Day 12 – 3 Apr 19. Sneaky Scorpions and Snakes

Today 26.7 km (16.6 mi), Total Distance 238.5 km (148.2 mi). 8 hours 35 minutes (0755-1630)

I woke up around midnight to a light patter of rain on my tent and as far as I am aware from the multiple times I half woke, it rained almost continuously but lightly. I woke at 0645 and it was still lightly raining.

Once I was packed I put on my rain coat and rain skirt but as I got out of the tent I realised it had actually stopped raining. Good timing, now I was able to pack my pack and take my tent down in the dry.. My tent was wet so I wiped it off with a cloth and I knew it would be dry within 5 minutes of putting it up in the evening. When I looked into the distance I could see the snowy mountins I will be climbing in the next couple of days.

As I started folding my tent I realised I had a visitor in the night and I was rude enough to squash it. A scorpion had got between my tent floor and my tent footprint and I must have rolled onto it in the night. It wasn’t very big, maybe 2-3 cm.

It was chilly starting and I was borderline needing gloves but held off as I could see the sun was around the corner and I knew I would heat up quickly.

I started at a much slower pace than yesterday, intending to have today be a bit of a recovery day to try and shake off the shin niggles.

The trail wound its way along the side of hills and over little saddles with short easy ups and downs. The vegetation was lush shrubs which had held the rain nicely making my shorts a little wet, despite not being the first through this morning. I got into a good routine, stretching often and takin a break every hour.

Just past a track junction near a power line I met North Face Tortilla, a guy from Hong Kong. He asked me about the alternate to Idyllwild to avoid getting into the snow and I referred him to the Halfmile Water Report which had these details. A lot of people are heading into Idyllwild from Highway 74 rather than go up into the mountains as the route is. The mountains still have snow and one peak in particular is an issue before Idyllwild. A lot of people are also bypassing the mountains on the other side of Idyllwild as well. Being a high snow year there will be a lot of different ways the trail is handled. For the record I will be going up into the mountains and trying to keep the pure unaltered route.

The trail continued as before with little patches which were more deserty with flowers and cactus. My shins were gently niggling but not painful.

I came around a corner and saw a tent strewn across a clearing with nobody in sight and I though someone had been attacked by an animal for half a second until I saw Daniel in the next clearing packing his things. He is he one who advised me I had missed Mike’s Place yesterday and I thanked him again for that. He had slept in and was just starting to pack up. His tent fly was drying in the sun. While we were talking North Face Tortilla passed.

Now the trail started heading into a valley system and wound along the side of the valley walls. Slowly the view opened up and bigger hills came into view.

As the trail dropped to a stream I saw North Face Tortilla with his tent out drying. For the tents made out of nylon they absorb water and gain weight so people try and dry them early in the day, having to stop to do this. As my tent is made of DCF it does not absorb water so I wipe it off and it doesn’t gain weight and it dries super quick. For this reason I generally do not take it out in the day to dry it off.

There was actually water in the stream which surprised me as I though from the comments in Guthoook it was almost dried up. I added a comment to Guthook to update everyone.

The trail climbed and at the top of the hill was the sign to Tule Spring. I still had plenty of water so continued. Not long afterwards I met Duchess and The Duke who had passed me at my last rest stop. They were having a long break and cooking something. There was another guy there who I have met several times but am embarrassed too say I have forgotten his name. I must ask next time I see him. Daniel had also passed me at one of my rest stops.

I continued and the trail crossed a road and started my favourite section of the day. The terrain became dryer and more rocky and the trail followed a small canyon, switch backed down and around a side canyon then climbed above the main canyon. It was pretty and the views were lovely.

I was walking on the trail when I heard a strange sound down low to my left which repeated once. I thought it was a cricket before I heard a full on rattle near my left ankle and I leapt forward and ran a few steps. I did not know I could leap so far with my pack on. Heart racing I carefully walked back down the trail and a couple of meters on I could just make out the Rattlesnake hidden in the grass next to the track. It was curled up and looking at me. I took some video making good use of my 30x zoom as I had been close enough once already. I was surprised it did not give more warning as I approached, maybe it was asleep.

Rattlesnake in the grass

So now I can really tick off Rattlesnake from the list of things to see, though I was not wanting such a close encounter. I am glad I did not freeze when I heard the sound as that would have left my ankle around 10 cm from the snakes head.

I was buzzing from my close encounter and zoomed up the rest of the hill, looking closely at the grass to the side.

Once over the saddle was an amazing section with big rounded rocks of varying shapes, lots of cactus, lots of purple flowers, some new red vegetation and lovely views. It was such a different environment and I loved it. The trail dropped into this area then turned sharply and climbed up out of it.

As the trail came around a corner there was Len and Gerry from the campsite on night 6. They were surprised to see me thinking I would be miles ahead so I explained about the rest breaks I had taken. They had taken a short stop in Julian trying to get Len’s brand new Samsung S10 replaced as it kept resetting and doing other strange things. He had no luck but arranged for a replacement in Idyllwild. They were also hitching from Highway 74 to get there quickly.

The trail continued climbing a little more then went parallel to a road. As the road came in sight there was a sign on the ground saying water cache 1 mile. 1 Mile later I came around the corner to a very organised cache provided by the Trail Angels of Anza. I took 1 ½ litres to top me back up.

The next section was not as stunning as the previous one but still interesting as the trail wiggled back and forth around the spurs and stream beds, all dry. There was only 2 miles to get to my next waypoint, Mary’s Place, but my energy was flagging.

I came up to a corner with huge rocks and Daniel came out in front and set the pace. We talked as we flew down the trail. I was just starting to think I should low down when we arrived at Mary’s Place.

She had done an amazing job setting up a little site for PCT hikers. She built an outhouse and shower stall, washing lines, put in a water tank that she fills by bucket from her house below. There were two picnic tables and a little library as well as pictures of John Muir, a famous American Outdoorsman and …. and another person I did not know.

I was lucky enough to meet Mary and she was helping hikers with advice about the rattlesnakes, cougars/mountain lions and conditions in the upcoming mountains.

I had lunch, dumped my rubbish, took advantage of the outhouse and grabbed a bucket to wash my socks. The first wash was deep brown, the second barely less brown and the third was still brown but less so. As the water was hand carried I left it at three washes and wrung the socks out. Getting rid of that much dust from my socks would still be great. I hung them on my hiking poles to dry for 5 minutes then put them on still wet knowing they would be dry in the next couple of hours.

There was room to camp there but the sites were sloping and I wanted too do a couple more miles so I left.

I caught up to Late Blooming Hiker who was 65 and doing her first hike. She is a gardner trying to raise awareness that age is not a barrier for trying new things. She is hiking with another lady who I didn’t meet as she was still coming from Mary’s Place.

I was feeling good. I passed some campsites one mile on but decided to push on to the next campsite a further 1.5 miles.

The track climbed to a road then dropped down the side of a canyon, switch backing of course. At the bottom was the campsite which was a sandy area. I found a nice flattish spot and set up. By the time I finished dumping my pack contents into the tent it was completely dry.

Dinner was back to instant potato but with chicken instead of tuna. It was hard to tell the difference as it looked the same and came out of a near identical packet. It tasted fine.

Tomorrow in 3 miles is a decision point. 1 mile off trail is a cafe that is well regarded. While the different food would be nice I am not hungry so am not craving a big meal. The weigh off between 2 miles of walking and hot food is a close one and I will make a decision tomorrow.

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