Got up early for a quick shower and laundry before checking out of the cabin. I headed down to the hardware store next and spent a little time looking for a ride out to trail. Alas, I didn’t find any other hikers heading that way so I ended up scheduling a ride with a trail angel. I nabbed a quick sandwich from the deli at Wrightwood Fine Foods which I highly recommend then headed out for the day.
The road walk up to the trail was pretty bland.
As expected, the 2 miles from the end of the road to the trial was all uphill. It was mostly uneventful and wouldn’t have warranted more than a single sentence but things nearly went very, very wrong so instead I have a story. I was walking for a few minutes past the gate when up ahead I saw a pair of day hikers with a pair of dogs roaming around unleashed around them. We were both walking up the hill but I was slightly faster so I was slowly gaining on them. The man and woman finally noticed me when I was about 100ft away and stopped to leash one of their dogs which I appreciated. What I didn’t appreciate however was that while they were leashing one dog, the other advanced in a distinctly aggressive manner, growling, snarling, barking, and closing in on me, all the while inexplicably unnoticed by its owners. I’d started with my typical unknown dog procedure, not staring or moving much so as to look boring, but as the dog got closer it became clear that this canine was far too combative to be dissuaded by such tricks and I switched to an improvised defensive stance with my trekking poles instead. The man finally noticed that his dog was amping up to attack me and came jogging over but the dog got about 5ft away from me before he caught up and his attempts to grab and leash the dog had them circling around me during which I had to fend off a snarling lunge. He finally got the dog under control and apologized to me while holding the dog back but I don’t think I said anything and just focused on putting distance between me and them.
This was a really scary encounter. I was mildly harassed by some aggressive dogs earlier on trail a little before Idyllwild but I’d gotten the impression that those dogs were mainly posturing and weren’t really interested in trying to fight me. That did not feel like the case here and I think I was maybe 10 seconds away from getting attacked. There’s no way the owners didn’t know about this behavior and maybe that’s why they were out here trying to find places they could let the dog be off leash but this was so not okay.
No fear from this chipmunk.
The rest of the way to Vincent Gap was without incident thankfully but the fog thickened as I climbed and by the time I finally got back to the PCT it was all around me. It was another 4 miles uphill to the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell and they went slowly, one switchback at a time. The last mile marked the return of the snow and although I carried them with me, I never had to actually pull out the microspikes. The fog only intensified and by the time I reached the summit with another hiker it was down to 100ft. While taking photos at the peak it began to snow and it was at this point I recalled there was supposed to be a storm rolling through tomorrow that I had somehow forgotten and now hiked right into. Whoops!
The beautiful view from the summit!
I managed to hike a few more miles but rising ankle pain and plummeting temperatures made me decide to call it early. I had enough food to slow down a bit here so I decided to do so, setting up camp while I could still reliably work my fingers. Dinner was a surprisingly delicious Thai yellow curry dehydrated meal from my care package (thanks again Jess!), a very needed hot meal for a very cold upcoming night. It was also going to be my first night in the field with my new foam pad which was… a choice.
Day 45: Escaping the Storm
As expected, my first night on a foam pad in a mild storm was pretty dang cold. I was warm enough wearing almost every layer but it was a fairly close thing. I stayed in my tent a fair bit later than usual waiting for the rain to stop but it did not seem like it was going to. It was only while packing up that I realized it wasn’t actually raining! In reality, the thick fog was causing condensation to build up and drip off the tree I was camped under, perfectly simulating the experience of being rained on. I put everything I could into my pack, then packed up my tent as fast as I could to keep everything dry.
It do be cold.
The ground this morning had a fresh dusting of snow on it, filling in the bootpack on the snowy areas and making everything a little slower. Visibility was still extremely low but thankfully the mild drizzle ended fairly early on.
Posing with almost every clothing item I had. I chose not to double up on socks or underwear.
At the start of the day I had every single layer on and it was successfully keeping me warm but as I descended down the mountain the fog slowly thinned and temperatures rose.
Below the higher cloud layer but above the lower one.
I finally escaped the fog at Isip Saddle right after passing my first Poodle-Dog Brush sightings. I took some time to rest here, walking a little up the road to collect water, and while hanging out met a Mexico to Canada bicycler called Frank! It was a long uphill afterwards. It wasn’t actually that long but it felt long because I was tired by this point. I climbed the side of Mt. Williamson and got beautiful views of an ocean of fog that had blanketed the landscape below.
The cloud layer creeping up on the road.
I finally headed back down and set up camp at Eagle’s Rest Picnic area. There was a small trail family already here but they were friendly and we hung out over dinner, discussing our respective food choices. The sunset painted the ridge behind us in a beautiful orange and pink and I slept well.
Sunset on Mt. Baden-Powell. Why couldn’t the summit have been clear like this when I was up there?
Day 46: Circumnavigating the Frogs
Got going at 7:15, out of camp quickly (for me). This was the start of the frog closure and that meant a few miles of road walking. I was feeling good this morning though and the miles went quickly. The detour turned into a campground and onto a trail there to get back to the PCT and it was nice to be in the trees again.
I did have to take my backpack off and crawl under this fallen tree though.
I rested a while at the spot where I rejoined the trail, soaking my feet in the river. Passing day hikers gave me a Kind bar but I only realized after they had passed it was peanut butter chocolate, the kind that gives me stomach upset. I’m sure some other hiker will be glad for it though.
The Snowplant, a plant that parasitizes fungi!
The walk afterwards was pretty uneventful. I passed mile 400 which was exciting and met String Cheese and Dr. Spooky, a pair of hikers I was leapfrogging with. I briefly spotted a coyote lurking around near a road crossing. The afternoon was full of regular rest breaks to elevate my ankle.
400 miles!
I was walking the final stretch from Three Points to my destination campsite when I realized that a massive blob of fog from the lower altitude clouds had been blown over the ridge and was now eerily filling the valley I was in. I hiked quickly to avoid being engulfed by it, feeling some sort of irrational fear that it would consume me if it caught up. Three other hikers joined me at that site, Boss, Curby, and Becca, and we ate dinner together before calling it for the day. I like that dinner seems to be the natural social time for hanging out with other hikers. Everyone seems to go to bed around sunset so it naturally forces camaraderie around that hour.
The fog bank that chased me.
Trail Stats:
Catholes: 15
Stops to filter water: 45
Resupplies: 8
Hitches: 10
Zeros: 9
Crys on trail: 6
Blisters: 4
Gear repairs: 8
Miles Skipped: 17.8
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