Trail Day 8: Lost Valley Spring (mile 119.6) to Tule Spring (mile 137.0)

April 21, 2017

17.4 PCT miles plus 0.25 miles to the spring

I don't know what it was about today, but I struggled a lot with the hiking I was doing. In the morning it was because everything was uphill. After the spring I camped at last night, I still had about 3 more miles of uphill. I ended up taking quite a few pack breaks, sometimes after only having walked half a mile. Not a good way to start your day.

Well, technically the morning started out pretty cool. There was a fog over the meadow I crossed yesterday.

After I got up past 5,000 ft in elevation the trail dipped up and down quite a bit. I was back up to the elevation were those fragrant shrub trees (probably lilac) were blooming and the landscape was dominated by boulders. I even had some cool new lizards pose for me.

Manzanita blooms

My gorgeous new lizard friend.

Fragrant (lilac?) blooms and boulders.

It was all very beautiful, but I was having a hard time physically. My steps were short and slow, and I was running out of water. I was headed to “Mike’s Place” to fill up. Mike is a trail angel who lives just off the PCT and keeps a large fire tank of water for hikers. On my trail notes it also says he enjoys talking to the hikers that come by.

I made it the 7.5 miles to Mike’s Place just before 11am, which is pretty slow compared to what I have been doing. There was a sign leading to a side trail, then to a dirt road, then to the water tank. I was the only one there. There was a sign next to the tank saying “we are home” and to come down and “rest your weary feet.”

Sign on the trail pointing to Mike's Place.

Water tank at Mike's Place.

I know that Mike is a well known trail angel, but the idea of going down to a stranger’s house by myself to strike up conversation was too much for me at the moment, especially after the unexpected social chaos in Warner Springs yesterday. I’ve had problems with social anxiety before and just the thought of going down there alone was spiking my cortisol. As such, I filled up my water bottles, put some money in the donation bin, and snacked a bit before heading out. Eventually, several other hikers arrived and heading straight down to talk to Mike. I had already started packing up by that time, so I just continued on.

Past Mike’s Place I saw an exciting sign on the trail. It was pointing to the Riverside County line. I had successfully crossed out of San Diego county. It is not a big deal when you are driving, but it is a huge deal when you are walking.

A good sign.

From here the trail wound around the mountain for a while. It was hot and exposed, and I was not a fan of this. My thermometer was reading mid-70s, but it felt much hotter than that. I was walking on exposed rock and dirt, and I could feel the heat radiating up from the ground. Occasionally I would get a nice gust of wind, which would blow the heat away for a short time, but then the ground would just start cooking me from my shoes up again.

Mike's Place (left) from further down the trail.

I bumped into another lizard friend who actually seemed to be enjoying the heat.

The trail continued on like this for a while. Eventually I rounded a corner and saw the next valley over, which I would cross eventually. I also got my first, far off glance of Mt. San Jacinto, still covered with white stuff near the top.

Subdivisions and San Jacinto (upper left),

The trail then started to head down into the foothills. It started to get hot again, but at least the pretty wildflowers started popping up on the sides of the trail again. I had been struggling all day with hiking and this section ended up being pretty difficult for me. I was taking multiple breaks within each mile, and each mile took forever to complete. I was also running out of water again.

Wildflowers on the trail.

I also meet this pretty little snake while coming down in elevation.

A close up of the head. This snake was surprisingly OK with being a part of a photo shoot.

Originally, my goal for the day was to get past mile 140. However, I ended up just trying to get to the next water source at mile 137.

I was passed by several hikers that I had been seeing the past few days. One introduced himself as Stache. It is his trail name because he likes to “bury things” and he also leaves notes with mustaches on them.

With much difficulty, I made it to the junction for the steep dirt road that lead down to Tule Spring. There was already quite a crowd, some with tents already set up, chatting and drinking water.

The spring itself was a hose that was connected to the water below somehow. At least it saved us all from having to navigate through the trees to the source.

Tule Spring.

I filled up a couple bottles and then looked to see if there was anywhere to camp away from the crowd. I followed a path near the spring and discovered a hidden campsite, complete with a fire ring. The best part about it was that it had an area with rocks and trees that completely blocked the wind that was gusting fairly hard. From the smell, horses had clearly been there recently, but I was willing to work with that at that point.