May 4th, 2022 by Jon
Our alarm went off an entire two hours later than usual this morning. Sure, I woke up before it, but when I saw that it was only 6:30, I went straight back to sleep. 7:30 came, and my alarm went off. I woke up in a very soft bed. The Cajon Pass Inn is nothing special, but it was a bed, and that felt good after the long day we had yesterday. We had a huge climb today, and we won’t even finish the whole thing. It’s 20 miles and about 5,400 feet of elevation gain. Our friends are going to hike 21 miles to the water source just after the top of the climb in order to set themselves up for a very easy day into town. Singsong and I really wanted to sleep in, though, so we planned to hike out at 9:00 or so, do 15 miles, and dry camp.
After soaking our feet and massaging our limbs, we set out for the next section around 9:00. We walked the mile and a half back across the highway and down the road past the McDonald’s so we could get back on the PCT. We started our hike by walking through a large tunnel underneath the interstate. It’s there to allow for water from the creek we hiked by yesterday to continue flowing. Thankfully, that stream was very small and while dark, it was an easy enough crossing. After walking through, we hiked in between the train tracks and the interstate for a while before the train tracks went up on an elevated platform and by ducking, we could go underneath.
Staring out at the hills, we began meandering through them, making our way up and up. There was a kind of first ridge of hills, and once on top, we could see the valley below and the massive mountains beyond that valley that we were about to climb. We ridge-walked for a while, watching the trains and cars roll by on one side and the massive peaks on the other. Eventually, we started hiking gently downhill towards the valley, away from the highway. When we got to the bottom, we walked across dry riverbeds and came to a water cache.
It’s one of the other more reliable caches on the PCT. There was probably close to 70 gallons of water in a shady divot in a riverbed. We stopped and hung out there for our first break since we were about 5 miles in for the day. Getting a chance to cool down in the shade was super helpful and quite rejuvenating. After an hour or so, we continued onward and began our climb up the mountains.
The trail changed drastically as we entered this new section. It was a steady uphill, and our uphill battle would continue for the next 16 miles. There were no meadows to enjoy a bit of flat, no little downhill, just reaching the top of one climb, turning a corner, and seeing the next set of switchbacks to climb. Mentally, this was very challenging. There was no break in it. The views were incredible, though. We could see San Gorgonio behind us across Cajon Pass and even San Jacinto way back behind it due to how clear it was.
After another 5 miles, we took another break and found a very small patch of shade on the side of the trail, underneath a tall bush. Our bodies felt pretty good even after our big day yesterday, but the heat and the mental strain of going uphill all day was wearing on us. It felt good to cool down again and eat some more food. Thankfully, we only had another 5 miles to go before we could call it a day and find a spot to camp.
One exciting milestone today was crossing mile 351! The desert section goes until Kennedy Meadows at mile 702, which signals the beginning of the Sierra section. By passing 351, we are officially halfway done with the desert!
Near the end of our day, we rounded a corner and started up the side of a different valley. We could see a road at the bottom, and on our map, we could tell it was the one that led to Wrightwood. The trail began to have a few more trees along it, although many were burnt from a fire long ago. There were also more rocks on the trail, which made for a different type of hiking where you have to look at your feet a little more.
We hiked over one last ridge and continued hiking for about a half mile on the other side before coming to a small rocky outcropping right off the trail. There were 3 perfect little tent spots among the bushes. We were at 15.6 for the day, plus a mile and some change road walking from the hotel, so we decided to make camp. As we stretched and enjoyed a bit of a break, Elan walked up and joined us! We had not seen him since we were in Big Bear so it was good to catch up. He told us he camped at the hot springs, and we were very jealous that he got to enjoy it at the end of his hiking day instead of near the start, like us.
We socialized for a while and had dinner together once our stuff was all set up and we were joined by two other hikers, Trips and Buffalo Stridor. We hadn’t met them before, but it was fun to meet some new people. Eventually, Singsong and I retired to our tent to watch a movie together since we had service, but unfortunately, the phone died after 15 minutes, so we couldn’t watch any longer. Ah well. It was interesting that we were camping without Seabiscuit tonight; she was up with Wilco and Rune at the water source, 7 miles away. We didn’t want to get up that early or hike that far today, and it was the first night since our first night on the trail that Seabiscuit wasn’t camping with us. We will see her in town tomorrow, along with the boys, though.
