Day 22-28: miles 266-369

I didn't quite finish this in time to post while I had service in Wrightwood, but it's four days later and I finally have some decent service in camp so here it is! I'll plan to update again when I get to Agua Dulce in two days :)

I'm currently relaxing in a hotel bed in Wrightwood, and looking forward to a few more hours in town before heading back into the San Gabriel mountains. After much deliberation we've decided it's not safe to try and summit Mt Baden Powell without our ice axes, which we've all sent on to the Sierra. So we'll take an alternate and hike on a closed highway instead, bypassing a couple miles of steep, sketchy snow fields.

Day 22: miles 266-275

Had a wonderfully lazy morning in Big Bear before heading out to the trail around 10:30. Took another shower, didn't manage to find the leak in my sleeping pad, and had leftover Indian food for breakfast. Once on trail, we had a very cruisey 10 miles to Caribou Ck tentsite, where a bunch of hikers had stopped for lunch. We hung out, they moved on, and we were joined by another gaggle of hikers planning to spend the night there. We had a lovely conversation and shared some trail stories, before saying goodnight at the late late time of around 7:30. Another group of hikers had arrived by then and started a guitar and singing session, which while lovely for them, was not really the best vibe for trying to sleep. But luckily I had my earplugs, and was able to go to bed without too much trouble.

Day 23: miles 265-293.8

We woke up early and headed out before most of the camp, hoping to get ahead of the big bubble that day. The miles were gorgeous, but I had just gotten my period so I wasn't feeling that great. I put on my headphones and listening to upbeat music definitely helped. Chef and I had lunch with Biscuits, Boombox, and Shade, and I felt much better after a break. Later in the day, we criss-crossed Holcomb Creek a couple times, where we got three waist to thigh ice-cold river crossings. Luckily it dried pretty fast in the sun, and we carried on. We found the first spot we were all planning to camp at, but remembering the party crew behind us, we decided to carry on a little further to a smaller campsite. Boombox and Biscuits were behind us by a couple miles and ended up camping after the first river crossing, hoping to do the others in the morning when the water level was lower.

At camp, Lookout and Waddles caught up to us and we all took a much needed dip in the creek. Though it was icy cold, it felt really good on our tired feet.

Day 24: miles 293.8-310

Some very beautiful hiking today! It was a lot of hot ridge walking, way up above Deep Creek. We passed mile marker 300 in the morning, and had lunch where the trail finally came down to join the creek. Lots of beautiful wildflowers and poison oak all around us. We hustled on to get to Deep Creek Hot Springs, which we were told was quite the scene. And indeed it was - lots of clothing-optional locals, a bunch of hikers who had been there for multiple days, and many, many substances to partake in. We relaxed in a hot spring for about an hour before moving on, which I think was probably the best possible way to experience that particular landmark haha. We hiked a couple more miles and found a small tenting area under a bridge, and with the minimal space, Chef and Shade cowboy camped while I finally used the stargazer-mode on my tent, ie pitching it without the fly. The full moon was incredibly bright that night, and it wasn't the most restful night I've ever had, but I can only imagine what it would have been like back at the hot springs!

Day 25: mile 310-329

In the morning, we had an absolutely gorgeous first couple of miles way up on a ridge above Deep Creek, with a view of the San Gabriel mountains in front of us. We then descended down to the creek again and crossed it - this time it was deep and wide, coming up to my hip belt in places. We continued on in a more riparian environment for a few miles - lots of willows and even some sycamores. Then we exited the valley and had some more good views of the mountains, this time with lots of tree poppies and ceanothus. We then rounded the corner and saw Silverwood Lake - a gorgeous, bright blue lake in a more urban area. It was an interesting juxtaposition to have the beautiful views with copious amounts of trash and big dirt roads. We were cruising that morning, and had done over 13 miles before noon, so we relaxed for a bit at the picnic tables along the lake. Camping that night looked like it would be problematic though - there was a black bear roaming the lake that had gotten into almost every hiker's food that camped in the vicinity. It would be a long, long day if we wanted to exit its territory. Luckily, there was a small, hiker-friendly inn nearby that offered shuttles to hikers, and they were willing to pick us up and bring us over. So we made it to the highway and got a ride to the Joshua Inn. It should be noted that the Joshua Inn is not actually an inn, but they had great deli sandwiches and let hikers camp for $5. The only problem was it was extremely windy and they had hard packed sand, with no rocks or anchor points. Me and seven others chose to forgo the tents and sleep on their outdoor music stage. It was quite cramped, with security lights on and a lantern banging in the wind the whole night, but I was in the corner and was once again very grateful for my earplugs.

Day 26: miles 329-347.2

Into Cajon Pass today! The trail crosses under the I-15, and there's a McDonalds and Subway just a quarter mile off trail there. It was 13 miles from where we got back on trail, and we were eager to hit it in time for lunch. We pushed hard and made it by 12:15, coming down off the ridge line with expansive views of deep canyons that looked like someone had piled up wet sand. Approaching the I-15, I was once again struck by the combination of gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains and the very urban setting of semi trucks and power lines. Even in crowded, urban sections of the trail, there's still so much beauty to be had. Then they hiked out with us for a couple miles before we said our goodbyes. We carried on a little further, camping at a water cache in Swarthout canyon.

Day 27: 347.2-364.4

Lots and lots of elevation today as we hiked from high desert up to snow again in the San Gabriel mountains. It was super foggy when we started, and I kept my jacket on most of the day. I could barely see Shade hiking in front of me, let alone the views of the valley below us. Around noon, we finally hiked up above the clouds and got to see Mt Baldy so much closer - we were making solid progress! We hiked out of the manzanita shrubs and into the pine and fir forests, and through several large burn areas. We took a long lay-down on the side of the trail before pushing ourselves up to finish the last five miles. Those five miles were covered in snow, with some pretty sketchy downhill sections. The boottrack was made by someone with a much longer stride than me, and I pulled something in my leg trying to lower myself down to them before deciding to glissade the rest of the way. We finally arrived at the campsite we'd chosen, to find that most of the protected spots were covered in snow, and it was going to be an extremely windy night. Luckily, Chef found a spot tucked into some trees and we crammed ourselves in. It was a very cold night but though we heard the wind howling the whole time, we barely felt it.

Day 28: miles 364.4-369

Town day!! I woke up early and packed up, excited for the short five miles into Wrightwood that morning. We hustled our butts off, flying over the snow, and made it to the highway just past 9, almost immediately getting a ride from a local named Jason. He gave us a driving tour of the town, then dropped us at the hardware store - the hiker hub in town. We dropped our packs off, got our devices charging, and signed their logbook. Then we checked out the supermarket and met up with Biscuits and Boombox, who had finally caught up. We did our laundry and hung out in the rec room of our hotel while waiting to check in, watching "Redneck Rehab" on the TV, which offered a fascinating look into midwestern redneck life. I called my family to say hi, then headed over to the supermarket to resupply. So far I've been carrying way too much food, so I decided to try a different approach and take less. Then went back to the hotel to take a glorious hot shower. For dinner, we headed over to Biscuit and Boombox's cabin and had a great homemade dinner there. Except I was craving Mexican food so I brought my own burrito over lol, which was wayyyy bigger than it had any right to be. We watched Lord of the Rings and had some great conversation while planning how to approach Mt Baden Powell. Half of the group will be summitting, as they have microspikes and ice axes, and the rest of us will be doing the road walk. We stayed late and headed back to our hotel, turning in for a fantastic night of sleep.

I'm excited to do this last section of snow before facing the Mojave desert, where I'm sure I'll be craving snow soon enough. I'm also excited to see my dad just past Agua Dulce - I'll probably get split off from the group for a couple days but it'll be nice to be on my own for a bit before catching up to them again. I'm really enjoying myself hiking - the time is definitely passing very strangely! Each individual day feels long as you track the miles, look forward to lunch and camping, and watch how much the landscape changes with each hour. But at the same time, the days blur by - I'll refer to a campsite from 'yesterday', only to realize it was a week and a half ago. Being with a group definitely makes time pass faster I think - there's always a lot to talk about (though we somehow always circle back to our various pooping escapades) and it's fun to hike with people for a mile or two and then split off and hike alone until lunch, where we rejoin for an hour or so before splitting again until our chosen campsite. It's a good rhythm for me - it's nice to balance being social and enjoying the time by myself. Overall, I'm having a blast!