Our Perfect Vacation: The PCT Volume Seven

[Brad Young]

The girls finished school at noon, Friday, June 12. By 2:00 PM we were on the road for Idyllwild. We spent 8 days, camping, hanging out and hiking, and one rest day visiting with friends in Joshua Tree and Twenty Nine Palms.  (I bouldered a little, but mostly the girls and I hiked.) The statistics:

- 102 miles hiked in 8 days,
- 76 miles on the PCT,
- 8 miles getting to the PCT,
- 18 miles doing three county highpoints.

We started by hiking back to the PCT by way of Suicide Rock. Last time, on the way down past Suicide, we saw our friends Rachel and Karl. This time we saw another "friend" (Tricia walked two feet from this guy and he didn't even rattle):




We did 14.6 miles the first day in cool, excellent weather. The girls found a rock they called "Turtle Rock."




We had incredible views down to Highway 10 (where we'd hike in two more days):




The views of the San Gorgonio massif were stellar too (the San Bernadino Mountains):




Vic met us about a mile from the end of the hike, up on Black Mountain Road:




During our week, Katie focused on some reading (we've assigned points to summer study for her - mostly history. If she earns 1,000 points over the summer she'll be allowed to get a cell phone).




Day two was a biggie. From Mount San Jacinto down to Snow Creek Road - 17.3 miles with over 6,000 feet of elevation loss (down into the heat, but thankfully we've been blessed with a cool June). We started again at Black Mountain Road:




Still hiking in the pines:





Slowly getting lower in elevation:




Until we were almost to Snow Creek and the windmill farms:




We saw Vicki drive up Snow Creek Road to pick us up and then walk in on the road to meet us. The last mile of the day was actually on pavement:




It was a hard day, but good. Strong winds helped keep us cooler as we descended. Still, the campfire didn't last long that night and the next morning I let the girls sleep in late. We spent the morning of day three doing a recon of the San Bernadino Mountains and stopping at a Columbia clothes outlet to find pants for Katie that might at least cover her ankles. Then, starting at five in the afternoon we did the oddest five mile stretch we've done yet: across low desert to and under Highway 10:






As can be sen from Tricia's ponytails, this was a very, very windy hike. Gusts knocked me off balance a couple times. And it was overcast, which, combined with the late hour kept it cool:




We continued up past a subdivision (now ascending into the San Bernadinos) and ended 3 miles from the freeway, on a dirt road where Vic picked us up (that's San Jacinto in the background, showing the part we hiked off to the right of center):




On this day we passed an odd trail register that PCT hikers have signed in on. I was pretty jazzed that Katie insisted on signing us in:




Stay tuned. Three days still to cover - including our longest and toughest day by far.

[mudworm]

Thanks Brad for taking us on PCT with you! Nice pics and stories. That turtle rock looks wild.

[Brad Young]

Thanks, Mudworm. Is it obviousl we're having fun?

On Tuesday we hiked further toward the San Bernadino Mountains, but not yet really into them. It was hot, but a lucky breeze helped. No trees:







Into and through Mesa Wind Farm:




After about four miles we could start to see the Whitewater River canyon:




The girls insisted on leaving the trail to eat lunch by the Whitewater River (a 100 yard diversion). But in the desert is there even a river? Turns out there is. Although the river's channel is up to a quarter mile wide (see photo above), the river is only 8 feet across. But with nice flows. Over lunch the girls got further and further into the water. First up to their ankles and then the knees and so forth. Madeleine of course was in all the way from the start:


















When we were done the girls let me carry the wet pants while they dried off hiking:









We crossed the river after lunch. Apparently there is enough flooding through here that keeping a trail tread clear can be hard. So the trail is marked with available materials (here a tree trunk propped up in a mass of rocks):




After the river we hiked up and over another saddle, into the Mission Creek drainages:




We then left the PCT, downstream until we met Vicki. She'd hiked up from the locked gate on Mission Creek Road to meet us at an old Gaging Station:




Then, since we knew the next hike was going to be a big one, we decided to take a rest day. We were less than 20 miles from the town of Joshua tree at this point, so we drove over to stay with our friends Don and Karen, eat at Crossroads and check out Nomad:




Next up, a big day: way hot, huge uphill and miles to go before we slept.

[mungeclimber]

Hey that's Don! 

The creek/river looks refreshing.

[mudworm]

Oh, so cute! A cute family!  (Does that make Brad cute too? Hmmm....)

[F4?]

Nice pictures. Looks like a nice trip. I can't imagine hiking that trail in 1 shot.

[Brad Young]

Nice pictures. Looks like a nice trip. I can't imagine hiking that trail in 1 shot.

I talked to the guy at Nomad (Idyllwild) about "through hikers." There's a lot of them, especially in the last of April when the through-hiking season is getting started. One kid who was through-hiking stopped in at Nomad on a Tuesday afternoon, done hiking for the day. He described for the owner his ultra light rig. No water treatment (he takes the risk). No tent. Almost nothing at all! He carries between 5 and 10 pounds and resupplies when he can.

The same kid called the Nomad guy the next Thursday afternoon (48 hours later). The kid was in Big Bear, having hiked 96 miles in two days. Talk about hauling ass.

[Brad Young]

And no, having a cute family doesn't make me cute. I look like an old man now (I guess I'm getting to be one). But everyone else in the family really is pretty cute.

[F4?]

so at what point are you going to take the family to Hawaii...no hiking just hanging out on the beach.

96 miles in 2 days, ho man that's a lot... that would get you in shape.


The best PCT story I heard was a couple from REI had hiked all the way from the border to right before Dunsmire/ shasta. They left thier packs at the trail head to go do something, maybe to go to a phone, who knows. Well someone took thier packs with everything they had. Damn rednecks!

[Brad Young]

If that is a good PCT story, I'd hate to hear your version of a bad PCT story.

[Brad Young]

Our fifth day's hike kicked even my butt.  We start the day with a bit of a dilemma.  We are looking at a 19-mile day, with more than 5,500 feet of elevation gain.  We can do this in two days, but that would mean I’d have to carry a full pack.  Or we can try it in one day.  Even though she’s only 7 years old, Tricia has now routinely completed 14, 15 and 16 mile hikes and, although 19 miles will be tough, we know she can do it.  We decide to go for it in a day.
   
We have some fun on the drive in.  While Vicki is opening the gate, Katie asks if she can drive to the end of the road.  Since we’re on a flat, almost curveless dirt road for a mile and a half (and we’re behind a locked gate), I let her.  To say the least, Vicki is surprised when she returns from the gate and sees Katie in the driver’s seat.  Katie takes her driving responsibilities seriously and, although she’s laughing to herself for much of the distance, she drives slowly and carefully in a focused manner to the end of the road:




We start up a hot (86 Fahrenheit), waterless West Fork Mission Creek. It's five miles up this canyon and then over a ridge to the main fork, which we know is flowing well. Looking back down canyon:




Crossing the ridge:




This is one hot hike. It gets so bad that I use drinking water to wet the girl's shirts and hair. This helps. When we make it to the main fork of the creek we take a break:




Then we continue up the creek, which is pretty, but quite the same for miles. Longer breaks than usual help cool us off. By the time we're well up the creek (and starting to see trees and cooler temps) even Maddie is tired (to the point that she's actually lying down during breaks):










We slowly gain elevation and there are more trees, some of which are conifers. After a while most are conifers. We were quite surprised to see many blooming cacti, the best we saw was at an elevation of 7,200 feet:




We finished all 19 miles at 8.30 in the evening; car to car in 11 hours. (Tricia set the pace, in front, for 80% of the hike.) Vicki had camp all set up and dinner waiting for us in the car. Six miles by dirt road back to camp, clean up and into bed. Tricia took 32 seconds to fall asleep.

Our last day on the PCT was an easy (cool, light ups and downs) 12 miles. With a late start in the morning:






We passed by one sight that surprised us. I saw a bear and then the girls saws it. But it looked like it was on the other side of a fence. Actually it was caged. Two bears, two African lions, a tiger and an eagle were all in cages in a compound 50 feet off the trail. Circus animals?




One part of the trail was all quartz and bright white:




Another section had hundreds of ladybugs all over. This is Tricia jumping to catch one:



We met Vic for lunch at an easy to find road crossing. Maddie was so pooped from the day before that she didn't continue with us after:




We finished near Onyx Summit on Highway 38, where the trail is 100 yards from the road. This sets us up well for a continuation at Thanksgiving.




The next two days were spent summiting Mount San Jacinto (Riverside County highpoint) and then the two close-to-each-other highpoints of Kern and Ventura Counties.

One more photo. On our first day's hike Trish put on sunscreen before we started. She then shut the car door and got sunscreen on it. Dirt roads quickly left a mark which stayed there all week:

[mudworm]

Super impressive! Esp. Tricia, 19 miles in one day, wow! Thank you Brad for sharing the photos and the stories. I'm sure you've read A Walk in the Woods. You, or Vicki, should write a children's book (filled with photos) about this adventure of yours. Seriously.

[Brad Young]

No book, books are a hell of a lot of work. And a book about this stuff would be boring to other people. Just a trip report now and then to share with friends and family something I'm loving that isn't climbing (I admit that I email links to these threads to my family. It's an easy way to keep them up to date too, which they've asked me to do).

And, actually I do keep a detailed journal about every trip, but that's for the girls later on. You know, to use with their own kids to show how their dad tortured them.

[mynameismud]

What you only write in your journal about torturing them? 

What about us?

[Brad Young]

Well, what about you? If I am torturing you I worry about which way. Am I torturing you because you're jealous of all the non-climbing fun we are having? If so, then you've got nothing to complain about - you and Mudworm have great times with the bike rides. Am I, on the other hand, torturing you by merely posting trip reports at all? If this is true then I am truly disappointed. I'm hurt that you don't like my trip reports after all the huge efforts I've made to use simple words that you can understand.

[F4?]

We'd prefer a Pinnacles trip report, but at this point ANYTHING but biking is welcomed.

[mudworm]

That did it! We are going to Pinnacles this Sunday! Yes, I said it!  We might only do one climb, but I will write a 20-page long trip report.

[mynameismud]

The trips reports are good.  I can understand most of it.  They are not the torture.

You know what I am talkin about.

here's to sweat in your eye

[joe]

some really great photos and a great adventure to provide a lifetime of memories.  of course, what's most puzzling is how you had such beautiful kids?  vicki, no doubt

[Brad Young]

"of course, what's most puzzling is how you had such beautiful kids?  vicki, no doubt"

That's a strange issue. I freely admit that, in the context of my marriage, that old phrase "the better half" really does apply. But not so fast on my girls. Katie looks so much like my sister Sheila it is sometimes eerie. Last November I was at a fundraising dinner for our local high school. As I was talking there with one of my sister's old high school classmates (a smart woman, a vice president of a local bank), Katie walked by. My friend, Kathy, looked at Katie and then turned to me and said "god, Brad, don't you ever feel like you're raising your sister?"

Tricia looks so much like my Mom did that friends and family have asked who it is next to Trish in a photo we have in the kitchen. It's actually a photo of my mom at age 3 with her Mom.

Joe, can't wait to climb on Friday. Lots of folks coming up. Plan on enduring my questions about how you liked Idyllwild and how the Meadows is so far this summer?