Day 4-6, mi 36.1-76.3

 

Day 4 started with a short climb into Mt Laguna, where we saw the first patches of snow. Today was the first day that I was hiking most of the day with a group, consisting of myself, Elizabeth, Jinx, and Chris. On the approach to Mt, Laguna, the scenery changed into a shaded pine forest, which is much different than the shrubby chaparral that we had seen so far. 

In Mt Laguna, we all had lunch together at the Pine House Cafe, which is a very lovely restaurant owned by this french couple. There we found Alashua, who we camped with back at Day 1. After lunch we walked over to the store to pick up a small resupply to get into Julian in the next several days. 

Several miles after Mt Laguna, we came across the first extraordinary view on the trail. It overlooked a desert valley with the snow covered San Jacinto mountains looming in the distance. The far away Salton sea was barely visible.

At mile 47.5, we set up camp at the Mt Laguna campground, the first real established campground so far featuring showers, toilets, water spigots, and even a picnic table!

Most of day 5/ april 11 was a gradual decent toward scissors crossing, with incredible views of the snow capped San Jacinto mountains slowly getting closer. It’s crazy thinking about how in just a week from now we will be starting the climb into those upper altitudes, assessing the snow situation and deciding on alternate routes. 

We stopped for lunch soon after passing the 50 mile marker, at Pioneer Mail picnic area. There we found the second trail magic of the hike- sodas and cookies. We caught it just in time, because the man said he always stops by the picnic area on his way to work to give refreshments to the hikers resting in the shade. 

I hiked most of the day with Chris, joined for a while by a couple whose names are Angel and Ian from San Francisco (I have met 2 other hikers named Ian so far, the other being from Australia). Lots of hikers were aiming toward the campsites at mile 63.7, as it has a steam running through it. There I was joined by our little group forming made up of Chris, Elizabeth, Alashua, and Jinx, as well as Ian and Angel. It was my longest day on the trail so far, with 16.2 miles hiked.

Day 6 started out overcast for the first time on trail. The trail continued to make its way down into lower elevations, putting the San Jacintos out of view for now. This stretch of trail was the driest part so far, with a 5 mile carry in the morning and a 9 mile carry in the afternoon. 

Despite being mostly downhill, I found the day to be quite challenging. My feet were starting to ache quite a bit (although no blisters so far), the wind was blowing hard, and the vegetation was overgrown and narrowing the trail, scratching my legs up. 

We were aiming for a campsite just before scissors crossing, but because there is no water at the site, we had to carry a lot of water down the mountain. Dry camping typically requires at least two liters of water, so I drank a liter or two at a spigot at 68.4 and carried 4 liters out. 

When we eventually got down to the campsite, we were a bit disappointed with the place. It was still early in the day (2:00), so we would have to sit in the sun with no shade for hours waiting for the sun to go down. We made the decision to pack up our stuff again and push two more miles to the stagecoach junction at 76.3.

On the last push, an Australian hiker caught up to us. It was the other Ian. We found it funny that there were three Ians hiking together in the same place at the same time, as it is not a very common name.

At the junction, Australian Ian moved on to get a hitch to Julian. The rest of us decided to hitch into Stagecoach R.V park. Our first hitch on the trail was a great experience. Our group of seven split up into two to get a better chance. The third car stopped, and she offered to take three of us there and then come back for the rest of us. Stagecoach RV park is a hiker-friendly establishment that has pct campsites, showers, laundry, free ice cream, and a swimming pool all for $13/person. 

As soon as we got there and paid the fee, a woman working in the general store came out to the patio area with a pan of freshly baked cookies, saying that they were burnt (they were in fact delicious), and later with a container of macaroni salad. We joked that if we sat there long enough, we would get a full meal out of it. 

After feeling freshened up, we plan to hitch into Julian, resupply for two days of food/supplies, then come back to Stagecoach to stay a second night.