She did the AT with SPOCK and TWIGGY.
How's this for a water cache?
And how's this for Trail Angels?
Went off the trail a bit to see this somewhat famous rock formation, but I don't remember anything about it now.
May 6, 2011
"GRAM WEENIE" - someone obsessed with weight.
Great night in a real bed, after yesterday afternoon's swim/soak in two pools (one thermal, one fresh and cool). Breakfast at golf shop with DAN and four others. Spotted SUNSHINE, 11 years old (birthday 4 days ago), who is hiking with her dad BALLS.
Last night figured out how to download maps and waypoints. Cleaning up addresses on iPhone this morning. Will try to email photos to myself regularly. Will hang today with DAN, whose feet are killing him - he may take another day off. Will pick up my box of meals and mail some stuff home, then head out late afternoon.
"HIKER BOX" - stuff left by hikers for others.
Guy with mohawk: had hair trimmed at "LOCKS FOR LOVE" at kickoff: hair donated to chemo patients; must be 10 inches long minimum.
May 7, 2011
Second night at Warner Springs. Will send stuff home, pack for 2+ days to Idyllwild. One last shower...
Breakfast yesterday: $10.
Dinner last night: $10
Breakfast this morning: $10
Checked out at noon: $42 for two nights!
Started walking at 12:30, with 2 l in platypus. Sent bunch of stuff home. Pack now feels WONDERFUL. Amazing improvement over two days ago. Even my lower back right sideache is (almost) gone. The zero day really worked.
2:30 - Guy on horseback on trail; he and his son are entering a Pony Express horse race this Summer: St. Louis MO to Virginia City, NV; around 2,000 miles. He'll go with a half dozen horses.
5:40 - Lost Valley Spring (119.5)
6:00 - stopped for night beside trail. Bedding down on sand surrounded by beautiful outcroppings of boulders. 4,800 ft - can see for miles.
May 8, 2011
10:00 - mile 127. 50 deg, foggy, wet, windy. Met LIL' STEPS! Got water at Casa Herrera (he wasn't there).
NIDO milk is the best!
2:45 - Turnoff to Tule Spring (136.6). Stopped for around 1 hr with another half dozen hikers. Got water, ate a meal. Will rest, hike a little more. Tomorrow: Paradise Cafe (cheeseburgers!)
Li'l Steps
May 9, 2011
Called Caren: Happy Birthday! Spent last night on sand by river. Drippy rain, awoke with tent really sagging, cold wind, fog. Hands frozen - I had sent home gloves the day before! Cold, cold day. But by noon came across trail angels, including TALL PAUL, who cooked me a great omelette with cheese, spinach, and mushrooms, wrapped in a tortilla. Then RON's nephew drove us to the fabled SUNSHINE CAFE (1 m) for an amazing cheeseburger. Back on trail by 1:30, hiked in fog steadily uphill until 6900 ft, where I am now camped. Sure hope it doesn't get any worse. Wearing down pants for first time - so far so good. Lost sun hat today (next time: safety pin them to my shoulder strap!) Phoned Hal, Mark, land the Phoebe lady, and wrote Anders; all to see if I can get a ride next Monday back to trail after Edie's memorial service, but no luck so far. May have to take the bus and/or hitchhike.
Feet holding up well, as long as I don't walk all day without a break. STARVING MARVIN's feet in bad shape after a 33 mile day. Not my style...
May 10, 2011
Idyllwild. Long, tough day. Woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the windward side of my tent - but it held! Completely dry inside.
TO DO: dental floss, pen, powdered milk, Steripen, postcards
May 11, 2011
Idyllwild (178.6) Great night at Idyllwild Inn in a cabin with EGG MAN, BARB (SWEET BIRD), HALF STEP (mom), RAMBLING ROSE (daughter), and FLASH (ex PCV). Came down Devil's Slide late afternoon after a day of wind, fog, snow banks, but gorgeous scenery, reminiscent of Chinese mountain landscapes. The San Jacinto Mts are among the most beautiful I have seen, and the trail is magnificent. I had left my iPhone on all night, so no pictures! Then I tried plugging my iPhone into the solar panel all day ignoring the beeps, and it ended up flat, so no mountain photos. Hmmn - need a new strategy for charging the iPhone.
Breakfast of eggs & pancakes (last night: steak!). Now need to figure out where Caren can meet me. Anders has said he can drive me back to the trailhead!
Feet in great shape. Just need to eat more regularly. Lost my fuel on the trail yesterday.
Ordered Big Agnes tent from REI - to be delivered to Big Bear City P.O..
Tomorrow we get a ride from the owner of the Idyllwild Inn to the trailhead at Humber Park. Then EGG MAN, FLASH, HALF STEP, RAMBLING ROSE, and I head back up the dreaded Devil's Slide - 2.5 miles, 1200 vertical feet - and head north. Next water: at mile 185, we should load up, because the next reliable source is at Snow Creek (206), 25 miles later: a 3 foot tall concrete water fountain at Snow Canyon Road.
Dinner: chicken, broccoli, pizza, Salad - prepared by the girls.
FLASH left her poles by the hiker box. So HALF STEP and I will take the 8:15 ride (provided by the manager) to the trailhead, while FLASH will buy poles at 9 and then try to catch up with us. We all want to get past Fuller's Ridge and to the campground tomorrow (2.5 m to the top of Devil's Slide, another 12 to the campground, past the dreaded Fuller's Ridge and its snow).
2:30 - Stopped for last water before Snow Canyon. Met POST OP and husband HOME MADE. FLASH found her poles this morning and caught up with us. About to tackle Fuller's Ridge: Snow! Steep! No micro spikes! Beautiful day, easy hike up Devil's Slide. Boy does a zero day help.
Thanks for the pizza, girls.
May 12, 2011
6 pm - Arrived at Fuller Ridge campsite, with at least two dozen others. The snow thru the ridge was much less of a deal than earlier reports had led me to expect - only slipped and fell once. FLASH handed out coconut M&M's, another guy a chocolate bar. Sat next to POST OP and HAND MADE - he made their packs, tarp, bug netting, two person sleeping quilt, stuff sacks, divvy bags. FUCKING GENTLE SPIRIT serenaded us with oldies (his name on the AT was JUKEBOX).
"TRAIL CRACK" - what you see when some is kneeling over fixing his/her tent. Cf "PLUMBER CRACK". When you see someone's butt crack, call out "CRACK KILLS".
2:45: Snow Canyon
May 13, 2011
4 PM: Under I-10. About 15 other hikers under the bridge. Angels have left cold drinks. Two hikers hitched in to Cabazon and brought back 24 bacon burgers, 12 chicken burgers, 12 apple pies, 6 large fries, and many ketchups from Burger King.
JOHN got his trail name: GOOSE, as in Mother Goose, because he lost his hat, and fashioned a bonnet out of his other clothing.
I lost my Lawrence of Arabia hat a few days ago. I fashioned headgear out of my handkerchief: a sweat band over my eyebrows, covered two-thirds of my ears, and most of the back of my neck. Only the top of my head is truly exposed. Been very good about chap stick and sun cream.
Pocket contents:
Left below: knife, chopstick, sun cream, emergency light, thermometer.
Left top: iPhone
right bottom: garbage and SPOT
right top: maps, water sources, etc.
GENTLE SPIRIT started a party for our group under the I-10 on Facebook: all night, bring beer and flashlight.
Rules:
1. No babies
2. Don't be a douche bag
3. Don't die
Corollary: If you must die, make it spectacular
GENTLE SPIRIT is a former marine and a professional nightclub singer.
POST OP showed me where she lost her right little toenail.
Phoned Caren. She's on the road, will be here in 1 1/2 hrs (9 pm). What a dear! Worst night of the week - Friday - for driving.
Today, walked 19 m.
May 14, 2011
Caren drove me home last night from Cabazon (Mile 210). Ah, the bed!
TO DO: powdered milk, better pen, new notebook, how to load pictures into iPhone, change phone msg, Nido milk, Marcia's b'day present?, shoes in Ventura, thermos, iPod, Swiss Miss chocolate
My weight: 177 lb.
Google Sites
Report abuse