22.9 PCT miles
After I packed up my camp this morning, I quickly walked the two miles to Caribou Creek to fill up a liter of water. Apparently this was where everyone else had camped last night. There were people chatting and at least four tents still set up.
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| The morning reflection in Caribou Creek. |
As I passed the group that was chatting I heard someone talking about Brazil and the Portuguese language. After I groggily past them I realized it could have been Cocoa talking. It kind of sounded like him and he is the only one I have met from Brazil. I felt bad for not at least turning around to check.
I continued on through the pine forest, heading for the Cougar Crest Trail junction. That is where I ended my PCT training hike several weeks ago. It is amazing what a difference a few weeks made on that trail. On my training trip there was enough snow on the trail that I put on my microspikes. As of today there was absolutely no snow. I didn't even recognize some of the sections.
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| LOL, stupid hiker. You assumed there would be snow here. |
Both before and after the Cougar Crest Trail junction I had great views of Big Bear Lake. It was too bad I couldn't stop in town this time around. Hopefully I will be off trail in time for the Oktoberfest celebration. I’ll be back, Big Bear!
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| Cougar Crest Trail junction. There was a gaggle of loud, early morning day hikers talking about how the PCT crossed the trail at this spot. |
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| Looking toward the western end of Big Bear Lake. |
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| Big Bear Lake. |
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| Blue skies and pine trees. I love it. |
As I was exiting the Big Bear area, I checked the water level in my hydration bladder and had a bit less than I originally thought when I only filled up one Smartwater bottle at Caribou Creek. Luckily, a trail angel had left a water cache at one of the road crossings. Thank you, trail angel!
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| Water cache from a super awesome trail angel! |
As I was taking about a half of a liter from the cache, a hiker came by. It was Cocoa. At least I managed to acknowledge him this time. We briefly chatted about our zero days and then continued on our way.
Soon after Big Bear I hit another burn area. Since I was also going down in elevation, it started to get hot again. The area I was in had residual pine trees and didn't necessarily look like the desert, but it felt like it. I had to take a lot of mini breaks, but eventually I made it down to my next water source, Holcomb Creek.
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| The burn area and valley below. The snow-capped mountain in the background is Mt. Baldy. |
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| Not the stupid, spiny plants again! They are the worst. |
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| Wildflowers were thriving pretty well in the burn area. |
Cocoa had found some shade nearby and was sharing it with a German couple, named Ina and Kris, when I arrived. It was lunchtime so we had all pulled out our food. My back was hurting me so I pulled out my tent footprint to lay down on. Cocoa commented on how it was a good idea and pulled his out as well. Following our example, the German couple took out their sleep pads as well and we all snoozed for a while in the shade after lunch.
Eventually the Germans and I headed on while Cocos chose to stay in the shade. I knew the trail was going to be paralleling Holcomb Creek the rest of the day, but the first section veered away from the creek for several miles.
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| Holcomb Creek, upstream. |
This area had some cool boulder formations, but it was so hot. I looked at my thermometer and it was reading temps in the 90s again. I couldn't help but wonder if Cocoa had made the right decision to stay under the tree. To make matters worse, the trail crews had not been through this section for a while. There were quite few downed trees that I had to step over or detour around. I gritted out the heat and exhaustion, and the trail eventually dipped back down the the creek.
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| These boulders look cool, but they were so hot. |
I was pretty tired when I refilled my water bottles at the creek. While I was filtering my water, I was passed by quite a few other hikers I did not know. After I finished, I used the log to cross the creek, which was a little more challenging than normal since my legs were so tired.
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| Holcomb Creek water stop. |
After this the PCT followed the creek much closer than it had before, going up the mountain slopes next to the creek and then back down to the banks. Again, it had a fair few log crossings that made me nervous. Now that I was downstream the creek had gotten much larger. It definitely grew to the size that it occasionally formed pools big enough for swimming.
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| There's nothing like a log crossing with a 30 lb backpack and tired, wobbly legs. |
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| Ugh. Looks like I'm going to do some crawling today. |
Every time the PCT came down to the creek, there were campsites. I was holding out for a camping spot next to a piped spring that someone had made a note about, about 1.5 miles past the last listed campsite on the Guthook app. I eventually got the this spring and there were “OK” places to put my tent. The piped spring itself wasn't flowing, but there was a stream trickling over the trail next to it, so I was able to get some water for dinner and hydration for the night.
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| The setting sun while I was looking for a place to camp. |
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