PCT Day 30 – Magic Men

I never really pitch my tent well on the rock and gravel next to the road. As a result, my tent roof keeps tapping me on the head in the night. I don’t sleep well.

It is a relief to get up and get going. Since we really don’t know how far it is to Islip Saddle, we leave at 6 am.

What’s in a name

Jeremy and Shelley accepted trail names from me yesterday. A trail name should arise naturally from the experiences of the trail. Shelley has this arrangement with Jeremy about her future on the trail. At each town he needs to give her a pitch that will convince her to continue hiking. She calls this “renegotiating her contract.” I am not sure what he actually offers her, but so far he has been successful. For this interaction, I have christened her Dealer.

Jerry is quite different from Shelley emotionally. While she tends to be volatile, he is more even. In fact, his emotional expression rarely changes. He calmly handles every situation with a kind of pleasant stoicism. Not that this is always desirable. But it’s just the way he is. Dealer says that on a scale of one to ten, he is always a seven. So I christened him Seven.

From now on Jeremy is Seven and Shelley is Dealer.

The Plan

Our goal is to complete all the road walking and then get to a good campsite near water. If we can do more than 16 miles, that would also be good. Extra miles give us more options as we approach our next trail town – Acton.

Poodles everywhere

The 11-mile road walk that we started at Vincent Gap mercifully ends at Islip Saddle. The hikers that went up to Baden Powel will also pass through here. The most startling feature of the Vincent Gap is the proliferation of Poodle Dog Bush.

As I mention in an earlier post, Poodle Dog Bush is an extreme skin irritant. Its irritants can’t be washed off. Trail officials try to eradicate the bush when it is close to the trail, but Vincent Gap is loaded with them – many close to the trail. PDB has a distinctive odor. Some people say it smells like marijuana. To me it smells like body odor and menthol. Here are some bushes beside the trail.

We are so happy to be back on the trail, that we don’t even check our maps for what lies ahead. It’s probably better that we don’t. We go up, up, up, with no downward breaks. It’s a climb of 1200 feet over 1.5 miles. Dealer is not happy. It’s too early to be working this hard.

The view at the top is spectacular as we look south over the San Gabriel Wilderness. Bear Creek is in the bottom of the canyon.

On the way down from the top, Dealer slips and falls onto the trail. One of the five thousand gnats that have been plaguing her gets in her eye so that she loses site of the trail. She twists her ankle a little, but I think she is mostly frustrated. She is not having a good day.

We reach Highway 2 again and cross it onto Kratka Ridge.

We stay on the ridge for only a mile before returning to the highway again, but the Poodle Dog Bush has a rival on this ridge – flowers!

Frog walk

There is a campground at the park called Eagles Roost. It is well known as one end of a prohibited section of the PCT. An endangered species lives along a 3.8 mile section of trail that all hikers must skip. So it’s back to the road again!

Magic

As we walk the road we see a road sign. It looks promising, but we don’t see the other typical signs, like a vehicle with the trunk open or a person sitting next to a cooler. Instead we see this guy who is stabbing at roadside trash with a converted trekking pole. He beckons us to follow him up this side road.

I have not eaten my scheduled snack, so my blood sugar is down and my overall orientation is negative. But Seven and Dealer seem ready to follow him, so off we go.

He leads us to a run down mountain home with a lot of junk laying around on the ground outside. He wants us to climb the stairs with him. Suspiciously, I ask him where he is taking us. He mentions something about beer and food and taking a nap. I go over to the creek where he says the beer is. It’s true! My choices are Tecate and some kind of non-alcoholic brew. I take the later. I want to have all my wits about me inside.

It turns out OK. The guys name is Dan. Him and this other guy, Paul, are part of a private ski club. This building is their lodge. When they are here, they offer trail magic to hikers that pass by.

He brings out a cheese board and more snacks. More hikers arrive. Time is wasting, so we say our good byes and head back to the road. Dan asks us not to say anything about this place. Dan doesn’t want to be swamped with hikers. I think I have been vague enough, to keep honor his wishes. Thanks, guys. You really were magic.

At the end of the frog walk on the road, we go back to the trail at Cloudburst Summit. The PCT follows above the highway for several miles before we reach camp. It passes through three other camps: Camp Glenwood, 6,000 Foot camp and Three Points camp.

The trail here is arid but not lifeless, as these flowers show.

We cross the highway one final time and make our way up to camp. As tired as I am, I continue to find beauty in the trail.

Our camp site is quiet and close to water. Although it is a little exposed, the wind is growing quiet and I am hopeful for a peaceful night.

• June 3, 2023
• Starting marker: 386.3
• Ending marker: 404.2
• Miles hiked today: 18
• Total PCT miles: 374