On my 42nd day on the PCT I descended to Acton from the North Fork Ranger Station, largely in the dark, to arrive at my car in the Indian Canyon Trailhead parking lot in Soledad Canyon, and then I drove home to San Diego.
From PCT mile 436.1 to 444.3 Total: 8.2 miles 10/22
I woke up before my alarm that morning, even though it was set quite early. Part of me really wanted to get home, I decided. Just the same, it really was too early. I decided to slow things down a bit by cooking up a bowl of hot oatmeal and reading my Kindle for a while before packing up my gear. It wouldn’t do to night-hike on an empty stomach, after all. The last time Vicki and I were here, back in 2021, we left early in the morning, but not in the dark. Not that it mattered as there was a blowing mist which obscured the views as we headed down a ridge next to a deep canyon. This time, I would have no views because it was pitch dark. Same result in the end.
I packed up everything and started hiking. I put my headlamp on medium power and started blasting down the trail, which was very smooth and cruisey. It mostly went downhill, but there were parts that climbed. Kept me on my toes. I could see the lights of Acton far below me in the distance, but my primary view was of tall grasses passing through the beam of my headlamp as I blazed on by.
Dawn light arrived slowly, as always, with a faint glow in the east gradually building to a bit of color along the horizon. Eventually, I was able to see well enough to no longer need the headlamp. I was in a canyon lined with scrubby chapparal bushes typical of the southern California mountains. The same was true behind me, all the way up to the North Fork Ranger Station. In other words, I hadn’t missed anything exciting by night hiking. The real excitement was doing the actual night hiking, in other words. It’s fun to do once in a while.
The light grew brighter as I climbed out of Mattox Canyon, where a small creek was still flowing. If there hadn’t been water at the Ranger Station then I would have been completely out and this would be my source for the day’s hike. But no need. The only issue now was climbing out of the canyon, to get up and over a ridge.
Down at this elevation, the current heat wave would be very pronounced. Yet another reason for leaving camp early. I got to the top of the ridge and the views opened up to the north. I saw the Three Sisters in the distance and took a photo as they were lit by the dawn. I had already hiked six of the eight miles by then, and only had two more to go. At this rate, I would be at my car before a lot of folks got started in the morning. It was good to be an early riser, after all. The world was cool and fresh, and everything was new and full of promise. I hiked on eagerly, flying down the trail.
When the trail intersected a forest road, I decided to cheat a bit, one last time, and take the dirt road down to the car rather than the trail. Most PCT hikers do this, as it is much shorter. I did quite a bit of road walking this past week, so ending the section with a bit more seemed apropos. No need to be a purist when you aren’t particularly pure. As I headed down the final slope, I saw my car in the parking lot, below. It was a good feeling. You never know if it will be intact when you leave it at a trailhead for a week, especially near certain parts of LA. This was far enough into the countryside that I wasn’t worried. As it turned out, the car was fine. Good thing I didn’t worry!
I got to the car and set down my backpack in order to take a selfie shot. The pack still had the cheap orange anti-deer-hunter poncho wrapped around it. And it worked! Here I was, not mistaken for a deer all week long. I opened up the car and got it ready for the drive home, a bit over two hours with luck, as it was still early and LA hadn’t turned into its usual gridlocked nightmare, this being a mellow Sunday morning. I got out a cool soda from the back, plus some snacks that I kept inside a bear canister. I was ready to head back home.
Of course, soon enough, I would be doing this all over again. My next goal was to finish off California Section C, the part that travels in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Big Bear. That was where I quit hiking back in May, when my feet got damaged. It appeared that my feet had healed since then, either because of my new shoe inserts or because I learned how to walk differently. Whichever it was, I was glad to be back on the trail, and ready for more!
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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