By Hayley Babbitt
Above: Me, sandwiched between Mayor Max and Vice Mayor Meadow of Idyllwild, California. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
Day 10:
Above: Views from the climb on Scissors Crossing. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
14.2 miles. Scissors Crossing is a well known 14-15 mile stretch with no water, pretty much all climbing in the hills under the beating desert sun. This would be our longest dry carry of the hike so far, so we were well prepared (I carried 4 liters of water).
Above: The Professor's water cache oasis under the bridge before Scissor's Crossing. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
We were very fortunate to hitch a ride easily in Julian back to Scissors Crossing in the morning. “The Professor”, a well known trail angel we had heard about, drove us back to trail from the Julian post office. He manages the water cache (around 50 gallons of water) and lawn chair set up under the bridge, which was very nice. The Professor had walked several parts of the desert section himself, so it was nice to gain some insight about the climb ahead of us.
We dry carried all the way until the big water cache at the end (mile 14 point something) after yo-yo-ing with our trail friend Fred all day. Even though you’re at “the end” of the hike at that point, there’s still about a .5 mile steep hike downhill to the water cache (can’t complain about free water though I guess). By the time I got down to the water I had none left, so I was very thankful to see over 100 gallons of water at the bottom of the hill.
Even though the hike today wasn’t necessarily rough in terrain, as the 14-mile climb was rather gradual on the switchbacks, my ankles were sore and the heat got to me good. There are lots of people camping out around the cache, a “hiker bubble” if you will. Our friend Fred reached our bubble soon after us, and set his camp up nearby.
We’ve been seeing a lot of Fred lately, which is nice honestly. He’s a cheery presence to have around. A true German mountain man, at least that’s what he looks like going up these hills. He’s got a nice pace for being 42-years-old, I can tell he’s been on lots of hikes. Even though he's older than us, he's a strong hiker and having him around encourages us to keep up.
Anyways, I’m dead beat tired now after only having half a cookie and chia seed pudding in the morning, and a mini Rice Krispie and ramen for dinner after the hike. Goodnight from a tired and sore backpacker.
Day 11:
Above: Luke and I at mile 100. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
10 point something miles. We started from the water cache camp and ended up at the next water spring 10 miles down the mountain. Because everyone was talking about the trail magic the night before that would be 10 miles down the next day, we rushed bright and early to it.
There was a nice cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers (including impossible burgers which was nice for Luke), beers and cold drinks included. It was provided by a previous PCT hiker who wanted to pay the trail magic forward for her birthday, which was very nice of her and gives me ideas of my own after trail. We knew they’d be gone by 2, so that’s why we had to rush the 10 miles in the morning.
Above: My lunch after mile 100 at the trail magic birthday party. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
Today was the first day that I out-paced Luke, which really boosted my confidence. It just goes to show how fast my pace has gotten already over the last 100 miles. Did I mention we hit mile 100 today? It was crazy rewarding and fulfilling. Now we are at mile 101-ish camped out with Vista and Brandon.
Vista is the woman who’s on her triple crown thru hike, shes from Missouri and is a beast at her age (40 or 42? Something like that). She’s great to have around. Brandon, not sure if I mentioned him earlier, we met in town at Laguna and are surprised to see him still. He’s a tall guy and strong hiker, from San Clemente. He’s a beautiful Tarzan looking man, which is why I tried to dub him as Tarzan for his trail name, we’ll see if he ends up adopting that..
At our camp tonight, there is a spring that goes into a trough that was amazing for soaking my feet in. I probably soaked my feet in that trough for 2 hours in the freezing water, which was much need after our 10-mile push this morning. I also go to seal seam my new tent, which was nice so that we can have our own tents now.
Today was a great day overall, and really boosts the morale and shows how far we’ve come but also have left to go. I'm feeling proud of us today. I’ll listen to the sound of the frogs now in the trough as I go to sleep. Night one in my own tent! Goodnight!
Day 12:
Above: Eagle Rock, Warner Springs, California. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
12 miles, roughly. We saw Fred and Brandon again today in town (Warner Springs), classic. I'm very surprised to still be seeing Brandon. We’ve gotten used to seeing Fred, though. I hope we see both of them again. Fred is a little bit behind and Brandon is a little bit ahead of us now.
Today was the hottest day so we've had so far, so I’m glad most of our miles were in the shade and very flat around Eagle Rock. We decided to not do a full 15 today even though we planned to hit consistent 15 mile days this week, due to Luke feeling sore. But that’s okay, because we got an AWESOME spot overlooking a small waterfall in the creek below us.
After setting up camp, we walked a couple hundred feet down to a sand bar to take a cool bath in the creek; perfect weather and water temperature!! Now I feel so clean. We are camping with the old folks tonight who have been moving slow but steady, but I enjoy being around old folks. There’s some “kids” (mid to late twenties) that showed up late and set up camp here too for the night. They plan to hike in the snow without spikes… I hope they’ll be okay at least to Idyllwild.
Anyways, it was a good easy day today, but the word is that the next two days will be a climb. But we’re always climbing on the PCT anyways it seems like. I had some beef ramen and mashed potatoes for dinner, which might be one of my better meals yet.
Now I’m pretty tired (like at the end of everyday) so I’ll sign off now. Goodnight!
P.S. the sound of the waterfall beneath me is so loud as I try to go to sleep. But I love it.
Day 13:
Above: Enjoying some watermelon while watching the mural painting with Mike at Mike's Place. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
14-15 miles to Mike’s Place. Holy hell. Over 3,000 ft elevation gain in 14 miles… and 8 miles of it done after 1 pm in the blistering desert heat.
Tales of Mike and "Mike's Place" had made their way around trail since the beginning, and we had no idea what to expect. We've heard that his place, speculated to be his marijuana getaway shack in the desert that he lets backpackers camp at, was run down and trashy after the last few years. Some of the younger people say differently, and that they enjoyed their stay there. We had no idea what to expect.
Some say Mike is a mysterious man who’s rarely at his famous place, perhaps a lawyer from New York City or business man from a far off place. Even though he reportedly hadn’t been at his Mike’s Place much this season, I had such a feeling he would be there when we arrived today.
The hike to his place was HORRENDOUS physically and mentally today, and I “considered” (I use lightly) quitting the PCT on this hike as it was just so rough. The climb never stopped going up and neither did the heat the entire day. Despite this, my feeling of Mike being at his place today drove me on, and we eagerly made our way to his water tanks up the hill, which was God sent.
After filling up at the water tanks, we went to the back of his property and what do ya know: Mike himself was on the grill making some hungry hikers dinner. My gut was right, Mike himself was really there, and boy are we glad he was! We had tortillas with beans and rice and chicken (the best chicken ever!!!) with corn bread on the side. It was true trail magic once again.
Above: Rice, beans, chicken, and cilantro on a tortilla with a side of cornbread. Courtesy of Mike. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
There were a few chests full of ice and beer and Mike had plenty of marijuana to go around (I see why the old timers behind us were telling us negative things about his place). But it wasn’t like that at all; not party-like. It was chill, and we even got inspired by the spirits to paint our own PCT class of 2023 mural on Mike’s shed. Dora, and older lady (maybe 60s?) was painting the mural with Luke while Simon (a hiker that just got there) and I helped Mike up the road unloading some wood pallets off his truck. It was the least we could do for his generosity.
After everyone got to their tents, Mike offered Luke and I to come inside his place and have some hot tea with honey. I had the best hibiscus tea with honey, and we talked about old Westerns and the trail. Mike noted he grew up watching Bonanza. He had a huge collection of movies including the old westerns.
After our tea time and chat with Mike, I tiredly said goodnight and sat outside on the cool porch before going to my tent. There we meet a guy named Big Green. This will be his triple crown, and he’s doing 25+ mile days (this is his 5th day at mile 127…). He gave us some good words of wisdom and I’ll follow his crazy journey on Instagram since we'll never catch up to him. Seems like an insane thru hiker!
I’m in the tent now and eager to get to sleep since it’s 9:19 now (so late for us) and I plan on getting up at 6:30 to be on the go by 8am. I’m giving Luke a lot of grace since I wanted originally to be on the trail by 6:30am… but he’s too intoxicated for that. I won’t be mad though, he took all the trail magic he could (can’t blame him?). Today a good day after all, even after that rough hike. Thank you Mike for everything. Goodnight from outside of Mike’s in the big tent (to myself!!).
Day 14:
Above: Luke filling up at the water tanks at Mike's Place. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
14 miles. It was hard leaving Mike’s due to the comfort I found there. Mike smoked 3 blunts first thing in the morning, and we helped him clean up some trash on his property before leaving.
We left around 9:30am for trail and hiked all day until about 6pm. In between that time we argued a lot about nothing, which was resolved when we took an hour and a half lunch break with some older folks (“Electric” who’s hiking with “Foxxy”, and a Polish woman who doesn’t have a trail name yet, and “Dora”) we had met previously at a water source (fire hydrant?). Our vibes were uplifted and we set aside our differences when we decided to head to Idyllwild after Paradise Valley Cafe tomorrow.
An older gentleman, ex-Naval pilot “Stuff” told us not to risk the climb to Idyllwild from the cafe due to the snow. He’s kind of a fear-mongerer but trustworthy enough to take his advice. Something tells me we’d end up being fine sticking on trail, but the “post holes from hell” Stuff told us about was enough to get us on board to hitching a ride to Idyllwild.
There’s an alternate route to make the miles on the backside of the mountain, Black Mountain Road, so I think we will end up taking that and losing like 5 miles or whatever it would end up being. Our plan is to stay two nights in Idyllwild, the first in our own place and the second perhaps on the floor of “Dora”’s room since she offered us that. We will see what happens, but for now our sight is on the cafe and Idyllwild.
We also learned today that it’s much more pleasant hiking in the late afternoon, so that made everything more bearable than in the heat of the day. Maybe we will try night hiking soon as it gets hotter? I also came up with a good quote for the trail today during the peak heat, “Suffer today for a better tomorrow”, Luke and I liked that.
We are set up in a canyon now (Nance Canyon) and it seems like a nice spot. I better get some rest now (it’s only 8pm) but I hope to be on trail by 7am (cafe closes at 3 so we have to keep that in mind tomorrow). We’ve got about 12 miles to the cafe, so it will be a nice short day once again. Goodnight from mile 140.2!
Day 15:
Above: Rob Muir and I outside of the laundromat in Idyllwild, California. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
12ish miles. We hit trail around 7am, and made the grueling climbs to the PVC (Paradise Valley Cafe). With daydreams of milkshakes and burgers dancing in our heads all day, we were a bit disappointed when we got to the PVC and they were out of propane. Only cold food was available. Despite that, I had a nice (way overpriced) cold turkey sandwich for like $16 with a coca-cola but it was satisfying. Luke didn’t enjoy his Caesar salad so much and was distraught about there being no hot food.
We ended up seeing Fred at the PVC and we decided to group up for our hotel stay in Idyllwild. We are sharing a room tonight at the Bluebird Inn, and it’s excellent. I’m sharing a king bed with Luke and Fred is in the twin bed.
After we got checked in, we set out a mile into town to thrift me a new shirt. I realized I didn't have any clean clothes to wear while doing laundry, so I picked up a shirt and pair of leggings at the cutest outdoor thrift store on the way to town. We then went to the town laundromat where we met John Muir’s great nephew, Rob Muir, so that’s incredible. I mean, what are the odds you meet John Muir's family on the PCT?! In fact he gave me his number so that he can give us a ride in a couple of days back to trail. We decided we are going to bail on the San Jacinto section, and head to the Black Mountain Road on Thursday morning (Muir’s giving us a ride there, what an angel).
Also to note at the laundromat is that we met a hiker man our age that knows our old trail friend, Mags. We hadn't seen here in days and assumed she was ahead of us, since she is an Army veteran and a strong backpacker. However, this hiker man at the laundromat informed us she was off trail since getting air-lifted from the desert on the way to Mike's place. We were very sad to hear that she had fallen to the heat exhaustion, but relieved to know she was taking it easy with her family in Los Angeles. I hope to see her on trail again, happy and healthy!
After laundry we headed with Fred to the Lumber Mill restaurant here in town and got excellent burgers before returning to our room. We got to know a little more about Fred and have a good talk with him over dinner. I’m glad we are with him, and he’ll join us on our hitch with Rob Muir to the Black Mountain Road. Anyways I’m dead beat tired again (almost 10pm!) so I’ll head to sleep. Goodnight from a bed in Idyllwild!
Day 16:
Above: Mayor Max, Vice Mayor Meadow, and I cuddling up in Idyllwild, California. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.
Zero day number two. After trying to convince Luke to sleep at the campground, he decided to win me over extending our stay another night at the bluebird by saying I only had to pay $5. Fred was also eager to stay another night in our cabin room, so it worked out in the end.
We started the morning by saying hello to Mayor Max and Vice Mayor Meadow of Idyllwild, which was an adorable start to our day. These mayors are golden retrievers, literally, and come out almost everyday to say hello to the people of Idyllwild. They were outside the donut shop at 9am in town, and the donuts were alright (7/10). At least I got some big kisses from the mayors, and cuddles which were much needed.
From there we went to the gear shop where I spent $45 on some toe socks, a new (bigger) Sawyer water filter, and unfortunately lost my knife cover… but I put duct tape on it for now. Luke found the Nightcore power bank we’ve been trying to get, which was very clutch.
We then set out to the supermarket, where we resupplied food and I got some free weed from a hiker we had seen last at Boulder Oaks, a friendly young guy not much older than I. He told me that him and his buddies helped a random trail angel out and they got too much weed to carry from him in payment for their labor. I probably took about 3 bags of marijuana off of this guy, all for free, knowing it would boost Luke's morale a bit since he was feeling exhausted.
After our errands in town, we then went back to the room to sit out on the porch in the sun with Fred for a bit. After our rest for a few hours we headed back into town to the Italian restaurant, Fratello’s, where we met Dora and another backpacker named Smiley for a nice dinner and great conversation (mostly political). Smiley bought our drinks which was very generous but I somehow ended up spending $40 anyways… the pasta and bread were great though!!
Anyways I’m so tired now. Gotta go to bed. Peace out Idyllwild!
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