Day 18: Mile 285 to 298   (13 miles)

Woke up and got an early start this morning knowing it was going to be a short day. Today is Cinco de Mayo. Seth came up with the idea of celebrating it while we were sitting in Big Bear Lake. Knowing there was a great place to celebrate it with fellow hikers. Seth packed in the Tequila while myself and Malia packed in everything you can possibly want in a burrito/taco.

During the hike, I ran into what looked like the largest pine cones I have ever seen! I later learned they were Coulter pines. These giant pine cones can grow up to 16 inches long and weight up to 10lbs each!

(Coulter pine cone)

By 1:30pm Seth and Malia had caught up to me and we all cruised into Deep Creek a few minutes later. It was the biggest natural water source we have seen the whole trip. Sandy beach on the water in the trees was the perfect location to stay at for the day. We quickly unpacked all the food and began cooking everything up. Our first visitor was ZuZu. She hiked last year from Kennedy Meadows to Canada and this year she was only hiking from Mexico to Kennedy Meadows so she can complete the whole trip. She took a picture for us and had a shot of Tequila and helped motivate her to hit the trail. She also invited us to a 4th of July celebration she is hosting for hikers up near Beldon right off the trail in Northern California if we end up being in the area then.

Throughout  the day, many hikers stopped to take a break at Deep Creek and were excited to see they can make a burrito and have a drink of tequila and get back on the trail. Blue, AJ, Tracey and Barista were some of the first through that we have seen in recent days.

(We have plenty of other burrito makings not pictured here)

While up on the bridge over the creek, we noticed their were fish swimming around, actually a lot of fish! I only wish it was one of those 100 degree days and it would of felt amazing to swim around in the water and cool off but temperatures were only hovering around the mid 60’s. That might sound nice to some of you back home in Washington, but down here that’s considered cold!  We actually spent most of the day wearing our Patagonia jackets.  We worked together and made sure to eat every single piece of food we hauled in and barley managed to finish it all right before dark. Tequila too.  Weather tells us some snow is coming for in a couple days. We want to laugh at the thought of that, but I guess anything is possible in the desert. We crawled into our tents with plans to try and make many miles tomorrow to help recover from the short day we just had.

Day 19: Mile 298 to 328   (30 miles)

Motivated…Woke up early to the sound of the running water in the creek. Not often do we get to do that out here in the desert. I was able to drink a couple liters of some very fresh running water and then stock up for the day. I was on my way by 7:45am, much later then I wanted but I knew I was going to make all my miles today. I had planned on a 30 mile day and with the late start, figured I might be hiking into the night.

After a few hours, I reached the Deep Creek hot springs which is a clothing optional area where many locals hike into, specially on the weekends. There were about a dozen people there between the hikers and locals. Sadly, it is a very dirty area of the trail. Locals trash it and for miles either way of the hot springs, you see garbage and graffiti everywhere. On a slower day, it would be nice to relax in the hot springs, (which warns not to put your head under water due to a deadly disease that has been found in the springs) but I didn’t wanna get caught up spending to much time there. I kept on moving as did most of the hikers around me and continued up to the Mojave River Forks Reservoir Dam which is now just a dry lake bed with a small stream flowing through. Filled up a couple liters of water to help get me to where I planned on camping for the night. Seth and Malia had already passed me hours earlier so I have no clue how far they plan on going tonight.

After about 23 miles, it was almost time to turn on the headlamp and the winds had really kicked up as some random thunderstorms were roaming in the area. As I approached Silverwood Lake, which was formed by the 249-foot Cedar Springs Dam, I was about to be passed by Barista who said he didn’t think there was anyone else dumb enough to still be hiking at this time at night and so far from any campsites. I agreed and said the same about him cause I really thought I was the only one still out on the trail in the area. Barista is a former Marine who walks at 4 mph. Basically a slow jog for me. I decided to keep pace with him as it motivated me to go faster and hopefully get me into camp sooner. Few minutes later, we crossed a road where there was a hiker laying on the ground who had been injured. She was waiting for her ride to pick her up as she was leaving the trail. She was expected to be out for two weeks and was unsure if she would continue once she was healed or is she was out all together. Luckily her ride showed up two minutes later and there was no fear of leaving a injured hiker alone in the dark.

Myself and Barista kept hiking (or running for me) and turned on the red light mode of our headlamps. Its a great way to see all around you at night. Using the bright white light gives you that tunnel vision and reduces the area around which you can see. This was something new that I had just learned. We arrived by 9:30pm at some sort of campground that looked empty, but it wasn’t to well marked where we were and just found a spot and got set up. Least it’s not raining but it was sure a challenge setting up our tents in the wind. Now that I think about that, I don’t care how windy it is, I just did my first 30 mile day! My feet are somewhat upset with my decision to do that, but it makes for a shorter day tomorrow!