Day 29 – 20 Apr 19. Setting up for Mt Baden Powell

Today 10.5 km (6.5 mi), Total Distance 604.8 km (375.8 mi). 3 hours (1300-1600)

I slept in today and relaxed until 1030 when I got up, made the most of the shower and packed. It is the first time with an ice axe but the loops I put on my pack when making it, and the string and elastic attachments seemed to work well.

I said good bye to Bookworm and Trooper but Nathan wasn’t there. I headed to the Grizzly cafe. It seems like all the towns we go though have an eating establishment with Grizzly in the name.

The waitress set me up at a table with a plug so I could use my phone without eating into my trail time. They know the needs of hikers very well.

There was a lady, her 92 year old mother and her daughter at the table next to me and when she saw my pack she started chatting. She is moving to Wrightwood and is excited that she will be able to be a trail angel hosting hikers.

I ordered the blue cheese melt burger and it was really good. I had coffee and lemonade as well. I finished of my last blog and then left. I hadn’t finished my lemonade so that went into my water bottle for a nice flavoured drink on the trail.

I walked up to Mountain Hardware exit and put my thumb out. About 5 minutes later a lady pulled over. Debra was a local and says she loves hearing the stories of the hikers. She wasn’t actually going to Inspiration Point but wanted to take me to the trail head, and she refused petrol money. She was the perfect end to the friendliest trail town. They do so much for the PCT hikers in Wrightwood, amazing little community.

I walked to the view point to see why this was called Inspiration Point and it was pretty impressive. I then walked back to where I exited the trail, crossed back across the road and started walking.

The trail was in beautiful condition, less a couple of trees blown down across the track. It went on, and to the side, of the ridge line.

I had been keeping an eye on distance and managed to remember to take my 600 km photo.

I was feeling good overall. My feet were adjusting to the new shoes and inner soles but seemed ok after a few miles.

There were heaps of little chipmunks around the trail. I couldn’t get a video but loved watching them darting around. They are so quick.

Just after this the trail dropped down to the road and a large, busy carpark. The road was closed from this point on so all the people were there to do day hikes. The big attraction was Mt Baden Powell, though several people coming down had sensibly turned back as they did not have spikes.

It was a steady climb for the first 15 minutes then the snow patches got bigger.

The tracks started going directly up instead of following the zig zag (switchback). I watched a group of guys from LA descending and it was scary watching how uncoordinated most of them were. They were descending loose gravel and were showing poor technique, bending down to touch the side of the hill and hugging the hill instead of leaning away from it. I saw one guy slip 5 meters but thankfully came up against a tree. Scary to watch and I am glad they are nearly at the bottom.

The trail continued on, mainly in snow but still with some patches of dirt.

I reached the sign for the spring and it did not look like many people had gone to it.

I was looking for a campsite around here and found one a few hundred meters away that was pretty flat and clear of snow.

Once set up I melted snow for dinner and for the next day.

It was an early bedtime as I intend to be up early tomorrow to do most of the climb and descent on the other side before the snow softens.

Visits: 464