Thursday, May 6, 2021

Day 6 - May 3

Tenting at Agua Caliente Creek (mile 112.5). Walked 18.1 miles today.

Was awake for about 3 hours during the night while the wind howled. When I awoke at 5 am, all was quiet. There was zero wind. While packing up, Lost and Found said "There's less sand in my hair this morning! I'd call that a win. Or rather a wind..." I think I've found my people.

Emily, Lost and Found, and I packed up and headed out at 6am. The trail was similar to yesterday, walking along a contour. Early on, we rounded a turn and were met with a sea of clouds in the valley below with some mountains poking up out of the cloud sea.
Got the chorus to the song "Roundabout" by Yes stuck in my head when I saw that scene: In and around the lake/mountains come out of the sky/they stand there.
We dropped down in elevation and after only a couple hours, we reached a spot on the trail with the number 100. We had just hiked 100 miles of the PCT. Only 2,550 to go.
Still it was an accomplishment and we celebrated for a minute before moving on and arriving at barrel spring which apparently has a problem with rats getting into their spring box and drowning, thus contaminating the water to the gravity fed trough where the water is piped. I didn't drink any, but it apparently tasted pretty gross. Maybe John Marshall SWCD has some solutions. Moved on and entered an open pasture with an active cattle grazing operation. The scenery alternated between oak woodland and wide open grassland.

Not sure what the cattle are eating because it all seems to be invasive grasses that Emily pointed out to me the other day. She is still non-committal about No Whey as a name. We continued on, passing Eagle Rock which looks amazingly just like an eagle.
The next three miles were busy with day hikers going to the rock. We got to Warner Springs and did a 1-mile road walk to the post office where we all had resupply boxes waiting.

Packages in hand, we went outside and picked through our goodies. I had packed WAY too much food. Not sure what I was thinking when I prepared this box but ended up giving some to Lost and Found and putting the rest in the hiker box where someone else will hopefully enjoy it. I still have more than enough food, but it's good stuff that I really want to keep. Daddi-o, Champion (who we've leapfrogged several times over the past few days and is always amazed that I don't use poles), and a female named Desert Flower (not to be confused with the aforementioned Desert Flower who is male) were also going through their boxes. Lost and Found came back from the gas station convenience store to announce she'd just gotten paid $1 to get snacks. The person who had just left had put a $10 bill on the counter and told the clerk to let the next hiker spend it on whatever they wanted. She spent $9 and got $1 as change. Emily and I went to try to find a safer way to the trail than the road walk (with cars passing at 55 mph). We found a trail but it dead ended at a golf course. We found an alternative route (climbing over a gate) and ended up at the Warner Springs Community Center which has provided resources to hikers in yesrs past. Due to COVID, they're not operating, but the gate was open and other hikers were hanging around. We hung out for a bit before setting off again.

Emily and I are camping at a site along the creek with an older couple (Cracker and Soft Soul) who are thru hiking. Lost and Found pushed on another couple of miles to camp with Desert Flower and a couple of others that we've met over the past few days. We'll plan to catch her tomorrow morning.

11 comments:

  1. So I’ll quiz you on what to pack this weekend for your first Mom box.

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  2. This is my fav post so far. I spotted a couple heart rocks in 100 mile marker (congratulations!! to you all) 100 at a time... Eagle Rock is beautiful and aptly named and in your last photo it looks as if it's totem flew ahead to guide the way. #askmichael - has anyone attempted to give you a trail name, and will you tell? Hike on! xo

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    1. Emily has suggested Cruise Control as I tend to hike uphill about as fast as flat ground or downhill, but I'm lukewarm on that name.

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    2. That must mean you’re in good shape!

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    3. Cruise Control! I like it! Cruisin' with No Poles ;-)

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    4. https://www.spiritanimal.info/eagle-spirit-animal/

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  3. Congratulations on your first 100. :) I've enjoyed every post and picture.. and mostly your telling of how how folks help one another. Looking forward to your trail name. Happy trails.

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  4. Hooray for 100! I knew Eagle Rock was coming up - pretty cool to see it in person, I'm sure! I really love Lost and Found getting paid to get snacks too.

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    1. Thanks! It was cool but it wasn't in the landscape that I had imagined. It was on a hill in this wide open cattle pasture.

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  5. "There's less sand in my hair this morning! I'd call that a win. Or rather a wind..." I think I've found my people.

    Hahaha what an awesome comment. I'm only 6 days in and I hope to hear more about these characters in the upcoming blogs. Your log reads like a non-fiction novel...keep it up!

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