My Trails

It has been several days since I’ve updated my blog, and I have a couple of adventures I must record. At my age, it is easy to forget all the details that make this journal such an interesting read. I know you are anxiously awaiting every word, so here we go.

For three days my van and I crouched in a braced position as fierce winds tried to remove us from the mountain. I admit that I stayed inside and hung on while my van did most of the work. It seemed like the wind got stronger in the night, robbing me of sleep and leaving me wondering what I had forgotten to tie down. Every morning I would look around the campground for items whipped away in the night, and it seemed as if other campers had been blown away, too. At the end of the storm, everyone else had pulled out and I was the only survivor left.

Then the weather turned nice. The wind subsided and temps were comfortable. On Thursday morning, I hiked a short trail to the top of Culp Valley where there were amazing views of the valley of Borrego Springs. Then in the afternoon I found an oasis of palm trees on a little used path to a spring. Despite the wind, Anza-Borrego State Park was a fun place to spend a few days and I’m sure I will be back someday, but now it was time to do a little serious hiking.

In the morning, I dropped my motorcycle off at the Community Center in Warner Springs and drove my van back to a parking lot near Ranchita. These two points are places where the Pacific Crest Trail passes through. The span is only 9 miles of trail, but I figured it would be an easy day-hike and test of my shuttle system. I was on the trail by 8 am and walked into Warner Springs just before noon. As soon as I started hiking, I realized that the PCT is different than the AT in so many ways.

The trail was so smooth I could actually take my eyes off of my feet for a few seconds – which hardly ever happens on the AT – and the climbs are so gentle you’re not even aware your going up. The bad part is that you’re walking in the sun most of the time. The AT is mostly in the cooling shade of the woods and I never had to worry about sunscreen lotion – I lathered up with spf for babies before I walked out.

I didn’t realize that I would meet so many PCT thruhikers on the trail. There were 8 hikers at the community center in Warner Springs, stocking up on supplies, picking up mail drops, taking showers, and using the computers to update blogs and journals. It was fun talking with them and comparing stories of their hike and mine. I rode my motorcycle back to the van and pushed on.

That afternoon I moved to a campground on Palomar Mountain. It is a long, winding road to the top, but the campground has showers and is close to the observatory, two things that I wanted to see. I called Richard and Dianna and asked them if they could ride up the next day and tour the observatory with me. They said yes. So the next day we wandered through the museum and climbed the path to the dome and telescope containing the 200 inch lens made at Corning Glass Works, only a few miles from where I used to live in NY. After the observatory we rode down the mountain to Pala, CA, and had ice cream at the casino. It was a fun day.

Tonight I am on top of another mountain. I drove north to Anza, CA, continued into the San Bernardino NF, and wound up a rutted forest road to a campground on top of Thomas Mountain. Down below in the valley the sky is shrouded with fog and mist but up here the sun is shining bright. I drove my motorcycle up some of the forest roads checking out other campsites and enjoying the views. There was one other person camped here but he left and now I am alone. I’m not sure this is where I should be tonight – another forecast of high winds and cold – but I will hunker down and make the best of it. At least I have good cell signal and lots of TV stations.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 14th, 2013 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.