Day 8; Riders on the Storm

Part 1, The Desert, day 8

Riders on the Storm

Miles: 21.22

PCT Mile: 148.97

I slept well last night, like near 8 hours, though I woke up about 3 times in the night, let's hope this is a trend. I packed up and left by 6:30 am and noticed this sign a few hundred yards from where I camped. 

I'd heard of this guy who hosts hikers and such, but I was too tired to go last night. I needed water though, so I followed the spur trail to his yard, and looked at the tanks.

Something told me not to drink water from these tanks, so I followed some signs further and found the yard. 

I filled and filtered a few liters and looked around. 

One strange thing about this place is that its in the middle of nowhere, but I did find a dirt road. I knew there were hikers there because I heard snoring from all directions coming from various campers on the property. It kind of felt like a crime scene. I left for the trail into the thick mist and fog.

It was a beautiful morning as the trail rose to the top of the mountains. It was supposed to rain, but all that was left were the mists clingling to the canyon walls. 

When I reached the top of the range I finally got cell service so I sent out my blog post from the previous night. The trail descended for the next few hours back into the desert, and I stopped to eat breakfast.

That's oatmeal and coffee. I know, It's incredibly bland. After the break, I headed downward for hours and the trail was very monotonous and boring. I saw not a single person.

Eventually I reached my mid-day destination, Tule Spring, to fill up my water, though I had to walk a mile dowhill and back up to fetch it. 

I pumped it from here and it came from this tank:

I chose not to look inside, because anything could be floating around in it. I filtered though, but that's life out here. On the way up to the trail I saw another thru hiker, Wandering Big Horn, whom I met at Warner Springs. We talked for a bit, but it's good to see poeple I've met before. I lumbered down the trail with my very heavy, water filled pack. This is when shit got CRAZY!!

Massive clouds formed to the North over Mt San Jacinto, and I could see major storm activity there and then to the East, and West. It looked like a monsoon was closing in all around me. I told myself it was too far away and walked on, but more clouds appeared, which made for some epic scenery.

I sat down and made some Mashed potatoes; I'm not hungry these days, but I'm forcing food down my throat to keep my energy up. Gotta feed that furnace. While I was eating, I stared at the storm and then the sky erupted with thunder. 

There was lightning flashes in the distance, but the thunder was constant for hours, so loud that my body rattled. It was a dreadful feeling, because I was in the wilderness, all alone, and completely exposed,and I quickly put my rain cover on the outside of my pack as I could see pouring rain on all sides of me in the distance. I knew that if I was caught in a thunder storm out here, which will happen many times in NorCal, there is nothing I can do but keep hiking to stay warm, or set up my shelter. I chose to keep hiking on; the thunder crashing every few minutes. 

I came upon this water source, which I refuse to drink from. 

It's called a "Guzzler," and it is a cement cistern which collects rain water over time. To collect it, there is a filthy milk carton attached to barbed wire. They are known to have dead animals floating in them, and sure enough, a note was left.

After this, I saw 3 other hikers I'd met before. A guy from Oregon and a couple from Oklahoma, and they were concerned about the storm. We decided that it was likely moving away, and I left them and continued on. The storm was raging over Mt. San Jacinto, and the thunder boomed with the wind picking up. 

It looked I was walking toward Oblivion!

It was pretty exciting and very beautiful to look at. I, for one, am very happy it didn't come over me, because its too early for my gear to get soaked again. I noticed that my water was running low and I might have to camp without water, but after a few miles I saw this:

A water cache stocked by Trail Angels.

Trail Angels are random people who help hikers out of the goodness of their heart. Some are former thru hikers trying to "pay it forward," and others are people who want to hike the trail, but can't for whatever reason so they assist hikers instead. Trail Angels host hikers, offer rides, fill water cahes in long dry stretches, etc. I filled some water, signed the register and thanked these mysterious helpers and hiked into the late afternoon, though my body was so sore I was hobbling up trail.

Another trail term is Trail Magic, which is anything given to you on trail, and is usually anonymous, random, or completely unexpected. It could be a tent in the desert serving fruit, water etc., or even a random cooler in the middle of a forest full of beer and soda, etc, it can be anything. As I was deciding where and when to camp, I turned the corner and saw a sign for another water cache, and it turned out to be my first trail magic! Nobody was there, but there was water, trash cans, a box filled with post cards that would be sent, and the very best part, a book shelf with great books.

I could not believe my eyes. After a long, hard day of hiking, this really perked me right up! there were many good books, but I chose this Steinbeck classic, and left an old book I'd finished days ago in it's place.

Now I have something to read in my tent at night. I was very bored last night before I passed out. Getting into bed at 7:30 feels really weird and lame, but I've been tiring myself out at least. Armed with my new book, I hiked on towards mile 150, looking for a flat spot to camp. (I'm finding that NO spot is really "flat."

Behind me in the distance, I could see the distant mountains I'd come from since the morning. 

Tonmorow will be interesting, because the next 20 miles are closed from a fire 2 years ago, so I'll have to take a detour. You can read about it tomorrow.

I'll leave this post with a cactus that I really liked today.