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| Walker Pass Campground Mile 651 |
This week of walking was chosen because the water report says this becomes the driest section of the PCT in a few months. Water sources can be up to +30 miles apart in some areas. The water report hadn't been updated in weeks or in some cases months so we weren't quite sure what we were getting into and therefore our packs were heavy with water and seven days of food.
Day 4 - 13 Miles
We met a guy who's trail name is 'Cyborg' today. He had started at the Mexican border on February 14th and said he had been averaging about 35 miles a day (no wonder he is called cyborg).
Day 5 - 12 Miles
Today the trail took us out of the pine forest and into more desert territory. Every hillside that was exposed to the sun in the mornings were covered with yellow flowers.
The smell was absolutely amazing!
And the views were spectacular!
This was the water cache at Bird pass, someone had shot it with pellets and it was empty. This wasn't an issue for us because we planned for there not to be water here anyway.
Day 6 - 17 Miles
This is Willow Springs, it's on a three mile detour off the PCT. We filled up with water here because the next reliable water was still another 25 miles away.
It was easy to see how this area would become unbearably hot and dry in a short few months when the majority of North bound through hikers get here.
The desert was in bloom everywhere!
We saw this little guy on the way up into the next wooded area.
We found the perfect camp spot protected by the trees and with views in all directions.
Day 7 - 17 Miles
Today we saw our second person, he didn't give us his trail name. He was a section hiker heading for Walker pass, we exchanged water information and a short pleasant conversation about the weather.
Today was very windy but the trail was for the most part protected from the gusts, although branches were strewn around the trail in a way that made you walk faster near dead trees.
It was a long morning warming up from the windy night.
New blue flowers!
This area was extremely damaged by a fire leaving the trail exposed to the full force of the freezing wind.
Ridges everywhere were lined with wind turbines which made the wind seem louder and colder.
There were about 50 downed trees to contend with today, we moved the smaller ones and cleared some branches but most of the time we had to climb up and over or find a way around which was sometimes a little tricky if it was in a steep area.
Day 9 - 12 Miles
We pushed hard yesterday to get away from the sound of the wind turbines and ended up camping in wooded area, semi protected from the wind. We woke up with a thick layer of frost on both sides of the tarp and had a slow morning.
We popped out of the mountains here over looking the Mojave, thankfully with much less wind.
Today we met two people, another section hiker named Forest Ninja in the morning and a thru hiker named Disciple in the mid afternoon. Forest ninja has finished the entire PCT except for Washington, which she is doing this June, maybe I'll see her again. Disciple is doing the Sierra's now and has carried snow shoes and an ice ax all the way from the border and through the Mohave desert to be prepared when he gets there.
After dropping down into the Mojave we met up with highway 58 and were picked up. I learned even more during this section and I have a whole list of things I'm planning to change and work on before I head out on the next one!
Day 4 - 13 Miles
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| The snow covered sierra in the distance. |
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| Water supply near McIvers spring, Mile 643 |
Day 5 - 12 Miles
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| Mac and Cheese in a bag! |
We found a fairly protected camp surrounded by Joshua trees and cooked dinner. The wind had picked up a bit so we went to bed early. In the night we heard a spine tingling scream and were besieged by a very large rabbit. No amount of shooing, lecturing or flipflop throwing could convince the rabbit to leave us alone. It tried to steal the clothes hanging on a bush and was eyeing our packs. After multiple attempts at keeping it away we eventually had to cover the packs with brush (no where to hang them) to keep the rabbit from tearing into the packs and the water. It still spent the night gnawing on the trekking poles, hopping around our heads and jumping on our sleeping bags.
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| Sunset before being terrorized by the evil rabbit |
Awesome dinner of lentils and rice.
The next morning the wind had picked up again and lenticular clouds were forming in the distance.
We found a nice camp between a few boulders on the lee side of a ridge in an eddy. Even though we were out of the main gale of the wind storm the tarp blew down three times in the night! Setting up the tarp is an art form I'm still learning... I'll get it down eventually!
Day 8 - 17 Miles
Extremely windy in this area but no dead trees.
We filled up with just enough water again at a Golden Oaks Spring for the night and the next day.
