PCT Day 28 – 30

PCT Day 28

Our friends joined us in sleeping late this morning. We hatched a plan over breakfast to hitch into town to take care of some dealings at the post office and then hitch up to Vincent Gap where we would summit Baden- Powell and then get a ride around a fire closure.

It turns out three of our friends are Eagle Scouts and felt a strong desire to summit the mountain named after the Boy Scouts founder. Rachel and I wanted to to join them and since the trail was closed after the summit we slack packed to the top.

Slack packing is hiking without a backpack. With no packs and following a zero our legs felt like they could summit Everest….but Baden-Powell worked too.

After the mountain we got a ride from a trail angel around the fire closure. The closure covered about 20 road miles. A quarter mile from where the trail resumed we came across an overturned car resting on its roof in the ditch. Since Rachel is a nurse and I’m and EMT the duty to check things out fell to us and two wilderness first aid hikers. We crawled out of the SUV to check on the driver of the car. The passenger compartment had little intrusion and the air bags did not deploy. We found no sign of a patient or a person.

We moved on and enjoyed a beer at the trailhead before hiking to camp.

PCT Day 29

The roasting temperature in our tent woke us up early this morning. We planned to hike 20 miles and the more before the hottest part of the day the better.

This is one of the drier sections of the trail, with few natural water sources. The only water source today is a rural California State Fire Station. We drank water in the shade of a pit toilet and filled our 7 liter water capacity completely.

Hiking into the fire station we encountered a very grumpy rattlesnake. It didn’t like our presence and also didn’t feel like moving off the trail. Rachel and I gave it a wide berth and waited about 20 minutes. When we came back it gratefully decided to move on.

We hiked through layers of ocotillo and poodle dog bush during another ascent in the Angeles National Forest. As we approached the ridge the sound of motorcycles emerged from the trees and startled us. Alas, it was only the powerful flap produced by the California Quail, but it was impressively loud. We settled on top of the ridge for the night and could make out the lights of Los Angeles in the distance.

PCT Day 30

The mornings on the trail blur together. They start with an alarm, groggy hikers, some oatmeal and maybe some coffee. Every so often a morning is so different from the norm it sticks with you forever. Today was the latter.

The same marine layer that soaked us a few days ago settled in overnight, but this time we camped thousands of feet above the clouds. The first few miles gave the illusion of walking on marshmallows, but the rocks beneath our feet kept us grounded.

After the clouds burned off we arrived at the KOA outside Acton CA. This traditional car campground felt like an abandoned carnival crossed with Disneyland. It was quirky with nice hiker amenities, like showers, good frozen food options, and a pool.

We stayed there for the night resting and playing cards. At dusk the campground showed the movie Up.