Okay, --KOKO is in control of the blog again! In order to save time, we are forced to consolidate and, sorry folks, no more journal blah, blah, blahs!
May 23 found us at Mills Creek where we had some cool trail magic. Someone snuck up to our tent as we slept and left us a soda and some candy! In the early morning hours we were awakened by coyotes sniffing the tent so a lot of excitement! They ran away as soon as we moved. That was the beginning of our poodle dog bush trek as well. The next few days were spent either fighting to avoid it on the trail or road walking it to avoid it. We spent a lot of time on roads this week. We have been reconnected with Vertigo and his wife, Calidescope a cute young couple.
May 24. We took the Gleason Rd detour today. Long and boring but avoided a protected species and a lot of poodle dog. The road has been mostly uphill. Funny how you don't realize how UP it can be when you drive it. There was a little ice on our outside gear this morning. Didn't seem that cold! We hiked past/through the remnants of the Camp 16 Ranger Station that was burned in 2009 and where two people lost their lives. It was eerie and so sad. I have lots of photos. We finally got off the road detour and back on trail only to fight poodledog some more and when it finally began to get better poison oak littered the trail. Freaked me out as I REALLY don't want either one. We met Hacksaw briefly. He's doing between 30 and 40 miles a day. He was trying to slow down to 20 so he could rest. Geesh...Seen several garter snakes and another rattler but nothing too exciting.
May 25. Hiked 8 miles into to Acton KOA. Ahhh showers and laundry. It's been a weird week. Bathrooms and garbage and road walks every day. KOA is packed and lots of crazy, noisy people. Had a very exciting night when one of the other guests (not a hiker) decided to take an employee hostage at knifepoint in a building 10' from our tent. Got to see all the action, better than a tv show, but we are ready to get out of that excitment and get back to the peaceful forests.
May 26. Didn't sleep much last night due to the excitment so we are tired but still managed to get to Auga Dulce and Valdez park. Both are fabulous. Auga Dulce reminded me of a small version of Sisters, Oregon. The people were so friendly and intersted in hikers. We got groceries at the local store and then had to figure out how to cram them all into the packs. We met Cookie Monster and Tree Killer among some others that were so fun to visit with and encouraging.
May 27. Hard day with lots of UP in the hot and a lot of poison oak. I'll be happy to get out of that kind of vegetation! We are finding water caches are being hit hard with so many hikers and are often low or even empty. Can't depend on them for our water which is sometimes our only choice. I'm tired so my attitude kind of goes sour but TBG is good at dealing with me. He has developed some blisters but seems to be managing them well. Thanks Lyn for the needle/thread trick, it seems to work. My feet are sore but no blisters. I never knew how much you use you toes when you walk, and boy can they get sore! Also found out by reading log boooks that we're only a day or so behind some of our hiking buddies.
May 28. It was a good day especially for as hard as it was for us. We are meeting a new wave of hikers, some are nice and some aren't. We are beginning to realize that at our current rate we will not be able to complete the trail. When we take a zero day we'll have to sit down and figure out what we'll do. I do know that I will not sacrifice the enjoyment of the trip for the stress of pushing for high daily miles and killing ourselves. Where is the fun in that? Beginning to fight wind more, wonder if that's why they put all these wind turbines in the area?
May 29. TBG is having some blister problems today so off to a slow start. The winds blew so hard last night that it nearly flipped the tent and needless to say, we didnt' sleep much. The tent withstood it famously. We hit mile 500 today! Water is an ever present concern.
May 30. Hiker town!! Cute little conglomerate of "cabins" for hikers to rent. There were about 20 hikers there when we arrived. We showered and filled our water, rested an hour or so and left. It's hot. We now head for the California Aquaduct. Map says we go down today, yippee....never believe the maps. It was UP most of the day in the heat and all those amazing wind turbines were still. Where is the wind when you need it? There's a new fire in Green Valley where we were just yesterday. It's the POWERHOUSE fire and it is not looking good.
May 31. Didn't sleep good again due to the wind whipping the tent again. Wow it can blow. Of course the wind dies down during the day when we could use the respite. Had a water scare today, two dry caches and a dry faucet in a row. There were about 20 hikers at the Cottonwood bridge with little or no water and teh next gauranteed source about 20 miles away. Not a pretty picture. Someone managed to get a call out and got us about 2 cases of 20 oz waters to share which wasn't really enough, yet, we were grateful and made it work. We all pushed on to a hopeful creek about 8 miles on. It ended up being a good source.
June 1. spent the night at the creek. Best night sleep we've had for awhile. Most of the hikers from the bridge are camping here too. We are by far the oldest in the group. We laze in camp in the morning. What a nice luxury to leave at 8 instead of 6:30. We are down to our last remnants of food which is good timing as we need to carry extra water to get through the next long dry stretch. TBG guy will carry about 9 litres of water.We are both getting dehydrated, not serious, but definitely dry. We meet Miriram tomorrow so I'm hard to keep down--I wantto be there, the lure of good company, hot showers, food pull with incredible power. Also the not so friendly rattler who scared me. Nearly 4 feet long, he was only 2 feet away when I rounded the corner and he loudly advised me of his prescence. I was grateful he did warn me even if it did scare me! I hiked the next couple miles on jelly legs.
June 2. Met Miriam at Hwy Yeah! Rest. We will take a zero tomorrow and be back on trail on the 4th. We will be heading for the Mojave and then the Sierras so it might be awhile before we are back online. Until then...
Sorry no photos. Just out of time to get that much done.
Glen and Carol, Jerry and Kathy and Rich and Mary Ann, we have some questions for you regarding Oregon that we'll be contacting you as soon as we can to discuss. Please know we've gotten your messages and have not forgotten your offers to help, and, we are hoping to take advantage of those offers!
We love you all and...we love hiking!
KOKO & The Bald Guy
Sounds like you have both gotten into a groove now and are dealing with the normal long distance hiker issues. Hang in there. Hopefully fires will not be an issue as you progress northward.
ReplyDeleteLove your attitude, you'll do what you do and enjoy most every minute of it. In hindsight maybe every minute! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTBG take care of those feet! And KOKO keep yer eyes peeled!
Paul sent small pkg on to you so you should receive it soon, if nothing else you'll smell good. ;-)
lyl, hang in there!
MS
Hey you two special people! Yikes you are freaking me out with the "poison plant" reports! I have dreamed of doing the Calif section of PCT...formerly called the Skyline Trail when I was growing up...but poison oak and poodle brush....no way I am seriously allergic to P.O. and if I were doing what you are doing I would be in the hospital by now and my hiking over!!! I guess I would just need to stick to higher elevation trails and probably could not complete the entire section...oh well...you are managing it and experiencing a real challenge! My respect and best goes out to you both. Enjoy those rest stops....and may you find better water more often!
ReplyDeleteDoc J and Mary Ann