May 2022

May 18; Mile 510-534 I left camp at 6; though I only had 7 miles to cover before reaching town, I wanted to leave plenty of time for napping before the night hike. The trail crossed a road soon after leaving my camp. Over the next three hours I spent a lot of time thinking of its steady downhill grade as I trudged up and down several pointless, steep climbs on the way to Hiker Town. Several other hikers I talked to all mentioned the same regret at not being able to just take the road into

May 15-17; Mile 454-510 Day 41 My parents dropped me off at the trail around 6, and it was already quite warm in the sun. After reading about how the next section of trail was peoples’ least favorite, I was expecting the worst. And yet I was greeted by the same steady dirt tread lined with bright wildflowers and yucca. For being so close to the Mojave, the hillsides were remarkably green. I stopped at the spring after six miles and came across Tim, Yannika, and someone

May 13-14; Mile 440-454 Day 39 I left camp before six; though it was only four miles to the trailhead, I was determined to stay out of the heat. I made excellent time, arriving almost two hours before my parents were due to pick me up, and so I joined Locomotive for the walk to the Acton KOA. They had a tiny store with snacks and drinks, and I wandered in a hungry daze, debating whether or not a pint of ice cream was a reasonable breakfast. I ended up buying a root beer,

May 11-12; Mile 406-440 Day 37 I woke to a tent covered in ice and water bottles frozen solid; it had been the coldest night on trail so far. I was glad that I’d dropped down to about 5000′ of elevation – anything higher and my sleeping bag would have been at its temperature limit. It was an easy decision for me to wait until the sun had burned away the frost before finally leaving camp close to 8am. I hiked through pleasant pine forest high on a ridge and

May 9-10; Mile 369-406 Day 35 My parents dropped me off at the trailhead early in the morning; I could see clouds gathered in the valley nearby. Thankfully the wind from the previous day had died down, and the cold mountain air was refreshing instead of biting. The trail headed steeply up the side of Mt Baden-Powell, and near the top it disappeared among patches of snow. Some footprints veered around the blocks of white, others cut a path across it. It was a “choose your own adventure” of steep, loose rocks or hard,

May 6-8; Mile 351-369 Day 32 It was still dark as I packed up my gear the next morning. I left behind several sleeping cowboy campers and walked alone toward the sunrise. It was only 6 am, but it was already warm on the shadeless slope. An hour later I passed Juniper and Cable Guy as they were putting away their tents. They passed me at a fast clip as I was sitting down to make breakfast, and that was the last time I saw them; Juniper was trying to make it to town

May 4-5; Mile 318-351 Day 30 Hoot hooooot; hoot, hoot. I was awoken by the insistent calls of a great horned owl at 4 in the morning. With my earplugs lost somewhere in my tent, I drifted in and out of sleep as I listened to the owl serenade the whole valley.  I left behind my empty tent spot and walked along an undulating track as it passed through fields of wildflowers. The trail dipped in and out of gullies so that it alternated between the shady north-facing

May 2-3; Mile 281-318 Day 28 When the alarm went off at 5:30, I rolled over and snuggled back into my sleeping bag. Yesterday had been hard on me, my pack full of seven days’ worth of food – including ridiculously heavy items like apples, cheese, and avocados. By 6 I grudgingly started to pack. The longer I waited, the hotter it would be. The trail wound along the folds of the mountain range, weaving in and out of gullies. It descended through shady pine forest to a horse camp with

April 30-May 1; Mile 266-281 Day 26 After the likes of Julian and Idyllwild, Big Bear Lake felt, well, Big. It was a two mile trek to the grocery store from where I stayed at the hostel, and there was an impressive variety of restaurants all within walking distance. I spent the morning taking care of town chores – buying groceries, organizing gear, picking up a package from the post office – so that I could spend the afternoon and evening lounging at the hostel. There was a sweet old dog named Yogi that