PCT 2023 - Prep & Trail

The one with 300 miles, long siesta and lots of naked dudes!

📍 Location: Cedar Glen Malt Shop to Deep Creek Hot Springs (MM 307)

🏔️ Elevation: 5328ft
🥾 I actually walked: 12 miles
💰 Money: $34 of resupply.
⛑️ Health: I feel great today. No pain or ailments.

☀️ Weather: overcast to begin with but then the sun came out. It was manageable today.

🍲 Food: hostel breakfast of scrambled eggs, potatoes, red peppers, sausage, onion etc. Hiker hash! I then ate a big bowl of water melon from the supermarket. Lunch time I had noodles and bacon, then dinner was chicken and rice meal. Snacked throughout. I’m losing weight so need to keep my calorie intake up!

💤 Sleep: I slept really well at the hostel and feel great this morning.

🐍 Snake count: 10! We saw two more rattlers today.

😃 People update: Our tramily has dispersed somewhat. Disco is now a day ahead of us. Amber is poorly so stayed in Big Bear, whilst Harry continued walking. (Amber will get a hitch to catch him up). Handyman is also ahead of us, and so is Joey & Jesse. I’m sure we will catch up in Wrightwood.

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🍳 6am - We stayed at the hostel (which was actually just a big house that California Chromes grandmother left him when she died). It was good having a room to myself. I’m up and have a nice long hot shower. I leisurely pack up before heading down to breakfast. Lounging around writing my blogs, editing videos and watching the squirrels feeling relaxed and ready for the day ahead. Breakfast is served. California Chrome (Trail Angel)! has cooked Hiker Hash (see food description above). It was yum!
DinkyDi didn’t sleep well as she was too hot and her fan in the room wasn’t working. Goblin also had a rough night, but I think that was more to do with a migraine that came on just before he went to bed. 😢

🏬 7.44am - Our trail angel drops me, Goblin and DinkyDi at Stader Bros Supermarket so we can grab a few bits. I only needed a few things but $34 later! Part of my resupply was butt paste! Yep, that’s what it is called. I’ve run out of Sudocrem and even though I’ve not had Butt Chaffe for a few weeks, I feel prevention is better than cure! 😂

🛻 8.30am - Dinky & Goblin hop in the back of the open pick up truck whilst I clunk click, every trip, in the front seat. It’s a very squiggly road back to the trail and I’m keeping my head down to prevent motion sickness. The thought of the two behind me bouncing around in the back makes me cringe (this just wouldn’t happen in the umUK). We pass a sheriff and I hold my breath, but nothing happens.

🥾 9am - Let the hiking commence! We wave goodbye to CC (trail angel) and start the 1.7 mile trek back to the trail. It’s all downhill and easy walking. We reach a ford in the road and take our shoes off to cross. After drying my feet and putting my shoes back on, I then realise that I’ve left my walking poles on the other side of the ford! How frustrating. So I take my shoes off again, wade across, retrieve my poles, and cross back to once again to dry my feet. As I’m doing so, a fleet of five forest ranger cars pull up to cross the ford. If only they had arrived 5 mins earlier!

🙌 945am - 300 miles baby! Can you believe we have walked over 300 miles of the trail! Only 402 to go! We (Me, DinkyDi and Goblin) celebrate with a Chandler dance in front of the little plaque.

🦅 I’m loving the trail today. It’s fairly easy hiking and we are up high, following Deep Creek River which is way below us. It’s a strong river and flowing hard. It’s loud but beautiful. We have vultures flying above us and lizards darting across our feet.

🐕 11.15am - Deep Creek break for water. We have caught up with the guy who is walking the PCT with a dog. It’s very upsetting as Sandy (dog) is so skinny and we think the man has run out of food. The poor dog is carrying a dog rucksack and the man tells us she’s not drinking. Both Goblin & DinkyDi try to get her to drink to no avail. DinkyDi is super upset as she is an animal lover. In her spare time in Oz she volunteers at an animal shelter. Di gets emotional when she swallows a bug so you can imagine how upset she was when she saw Sandy the dog in this state. She fed the dog some food and gave her lots of cuddles (through a few tears). The guy grabbed Sandy , picked her up and threw her in the river saying “drink some water Sandy”! He went on to explain that the dog had developed a fear of water in the last few weeks (probably all those awful water crossings!). What do you do in situations like this? No service, no-one to call? It’s just heart breaking.

☀️ 12.50 pm - We trudge on and I’ve now lost everyone again as it’s hot and I am slow. I’m sitting under a tree on a stone taking five minutes praying for the next seasonal stream which is just 2.1 miles ahead and then I’ll have a long siesta.

🧺 1.30pm - Di is waiting for me as we make a little picnic area under a tree. We have fabulous views. Di didn’t want a siesta at the next water source as we knew that the dog would be there. Out of sight is out of mind. We have lunch, chat to hikers that are passing us and I edit some videos.

🥾 3pm - it’s cool enough to hike out. Let’s get this shit done! Naked bodies…. Here we come!

🐍 3:40 pm We are walking along a ridge and two German hikers that we met earlier call for our attention across the ravine. “Rattlesnakes ahead” they yelled! They had made a sign in the sand out of twigs and the written the word “rattlesnake” next to it. We stop in our tracks and then we can hear it. The first one was gigantic and must have been 10cm in diameter and 5ft long. It was ready to strike at any minute. The Germans gave us directions as we crossed the ravine (down a steep rocky decline and then back up) and stayed away from the trail. They told us that there was a second snake in the next bush so we dodged both. DinkyDi just takes charge and I was like a little scared sheep and just followed her, trying to keep my breath as calm as possible. Once we reached the other side the Germans continued on and we waited for Jordan (from France) who was not far behind us. We directed him, in the same way the German hikers had shown us and everyone crossed safely. That’s what this trail is like. Everyone looks out for each other and it’s one thing I love about hiking long trails.

💦 4:30 pm. I’m nervous now as we reach Deep River Creek and it looks dangerous. We have caught up with the German couple (who we find out are a paramedic and a nurse in the real world). They helped save a woman who was swept away at Whitewater crossing a few weeks ago. She had hypothermia and a broken leg, with other injuries from the rocks. Jordan is also with us, so we cross together with the knowledge that we are in safe hands. I can’t see the bottom and it’s quite rocky so we have to feel our way across. DinkyDi went first and I was following her movements until she went a bit to deep. “Go the other side of that rock” she shouts to me over the noise of the river. Jordan and I do as we are told and we are all safely across. My shorts are wet up to the crotch but I know they will dry off soon. My Skinner Socks worked a treat and now I can dry my feet and put on dry socks and trail runners. On reflection, that was really really good fun. We’re now on our way to hot Springs so I think we should be there by 6 o’clock-ish.

👋 1752hrs - “surprise” said a voice from behind us. We both turn around to look and we see “Nancy” waving frantically at us. Nancy is one of those women who has no idea when to stop talking and she always knows things better than anyone else. If you have seen the Bill Bryson film “A walk in the woods” then you will know the kind of person I’m talking about. She’s not malicious in anyway, and I’m sure she has a kind heart, she’s just a bit annoying. In a very two faced way I say “hi Nancy, how have you been?”. I catch eyes with DinkyDi who rolls her eyes and continues hiking. She waits behind me and I wave her on. “No, please go in front of me as I like to stop often and take video footage”. “I saw you guys over a mile ago and have been walking to catch up with you”
She claimed. “Well, you caught up with us” I said and ushered her on. She was soon at DinkyDi’s heals and I could her her chatter as we hiked.

🤩 There it was! Deep Creek Hot Springs! As I look to my right I see a tall blonde guy blowing up a sleeping pad, stark naked! Everything was dangling as he puffed breath into that pad, I didn’t know where to look! (Well, I did, but I shouldn’t have!) 😂 We continued walking and realised that we may be the only people here who had clothes on! Nancy vanished and went to look for somewhere to camp. OMG! The guy with the dog was here… naked! It’s one thing seeing strangers, but very different seeing someone you know naked! I only recognised him as he still had his hat on, and Sandy the dog was roaming around. We took off our packs and I looked at DinkyDi. “Are you going for a dip?” I asked. “Um… not sure yet”. At that moment a local came over and gave us the run down of the place. He was dressed in blue dungarees with a big white beard. He was obviously a regular here and told us which pools were hot and which were cold. He has been here all day. I’m just glad he had clothes on! Sandy the dog saw us and came running over. Di and I removed her harness (poor thing!) and it’s was red raw under her armpit. She was so skinny and Di was instantly in tears. The owner just didn’t seem to care. DinkyDi couldn’t resist and spoke her mind to the man (by now he was dressed). “This dog needs to come off trail” she said through her tears with a few snot bubbles coming out of her nose. “She didn’t sign up for this, it’s cruel. She has sores from the pack and she is limping. She’s hungry and dehydrated. Please take her off trail” she pleaded. He didn’t seem to respond much as
he just said “she did 1000 miles with me last year”. I urged DinkyDi to come and soak her feet in the hot pool, which she eventually did.

🍄 As we sit in the pool soaking our feet, a stream of naked dudes kept walking by. Then the drum playing started! A group of youngsters were high on mushrooms and god knows what else. They were playing drums and dancing which went on until the early hours.

🥁 7.32pm - We are pitched up on a slope far away from the drum playing, although we can still hear it. We had to dodge the human poles of poo on the way up! It was really bad. I have a bad vibe about this place. Two people are behind bush having sex and the ladies head kept popping up and down. I looked at Di, “we are too old for this” I said and she starts laughing. “I need to get water” she said. So after we pitch our tents Di ventures back to the pools in search of clean water and I stay at the site to keep an eye on our stuff. Drums are still playing in the air and bloody mozzies are driving me mad! I think we are in for an interesting night!

👘 DinkyDi returns with two litres of water in her hand. She tells me about meeting a drop dead gorgeous guy who was wearing a white robe and nothing else. (The robe was undone!). Apparently he looked like Hugh Hefner! She had to ask him where the pipe was for the water was and didn’t know where to look! 😂 she can’t tell the story without laughing and we are giggling like teenagers! She had to cross pools of people. Some were “spaced out” and she had to hop over naked bodies. One young woman was looking at DinkyDi and smiling. “Can I cross over there?” Asks Di. The girl said nothing but just continued to smile. So Di stepped over her anyway. “If I was her mum then I’d be worried!” She said as she explained the story. Eventually she found the pipe, got two litres of water and headed back up towards camp. She stopped to chat to Hugh again on the way up! (As you do!) lol 😂

🐝 8.20pm - Meanwhile, I try to cook dinner but it’s impossible with all these mozzies. They are getting everywhere! I’ve swallowed that many that I probably don’t need dinner anyway! I give up and get into my tent and have a bath with my wet wipes! That’s better. Two mins later I hear a loud scream. “Shit, shit, shit” came the strong Australian accent! “You ok? What’s happened?” I asked. “I’ve spilt my noodles all over my tent. Those bath wipes are handy” she said.

Needless to say, it’s been an eventful day and we drift off to sleep to the sound of a drum playing in the background! Until Di’s tent collapses on her in the middle of the night. But that’s a story for tomorrow.Read more