This weekend I was supposed to backpack Mt. San Jacinto and had received two phone calls informing me that my permit had been canceled due to the fire up in that area. I have been instructed to call the ranger station after next Friday to see about rescheduling. In lieu of that trip, I thought I would go up to Mt. Baden-Powell and do a 1 nighter however that trip was also canceled due to fire. It's fire season in southern California! So instead of doing that trip, I went down to Oak Boulder campground in east county, hiked 10.5 miles on the PCT, and stayed one night at the campground. I just had to do something- I was so disappointed about San Jacinto!! Dennis came out to visit me in the evening before he had to go to work and brought Pico. That was a nice surprise! Pico ended up staying with me for the night :-) I was able to field test my home-made dehydrated food and, overall, it was successful. The dried apples are awesome. The teriyaki jerky is scrumptious. The quinoa/walnut breakfast cereal was delightful. I did not, however, enjoy the quinoa/black eyed peas/ham concoction. The ham bits were too hard. I was hungry and not willing to wait long enough for the whole thing to fully rehydrate so it tasted a little chalky. I presume that if I had waited longer for it to reconstitute it would have been fine.
The hike itself was wonderful. I saw three guys right off the bat coming back in flip flops. Then I didn't see anyone for hours. I passed 7 guys doing a 2 day backpack up to Mt. Laguna on my way back and I stopped to chat for a minute with them. It got pretty warm towards the end. The breeze had gone away and I felt like I was walking in an oven. My hiking boots were chafing my ankles and I didn't realize how bad it was till I was done. I wear a double lined sock (wright sock) and that usually is okay but with a higher top boot, it really chafes! I'm going to try using a silk liner sock to see if that helps next time. 10.5 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes (including all my breaks).
I was able to mess around with Dennis's iTouch and took a few videos so that was kinda cool. I also got my first audiobook (Into the Wild) and played that while I ate my dinner. It was nice!
Here are the videos and some pictures:
In this snippet, I have just crossed Kitchen Creek Road, 4 miles in.
Turn around point:
Campsite:
Dennis visiting:
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| I saw this brochure for a nudist group sitting on a rock at the Kitchen Road crossing. Are there naked people hiking out here?! |
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| Funnel Weaver spider nest. |
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| My dehydrated quinoa, black eyed peas, and ham dinner. I opened the package with my knife. |
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| Sunset from my campsite. |
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| My gnarly chafe! |
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