By: Luke Baum
As the challenges continue, the rewards become greater and greater! Here is my second journal entry of my time on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), written in a slightly less formal style!
P.S. I realized it's a lot harder than I wanted to expect to keep up a blog!
Contents:
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Conclusions
Day Nine
Day nine started at the American Legion in Julian, CA. The night before was wacky: we were invited into the bar by the military men at the legion, given access to their facilities until they closed at midnight. After which, we set up camp on the cotts on the front porch. The porch was fenced in but offered little protection from the 35 degree chill the left my body sore and stiff, and by the time I woke, my face was puffy and my left ankle sported a slight pop in the achilles.
We were among the last to leave the Legion's porch, and though we didn't have to pack up any tent set-up, it took a bit to collect our things and stow away the cotts in the chill of the morning.
Next, it was time for breakfast, signaled by the recently familiar grumble in my stomach. Content to find the first place open in town (almost everywhere opened at 10 and it was 8am). Luckily around the corner, the Julian cafe was ready and open for business. Content to get back to my basics, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast burrito with a side of warm apple cider. Apples are a staple in Julian; almost every place, I came to observe sold something apple related and claimed to be "the original apple"... fill-in-the-blank. It adds a cute charm to the town.
Once breakfast was concluded, some friends from our third night in Lake Morena came to enjoy their opening day feast: Mags and Auds! They gifted us our soon-to-be much needed Leuko tape (and truth be told, I only took it because it was close enough to my name! It'll turn into something very useful for future foot blisters).
Posting on the blog was at the forefront of my mind; I committed myself to posting on the first week, and I was already a bit overdue. But this was our first "zero day" in our first major town! That meant I needed to visit the library. When it comes to typing, I prefer to use all of my fingers rather than typing on a smaller touchscreen keyboard. This library visit with its guest account computer access was just the motivation I needed to crank out a blog post!
The library was so cute inside, and I noticed the murals of wolves on several walls, created by artists ranging from elementary schoolers to professionals. There was also a galaxy projector at the front desk, which intrigued me during my conversation with the front desk worker.
I worked on the computer for several hours, until about 1pm when I finished and published my post. We didn't wanna carry our packs all around town, so we decided to check out our room at the Julian Lodge to see if it was ready (or otherwise, we could just leave our packs at the hotel) before meeting up with Pinecone to go get our free MA's Pies!
I enjoyed a delicious apple berry pie topped with cinnamon icecream with cold apple cider on the side... It was SO good! After chatting with Pinecone a bit, I became increasingly aware of my ankle's tenderness, and knew I needed to call my dad and ask for tips, whatever they may be. He's good at being aware of the body and the slight adjustments they require to start feeling better, so after a phone call with him and a real-time stretching instruction from him, my ankle was already feeling looser and easier to walk on.
After Ma's pies, we were finally able to check into our room; it felt soooo good to be in a room with a roof and walls and a bed all to myself with a TV and bathroom including a shower!!! These were all the things I had always taken for granted my whole life and finally after Nine days of sleeping outside in the wilderness, I could relax. Checkpoints in towns, I realized, were what began to keep me going. I had something to look forward to finally, when before, it was all a figment of my imagination.
Our time in luxury didn't last long, however, we still had chores to do in town, including: buying new pants for Hayley, buying snow spikes for climbing Mount San Jacinto, food resupply for until the next town (Warner Springs, ~mile 110). After dropping off our groceries, etc., we went to yet another delicious dinner, this time at the Miner's Diner.
Finally, it was time to rest. With some light stretching and ice on my body, I felt the most relaxed on trail so far. It was off to sleep.
Day Ten
On day ten, we squeezed the last bit of comfort out of the room as we cleaned up and repacked our bags before getting pastries, refilling our water at "Regular's Wanted" cafe, and hitching a hide immediately courtesy of a common trail angel of Julian known as: "The Professor".
He maintains water at Scissors Crossing under the bridge at mile 77, which is where he brought us to restart the trail. It's a vital point on the trail for anyone who doesn't travel to Julian or stays the night under the overpass, hoping to catch a ride in the morning. Not only a neat and seemingly intelligent man (insinuated by his Trail Name), but he also goes above and beyond on trail, and I know we're all thankful for him and anyone who helps us hikers out!
We started out at 11am, a little bit later of a start, but we started out strong on the hike up and back into the mountains of hills. The hills are relentless on this trail.
We walked for 14 miles straight until 5:30ish and made camp up hill from plentiful water cache about a quarter mile away. We were thirsty after hiking and we knew that we needed a lot of water until the next source at mile 101.
Our dinner was GOOD, especially satisfied by our latest bountiful resupply from Julian, including (for the first and certainly ly not the latest) ramen!! Soon after dinner, we both heard of trail magic up trail 10 miles that would be there until 2 pm!! It was our latest goal, and NEEDED to get there by then!
We had a good sleep with a new sight in our field of vision: trail magic 10 miles ahead for tomorrow.
Day Eleven
We woke up on a one track kind to get to the Trail Magic cookout, so naturally it was early to rise. We booked it up the mountains again, similar to the climb out from scissors crossing to yesterday's camp.
Before reaching the cookout, a milestone was upon us, which made everything so much sweeter: I had hiked 100 miles accross our country, with a backpack on my back! Proud of our achievement, and still only thinking about reaching the cookout with ample time to enjoy ourselves, we comtinued swiftly on our way and made it down by noon!!
It was no ordinary Trail Magic, for the Trail Angel was celebrating her birthday! She hiked the PCT in 2019, and she makes it a tradition to spread trail magic every year on her birthday after remembering how much it meant to her omg the way. She sure was right, and we all celebrated her, our milestone, and the delicious food her family provided for us all ! It certainly felt magical.
The meal included everything you could imagine at a classic American cookout conplete with vegetarian burger pattys, beers, fruit, veggies, dips, chips, cookies, and alllll the fixings!!! It was amazing. We saw Pinecone there and also many others in our bubble!!
After, we went back to the spacious site and chilled out. There a running water spigot, shade, sun, and later, the frogs would come out to add sounds to the nighttime air.
We cleaned up using mountain stream spout and tub and relaxed some more before making dinner and going to bed by 8pm, ready for a good day tomorrow!
Day Twelve
Once again, we rose early on day twelve, and I REALLY enjoyed today's walk through Warner Ranch, with sights and features that included cows, fields, creeks, hills, and magnificent eagle rock!
After 10 miles through the hilly farmland, we made it near the tiny Warner Springs town. It took us another mile off trail through the heat of the day to get to the gas mart and post office, but once we got into town, once again, the trail provided for us. This time, it was in the form of resupply made easy with the help of our friends made the day before at camp. Two really nice girls (one from NYC and the other LA) had passed through our camp at mile 101, and now they offered us granola, pretzels, protein powder, rice pasta, and treats!
Keen on spending some time in town out of the hot and high sun (and also in desperate need of charging our phones since our solar bank was failing us and fast), we realized at the picnic benches offered outside the mart.
There we met two German ladies, one called “electric” (because she has everything down to an electric toothbrush) and the other "foxy” (because of her silvery red hair). They were nice ladies who had met each other on trail and hiked the trail together at the same pace.
Once our phones were finished charging at the post office and we were done utilizing the other facilities in town, we walked a mile back to trail. A mile up trail, we found an awesome spot just uphill from Agua Caliente where earlier we spotted easy creek access and a sand bed complete with several small waterfalls. Though the spot was contested by horseback riders telling us it wasn't open to PCT hikers, an experienced hiker called "Stuff" stood up to the riders, and we got to stay anyway!
It was time for our spa day upstream at Agua Caliente! Relaxed, clean, and satisfied with our choice to take advantage of these campsites, we made it back to camp ready for dinner. This is where I got my trail name from “FOXY”! She had also decided to make camp at the site during our time at the river, and once I told her my name she shrugged and said "You're Skywalker". It just fit; it felt so simple, but it just worked! I was so content with my new trail name like I hadn't felt when the others were offered. I knew I should sleep on it before adopting the title, but almost immediately, I knew it was my trail name: "Skywalker"!!
With a belly full of warm food, I settled into my tent, had a phone call with my family, and drifted off to sleep very happy.
Day Thirteen
I woke up as Skywalker and got going at 7am, ready for the apparent five creek crossings in a row we were told of the night before. Therefore, we started off on our sandals.
Immediately after the first crossing, I felt teeny tiny pricks on the outsides of each of my big toes. The first crossing could easily be cleared by using the stepping stones provided, so I changed back into my shoes to protect my feet. The sharp twinge remain, however, so I stopped and cleared my socks and shoes of any debris, but still the prickling persisted. I sensed this was the feeling of potential blisters (my first on the trail so far!), so I covered up the afflicted spots with mole skin and Leuko tape (again, courtesy of Mags and Auds) and continued on my way.
After 4 miles of walking over the creek, it took another 10 mile climb up from the creek valley to our next water source: Mike's place. Yesterday, we were warned of Mike's place. Supposedly, Mike had two guys watching the place when he wasn't there, and those guys had caused some trouble with hikers. Regardless, we would have to use the water cache provided on the property, so it was our next destination.
We had a good 45 min break in heat of day after getting to water for Hayley at a cache about a mile off trail, and I had lunch and journaled. Jet has a feeling Mike would be there for us, and by the time we got there at 4pm, he was! It's a rare piece of luck to catch Mike at his place! He had brought beers and was preparing rice with celery, beans with peppers, tortillas, cilantro, and chicken for the meat-eaters.
We enjoyed our delicious dinner and beers and met awesome people, namely: Karen “Dora” White (age 57). Dora reminds me so much of my moms side of the family, I gravitated towards her warm, inviting, silly personality (she baked us all cornbread and Mike cut a watermelon). Mike is so generous and naturally giving.
We noticed all of the murals on the property and the paints and brushes under the awning where we ate, it was only right to make a mural of our own for the PCT class of 2023. It was so pretty and fun; I helped mix the colors and add inspiration for what Dora, our resident expert artist, would paint!
Hayley helped do some chores for Mike, and we washed the dishes after dinner. It was the least we could do for our gracious host. Curious about the rumors we heard on the hosts during his absence, we asked him how he ran his operation while he wasn't there. He mentioned he allowed two guys stay there, but after hearing of several unsavory situations involving them and hikers (not going into any details) he kicked them off the property and has maintained the property alone since the pandemic.
Mike's place offers excellent camping sites on such a charming plot of land, and we went to bed with good company and really enjoyed the day. It was SO fun!!!
Ready for bed, the stars against the silhouettes of the mountains feel so surreal and grand! I tucked in, happy for another amazing day on trail full of fun and new friends. Goodnight!
Day Fourteen
I woke at 6:15 to the sun rising in the valley, and neither of us wanted to leave! We helped clean the area of any trash and tidied up before a breakfast of bananas, fresh cornbread and our own protein bars.
We stayed until 9am, chatting with Mike just a bit more before saing our goodbyes, and resupplying our water at the cache before leaving.
It was a continued climb up the mountains (the ones that were silhouettes against the stars in the nightsky yesternight). It felt so accomplishing to see the white snowy-peaked Mount San Jacinto in the distance ahead and Mikes place way off in the distance behind.
We descended down the mountains until reaching a water cache 10 miles away from Mike's place. DORA was there!!! So were: Spark (another Dutch lady at camp at mile 114), Electric, Stuff, and his lady! Electric was waiting there for Foxy, who needed to take it slower on this hot day of climbing. I had an hour for lunch to chill in the shade with them all in the heat of the day. Jet and I asked about the San Jacinto climbing conditions and were told to go around. We had planned on going through and climbing over the snow, and even though we got micro spikes for the bottoms of our shoes, we began to reconsider. We tabled it for the time being and waiting to see in town about how other hikers have faired on the trail before us.
For now, we plan to go to the PVC (paradise valley cafe) and hitchhike into Idylwilde from there!
After our break with Dora and the gang, we walked for 5 more miles and found camp in a Nance canyon (mile 140.2). It's a comfortable spot already colonized by a couple other hikers we saw from earlier on trail.
I enjoyed a dinner of Mexican rice with bell peppers and cheese and onion and other spices all in a tortilla! It was SO YUMMY. At this point, I'm glad the food on the trail is good!
Now I'm set up for bed and preparing to climb out for 11 miles tomorrow to PCV before noon where we’ll have a nice lunch and then go into town.
I hope we can room share with Dora and our other friends we've met on trail. Tucked into bed and night night
Conclusions
By the time I'm revising all these notes and posting this blog update, I'm on day twenty-eight and enjoying a place to stay courtesy of a Tehachapi trail angel named Split along with five other hikers including Jet. I've had so many adventures from my time at Mike's place until now, and I'm so excited to update everyone on everything I've come to learn and experience on the trail, including our tribulations that help us grow and become more confident hikers and people! Thank you for your support! It means so much.
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