I restarted my thru-hike at the Pioneer Mail trailhead on Highway S-1 north of Mount Laguna, hiking north along the ridge near Lake Cuyamaca, eventually dropping down into Chariot Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
From PCT mile 52.6 to 63.7 Total: 11.1 miles 4/1
All told, I took five Zero Days waiting for my blisters to heal! During that time, yet another storm blasted through, which added to the delay. With the huge amounts of snow in the higher SoCal mountains still ahead of me, and the High Sierra totally socked-in, it didn’t seem to matter if I postponed things a bit. Yes, 2023 was a weird year to hike NOBO on the PCT.
During my little vacay, I reconfigured my plans. The blister issue still dominated my thoughts, so I decided to dial back my mileage to ten miles per day from my original fifteen. Now, ten miles doesn’t take very long to hike, so a person like me, who likes to wake up early, ends up arriving in camp just after lunch. Then what do I do? I can only lie on my air mattress reading for so long. But that’s what I decided, at least until the blisters finished healing.
Yet again, Vicki stepped up to help me get back to the trailhead. I drove all the way to Pioneer Mail, so she only had to drive one-way, which made it less painful. She dropped me off and saw me on my way. Afterward, I found out that she drove to Julian, purchased another apple pie, and drove back to the PCT. She handed out slices of pie to thru hikers that happened by. Trail Angel Vicki with her Trail Magic! The hikers didn’t know what to think of this, but they certainly ate the pie!
As expected, the recent cold snap didn’t melt any snow up above 5000 feet. It was crunchy and icy that morning, so I headed up the trail, stepping carefully on the melted spots when possible. There wasn’t enough snow for Microspikes, and soon enough there would be none at all, as I descended gradually into Chariot Canyon. The first part of the hike was along Kwaamii Point, which had a great overlook toward the Anza-Borrego Desert in the east.
As I was hiking, an interesting thing happened. I saw a tent on the old roadbed just ahead of me, and it looked familiar. But, like luggage, there are lots of lookalikes. It wasn’t until I was almost upon it that the tent started barking! “Sandy?” I inquired. “Is that you? And Ian, too?” Amazingly enough, it was. Ian opened the zipper and Sandy came bounding out to greet me. She was a super-friendly pup. Amazingly, I had last seen them on the other side of Mount Laguna almost a week ago. Why were they still so close? It turned out that Ian had spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the rules for hiking with a dog in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Could he hike the PCT with a dog? Legally? There was nobody out there to tell him no, but this was for his book, so it had to be perfect. He ended up hitch hiking to the Park Headquarters in Borrego Springs, and even then the rangers on duty were conflicted. Eventually, he got through to the Superintendent of the park, and the ultimate conclusion was: No. Not on the PCT. But he and Sandy could hike on one of the many dirt roads within the park. Then he spent time making a plan using official park maps. After that, he went back to Laguna to continue. In fact, this little spot on the old road was precisely located between the boundaries of the Laguna Recreation Area and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and it was legal for them to camp. I congratulated him on his thoroughness. And then I gave Sandy another hug and said goodbye once again.
I left Ian to resume his hike along Highway S-1 as I entered the state park on the PCT. There was still snow along this high ridgeline, and the views to the east were excellent. I cruised along, a happy hiker with Leukotape plastered across his healing blisters. As I discovered in the past (from the internet) if you clean the skin on your feet with alcohol first, the skin gets defatted, meaning that there are no more oils on the skin’s surface which interfere with the tape’s adhesion. All that’s left is collagen protein, and the wickedly strong glue on the Leukotape gets bonded in a nearly permanent manner. I once had it last a week! On feet that were hiking all day! Amazing. My only advice is to remove it slowly and carefully afterward, so it doesn’t also remove some skin. Don’t ask how I know. And put foot powder on the top of the tape to stop the excess glue from sticking to your socks, being sure to remove the socks carefully each time until the stickiness is truly gone.
Off in the distance to the north I saw the snow-covered peaks of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio, and I knew that I would be skipping those sections for sure. Hiking in patchy snow was one thing, but camping on top of it was another. Been there and done that.
The trail gradually lost elevation as I approached Lake Cuyamaca. Vicki and I had backpacked this stretch of trail back in 2012, so I knew what to expect. There was only one spot where we actually got a view of the lake, so I kept an eye out and managed to take a photo. But, to be honest, the best views were to the east, of Granite Mountain and the desert. It was a clear day and I could see all the way to the Salton Sea. As the trail descended, it was nice to see the snow disappear, as well. I’d had enough of it for now, but I knew there would be more in my future. The Winter of 2023 wasn’t done with me yet.
After that, the trail met up with an old road (the one that Ian and Sandy would soon be hiking on) and then it plunged downhill into Chariot Canyon. The trail was quite steep by PCT Standards, and I took it slow to be nice to my blisters. Sadly, all the beautiful views were gone once I dipped down into the canyon, but that was OK as I was going to be camping at the bottom very soon, and there was water in the creek, according to the Far Out app.
I was truly in the desert now. When I arrived in the camp, there were already several people there. I was surprised, as I thought my ten mile day would make me first in line for the best campsite. But no. That was OK, as there were several good spots. I hung out and talked with my neighbors, one of which had the same Tarptent Aeon Li dyneema tent that I was using earlier. He agreed about the condensation issues, but other than that he loved the light weight. Meanwhile, I decided that with ten mile days I could afford to carry more weight, and I was using my trusty Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 tent. I liked it because it was double-wall and also free standing. I spent the night in a blasting thunderstorm near Mount Whitney in that tent, back in 2021, and it never leaked a drop. Solid.
I collected and purified some water out of the nearby creek, then hung out in my tent and ate some hot ramen noodles. Chicken ramen with added chunks of freeze-dried chicken. Good stuff.
Not surprisingly, the sun set early down there in the canyon. The air grew cold and I retired to the tent. I changed clothes and stuffed my legs into my toasty goose down sleeping bag. I also sent Vicki a text via InReach to let her know that my blisters were doing well. Then I got out my Kindle and began to read. I had already finished re-reading “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, and now I was relaxing by re-reading the Harry Potter books. All in all, except for the lack of Vicki, the trail was treating me well. I was a Happy Camper once again.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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