PCT Days 12-16

Day 16: June 7th mile 367-369.3, 2.3mi
We slept in until the sun was too in our faces, crawled out of bed and lazily packed up. We hiked the 2 miles to the highway crossing and caught a hitch into town. We had a wonderful big breakfast after stopping at the hiker friendly hardware store. We will have dinner tonight and staying with an awesome host family I met in 2017. So far we are enjoying the mellow day off. At dinner we ended up seeing a bunch of hikers we had seen earlier, including Amanda who I hiked with for a few days to Palm Springs. Super fun to be in a group of hikers having a grand ol’ time.

Day 15: June 6th mile 342.9- 367.1 24.2mi
I didn’t sleep great as we were camped close to the railroad tracks. All night we heard trains and their horns as they ascended and descended the cajon pass grade. We got up sorta early and headed off. The day consisted of 6,000ft of vertical gain from the low desert into the ponderosa pines. The day warmed up quickly and the grade was consistent. Consistent slight incline felt great and I was moving efficiently and in my element. As the morning turned into afternoon things warmed up and the scarcity of shade started to wear on us. We met another couple hikers and chatted with them a bit. Finally we made it to the pines and had good shade. As the sun began setting we were at the Guffy CG where we yogi’d (finagled without asking) some snacks from the car campers. We pushed the last 3 miles, which were beautiful, to our campsite for the night.

Day 14: June 5th mile 318-342.9 24.9mi
Margot and I woke up early with McDonald’s on the mind. We got going and hiked over the mojave dam. We were at Silverwood lake not too late and chatted with some day users for the lake while we lounged in the shade. We got up and heading on to the next picnic area. There we ended up taking a break for over an hour. We swam and filled up water and chatted. We met up with Matt as we were about to leave and hiked on with him into the afternoon. We had a hot climb and it was mid-day. After some climbing and descending we were baking in the sun. By then we were pretty close to the McDonald’s that we really started moving. We hustled the last couple hours and ended up at the legendary McDonald’s of Cajon pass. We went in, ice cream machine broke of course, and I got a slushie and some fries. We were mad that we couldn’t sit inside so we sat outside in the wind. The joys of hiking….. then we went to a taco truck and I got a bomb bean burrito with some veg. We went to a gas station, bought some staples and hiked out and to our camp. We all drank our gas station beers on the way to camp. Bellies full and tired we laid down next to a cottonwood tree near the railroad tracks. I hope I can get some good sleep tonight.

Day 13: June 4th mile 291.9- 318, 26.1mi
I woke up a bit early and lay in bed. Since I was starting with Matt I spent a little time waiting for him to pack up. We hit the trail and I was hungry eating hella snacks for the first couple hours. Right away we passed a number of hikers and chatted with some of them. At a tall bridge we stopped for a morning break and I swam. It was chilly but boy howdy am I glad I did!! We hiked on and it got hot. Not too far down we stopped for another break and I dipped my feet in the water there. Matt needed some time to rest so Margot, who I met that morning, and I took off headed for deep creek hot springs. We got there pretty tired and hot from the day. We swam and talked with some other folks who had hiked in to enjoy the springs. One guy was very friendly and offering us wine, of course he was in the buff!! We hung out there for a bit chatting and I swam again before we took off. Matt arrived just as we were about to leave and unfortunately I said bye to him. We had a hot hike above deep creek and found a campsite a bit further. Tomorrow we are hoping to get to McDonald’s before too late in the evening. We have already started thinking about our orders. I don’t think I’ve been to a McDonald’s since 4 years ago when I visited the same one while on the PCT then.


Day 12: June 3rd Mile 266.1-291.9, 25.8mi
Woke up a bit earlier than I wanted, oh well. Had an awesome breakfast Kenny made for us. We had eggs, french toast, potatoes, fruit salad, juice, and coffee. It was killer. I woke up hungry even after all the food I ate last night. I tried to eat as much as I could during breakfast. I was dropped off at the trailhead with Matt, who I had met a couple days before. We hiked all day long and had great conversation. We took a few nice breaks in the shade but overall the trail was pretty enjoyable and easy walking. There was a light breeze throughout the day and we stayed high and in the trees. It was a nice break from the low hot desert. A bit after midday, Matt and I met up with a group of 3 hikers. One was from Boston area and had hiked in the Whites quite a bit and the other two guys were from Reno, NV and Atlanta area. We had good conversation and excellent views. We stopped at a spring next to a dry creek and they decided to setup camp for the night there. We hiked on until around 9pm, unknowingly passing the last flat spot a bit around 8 and having to hike further than we’d like. Matt considers himself a pizza connoseior and we discussed all the intricacies of ingredients, cooking types, crust thickness, etc. He appreciates the diversity of pizza and all it’s unique creations though he doesn’t eat Domino’s.