Mile 266 to mile 286 : Hwy 18 to Burnt forest campsite
Mileage : 20
When you are unable to leave town and head back to he trail its called being stuck in the vortex. It felt like we were getting stuck today. I had arranged a ride for us at 8: 30, and by 8:25 we were all ready to go. Unfortunately our ride wasn't there let alone ready to go, and when it did come the driver, the owner of the hostel infact, turned off the car and then it wouldn't start. Eventual we climbed into a different car and we were.finally back hiking by 10:30.
Today hiking saw us turning the corner. For the the first 250 miles the PCT mostly heads north from the border towards Canada following the Laguna, San Jacinto and San Gorgonio mountains, however after 250 miles he mountains bend west and we must go left with them, there is no other option. To go straight north would be to cross the Mojave desert, which for us on foot is not feasible.
The effect of the previous two days were immediately apparent, the dehydration caused by the alcohol the day before, and the strong coffee this morning took their toll on me. It was a long hot day but thankfully we had a pine forest for shade most of the day except for the last 5miles where the trail want through a huge burn area caused by a fire in 2007. I don't know the cause of it but i hope ut wasn't a hiker, apparently one pct hiker has already started a wildfire farther up the trail, the very antethesis of he Leave No Trace principle to which all hiker are supposed to abide.
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| The reason for the turn, the Mojave desert, taken from the heights of the Bernadino mountains |
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| The collection of buildings is BigBear Lake, and the mountains behind are the San Gorgonio mountains |
The blueness of the sky! It's so beautifully blue!
ReplyDeleteThat cheeky Mojave Desert, home to the Joshua Tree, is going to have you walking almost as far West as you have just walked North. I sure can see why you won't be continuing tout droit.
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