5/12/17: Mile 155 Tentsite to Hurkey Creek Park Campground

We woke up at 5:00AM and got going about 30 minutes after Yote and Nicole. The walking all morning was incredibly beautiful! It was such a different landscape than what we’ve been walking in. Rather than it feeling like desert, it felt like we were in the mountains! I loved seeing some big trees and big mountains surrounding us. An hour or so into our day, I heard Wolf Bird, who was walking behind me (a very rare occurrence that I only allowed because my shin hurt and I wanted to set the pace) shout “There he is!”. I turned around to discover Crash! He had made up the miles and finally caught us! I shouldn’t say ‘finally’ because he caught us quite quickly.  It was great to see him again. We even found out that the trail angels had dropped him off at the wrong road crossing (he said they were arguing when they passed the correct crossing and didn’t hear him say ‘here!’) so he had to re-walk about 8 or so miles he’d already done!

We walked with Crash for the rest of the day. Him and Wolf Bird mostly walked together talking and I lagged a bit behind because my shin was bothering me. However, it was a beautiful day, amazing scenery, and also not too hot, so I was pretty happy. I was SO glad we didn’t skip this section due to believing other people’s fear mongering. This was probably my favorite section of trail so far! The desert is beautiful and different, but I think mountain landscapes are what really capture my heart.

We had 10 miles to hike until we reached the part of the trail that is closed due to the wildfire damage. We started seeing charred trees about a couple of miles before the closure. It was pretty incredible to see the shiny black coating on tree trunks, but also impressive to see all the new growth that has occurred since the fire–there were flowers and grasses all around. We reached the closure around 10:30AM or so and also caught Nicole and Yote right around then. The five of us took a break together in some shade–it was actually a bit chilly in the shade with the wind blowing, as we were up around 7,000 feet!

From this point, we started the alternate section of the PCT that follows a side trail down to some forest service roads. This was the part we’d heard so many negative things about and were curious to see what it was actually like. We’d heard the 1.9 mile trail down to the forest service road was overgrown and hard to follow. Not true at all! It was a very clear trail and quite nice and went by super quickly. It even had a nice stream running alongside it. Next came the forest service roads, where we heard poisonous poodle dog bush was unavoidable. Also not true at all!!! We only saw 4 poodle dog bush all right near each other, two on each side of the road. But they were off the road and completely avoidable. It was hilarious to think someone would describe them as unavoidable. We later found out half the people hiking behind us didn’t even notice them!

We enjoyed walking the forest road downhill–it was easy and quick hiking, although Wolf Bird’s heel and my shin were both aching. We soon came across White Spot. He was slack packing (hiking without his full pack, just supplies for the day) the 30 mile alternate in the opposite direction. We’d joked yesterday that he should bring us trail magic so when we pass him he could bring us goodies from town, since he’d gone into town the previous day. Come to find out, he took that joke seriously!! He pulled out mini snickers bars, clementines, and Coke!!! We were so excited and grateful. How hilarious to be given trail magic by a fellow thru hiker. We enjoyed our delicious treats and continued down the trail after wishing him good luck.

We passed some cows in a pasture which made me very nervous (if you’re wondering why, read about my Cow Incident of 2k13), but luckily Crash and Wolf Bird protected me, although Wolf Bird was whistling to them in a way that sounded like he was trying to call them over…

As we were walking Wolf Bird also said “I would love to have a camper like that one day” to which Crash and I responded…. “uhhh that is a horse trailer” and laughed and made fun of Wolf Bird incessantly for wanting a horse trailer as his camper. He later claimed that he was talking about a camper he saw drive by on the main road up ahead, but we all know it was pretty clear he was referring to the trailer right in front of us at the time.

We got down to the main highway into town and crossed over to a dirt path that then parallelled the highway for about 4 miles. After a bit more walking we finally arrived at Lake Hemet market, where Wolf Bird, Crash, and I stocked up on snacks and beer (the most expensive 6 pack we’ve ever bought, at $19.71!!!!!). We wandered into the campground that we weren’t even staying at (the market was at the entrance to this campground) and found a picnic table in the shade by the lake and drank our beers and hung out for a couple hours.

Eventually Yote and Nicole, as well as Amelia and Louie, arrived at the market and we all sat around on the porch of the market for a while eating more snacks and drinking more beer. We finally decided we should stop loitering and head the to actual campsite we were planning to stay at, 0.7 miles up the road. I hobbled there with the group and we all got to camp for free at site 18–a site they reserve for PCT hikers. We were grateful for the free site and also took advantage of the campground showers. I had to have Wolf Bird help me with the shower, as I have really huge blisters on the soles of my feet and was trying to hop around and avoid my raw skin touching the shower floor. It was as graceful as it sounds. We had a late bedtime for us, around 830 or 9.