12.6 trail miles
Slept pretty well until about 4 this morning, then finally got out of bed around 6 to find my sleeping bag and much of my stuff damp and a bit frosty. It was admittedly sort of a rookie move to not sleep under a tree to avoid at least some condensation, but even so I was surprised how much dew I and my stuff collected. I was planning a leisurely morning to force short miles today (trying to ease my legs into the miles), so it was no problem to lay my bag out in the sun and spend the morning cruising around the campground with a cup of coffee checking out birds. Some new species were Western Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Bullock's Oriole. I also chatted some more with Pinky and The Jesus.
I finally got walking at 8:30. The trail crossed the edge of a large sage-covered plain, which I guess must be pretty close to the lake shore when there's water in the lake. A mile or so in we climbed up thru rocky, rolling hills with the vegetation changing to manzanita/rabbit brush, then to scrubby short oaks as we topped out on a ridge. I saw a Black-throated Gray Warbler up there, just foraging around; while they do apparently breed around there I got the sense it was still migrating.
I stopped in the shade on this ridge to take advantage of cell service and text Libby an update and post yesterday's report. As I continued the bird of the day became Black-chinned Sparrow, with a territory every 1/3 of a mile or so for the rest of this ridge then again in the afternoon as I climbed out of Cottonwood Creek. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I first had to drop down into Cottonwood Canyon. Shortly after doing this I went under a road, with a bunch of Cliff Swallow nests on the underside of the bridge. The next 2 miles where lovely, along a flat broad canyon floor, passing in and out of the shade of tall oaks and cottonwoods.
Just before crossing under hwy 8, I stopped for lunch and siesta at Boulder Oaks campground. I stayed there from 11:30-2:10, and basically had one long lunch the whole time with about 30 minutes intermission for sleeping. I highly recommend Cheetos or similar product crumbled into a can of smoked sardines in oil.
While there I chatted with Chris, a section hiker out for 2 weeks hoping to get to Cabezon. I gave him some advice for his blisters, bringing my inner Wilderness Orientation instructor self back from a former life. I also talked a bit with Pilgrim, a Canadian who has hiked part of the Appalachian Trail and the Camino de Santiago in France/Spain, and with Taz, a quite cheery guy from, get this, Tazmania.
Heading out of the Boulder Oaks CG the trail parallels a road for a few hundred yards. Following a note on the map I made a quick detour across it to check out some morteros (acorn-grinding holes) in a flat slab of granite under what is now a dead and crumbling big oak. After a quick photo I re-crossed the road, only to find that in another 20 feet the trail crosses to the mortero side. I crossed the road for the 3rd time in about a minute, the second 2 of which were observed by an approaching Border Patrol agent who must have been pretty amused at my difficulty finding the trail. Lucky he just gave a friendly honk as he passed in stead of stopping to make fun of me.
The trail crossed user interstate 8 and began the long, exposed, but not too steep climb up out of the Cottonwood Creek drainage. My sun umbrella came in pretty handy at this point since I had thoughtfully chosen the hottest part of the day to make the biggest climb of the day. I think it was somewhere around 90, but in places there was a nice wind.
I had planned to stop to camp in another 4 miles at the next water source (what would have been the first natural water of the trip), but I was apparently "feeling the oats" from my 2.5 hour eating-sleeping fest and passed the side trail down to the creek without noticing it (in my defense I think I passed it at a moment when I was rounding a windy corner of the trail and had collapsed my umbrella around my head to keep it from turning inside out). A little later I could see the creek down below, but since I was feeling pretty good and still had over a liter of water left I decided to head to the next water in 2.6 miles at Cibbets Flat Campground. Another factor leading me to this decision was that at this point I also saw Taz struggling back up to the trail on a steep, overgrown use trail that didn't look too fun. What I failed to realize at this point was that the next water was also almost a mile off the PCT on a jeep road. Despite the fact that they volunteer to walk 2 and a half thousand miles, PCT hikers seem to loath any off trail hiking; I'm acquiring this trait as well, and I began kicking myself for not getting water at the creek, and also for not getting a bit of water from Carl, a trail angel who was waiting at a road just past the creek with some water and soda. In stead of doing the smart thing and getting another liter to carry me to the next on trail water, I just stood there kicking pebbles, chatting, and drinking a mini root beer.
At mile 32.6 I reached a lovely camp spot in Fred Canyon, with a nice flat area in the shade of some big (for this area) oaks. I was down to a bit under a liter of water, but this spot was so nice that I decided to just stay there, figuring I could just barely stretch the water I had into dinner, and morning needs, then do the side trail to Cibbets Flat tomorrow when it was cool. Chris was at the Fred camp and soon Taz, Ryan, and Pilgrim arrived, and the 5 of us had a fun evening talking about food and probably some other stuff too. Also, since Taz had read The Worst Journey In The World, he and I compared and contrasted Norwegian vs British Antarctic exploration. Taz also gave me an extra liter of water, so I think if I get up early I can push the 5ish miles to the next on-trail water at mile 37 in stead of the side trip to Cibbets Flat. A dinner treat was a Hermit Warbler just above camp.
Birds:
*= new species for the trip
Again, I apologize for the 4-letter codes, but probably the only people interested in my daily bird list already know these codes, and will probably correct me on a few (mark, I wrote that before seeing your comment!) I'll try to add a link to the AOU alpha code web page when I'm in town tomorrow.
ATFL
WITU*
AMCR
YRWA*
CALT
MODO
NUWO*
WBNU*
GREG*
ACWO*
WESJ
OATI
EUST*
HOFI*
BRBL*
RSHA*
WEBL*
SPHU*
BUOR*
EUCD*
HOSP*
WEME*
CLSW*
OCWA*
BUSH
WIWA*
HOWR*
CATR
Black-throated Gray Warbler (yup, I forget the code)*
ANHU*
BEWR
BCSP
SPTO
SOSP*
WEWP*
LEGO
WESJ
COHA
DOWO
TUVU
CORA
ROWR*
BHGR
HEWA*
BTYW! Glad you are keeping a bird list!
ReplyDelete