4/1 – 4/8
After three nights in Idyllwild, it was time to get moving again. Another storm was forecasted for the third weekend on trail. With a storm each of the first three weeks, it has become a recurring schedule to hike the weekdays and hunker down in town during the weekends. Since I started the trail in mid-March, I’ve hit some much colder and wetter weather than I would have during an ideal mid-April start. However, it’s been more relaxing because there is no pressure to rush. If anything, I’ll have an easier time in the Sierra Nevada if I go slowly now.
I texted a handful of trail angels whose numbers were listed at the Nomad Adventures gear shop and was eventually able to coordinate a ride with Sandy. She gave me a ride into Idyllwild a few days before and I was grateful she was available again because many other trail angels were out of town or busy.
Some friends got rides already and I waited at the post office next to Dave.
I decided to skip past San Jacinto and hitch up to White Water at mile 209. All of the safe trail options would have skipped portions of the trail anyway. Instead of walking roads and side trails around the mountain, I hope to return and do miles 166-209 later when there isn’t as much ice.
The San Bernardino mountains were ahead, partially protected as the Sand to Snow National Monument. This name was very fitting for the miles ahead.
Although the Pacific Crest Trail is northbound, the next 200 miles are westward through the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains. These are part of the Transverse Range in California which are irregular because they are not oriented north to south like most of California’s mountains. It should be a prettier route than walking straight up through the Mojave!
Sandy dropped me off at White Water with snowy San Jacinto looming behind.
Being out of the snow was a big relief. I have had a colder hike than I expected so I enjoyed when the trail warmed up during this stretch.
As we learned before, the Whitewater River was washed out after Hurricane Hilary removed large sections of the trail in 2023. Whitewater goes south out of the San Bernardino mountains and eventually into the Salton Sea.
It sounded interesting to walk up the creek bed so I didn’t worry about the missing trail. I’ve learned that some rumors about trail conditions are not worth the concern. Most just want to avoid predictable danger (me included) but others try to avoid any inconveniences and choose to unnecessarily skip sections of the trail.
Avoid the ice chutes on San Jacinto? Sure.
Skip 50 miles because part of it is washed out? Probably not.
There was one warning I was happy to listen to – some of the first hikers this season had to scramble up two waterfalls at the top of Mission Creek and shared about it on Facebook. We researched and found a side route that would skip the waterfall scramble without skipping Whitewater.
I love the section of windmills on the drive to Palm Springs and was excited about walking near some of them. I wanted to go up close to them to see how large they were but the trail didn’t get close enough. There will be another wind farm section in a couple hundred miles when I walk along the LA aqueduct to Tehachapi.
After a steep climb, the beautiful views began again.
This was my first view of the Whitewater River.
Looking north, the riverbed stretched on into the San Gorgonio wilderness with its distinctly light rocks.
I walked down to the river and found Nick, Pete, Ivy, and Travis.
I met Ivy in Julian (when she had been hiking with her friends and Kim), Nick and Pete at mile 101, and Travis in Idyllwild. Nick and Ivy are from Seattle, Pete is from New York, and Travis is from Michigan.
They had set up camp along the river and Pete had made a fire. It was my first time sitting around a fire on the trail and it was nice to have a reason to linger around camp and push the day past sunset.
I dunked in the cold murky river before sunset and changed into dry clothes for bed.
Most of us cowboy camped that night and we woke up with our sleeping bags soaked from dew. We waited for the sun to rise so our gear could dry off before hiking.
We had 10 miles to cover in the riverbed but they were slow with rocky steps back and forth as the river wound through the canyon. I quickly gave in to having wet feet and crossed through the creek dozens of times. We didn’t make it up to the trail by night so we had to camp along the creek and finish the river miles in the morning.
Our spot was high on a bank – probably 15 feet higher than the water. There were huge dead trees that had washed up behind us. I can’t imagine how much water must have come through to push them that high. Even after three weekends of storms and snowmelt, the river was barely deeper than a foot.
The next morning, we hit Mission Creek again and had a few more rocky miles until we could climb up and out of the canyon. There were some veins of sandy sections to walk on but we mostly spread out and took our own paths up the rocks.
Although it made the miles slow, I liked wandering up the creek for hours without thinking about being on an exact trail. Water was always available and it was cold and refreshing to walk through every time I stepped in the creek.
At mile 235.5, we found the trail again but would not be on it for long. We had to break off again to avoid the waterfall scramble.
After one mile back on the PCT, we cut off at 236.5 and went straight up a ridge. It wasn’t an established trail so it was steep and challenging. It felt good to accomplish a tough climb after walking in the gradual creek for a day and a half.
The view at the top was incredible. In just a couple of hours, we moved from the dusty creek up to fresh snow.
Not long after, we were in deep snow. We pushed through some sections but were starting to posthole and slide around so we pulled out microspikes for the first time.
At some points, my trekking poles sunk entirely into the snow and I don’t think I’ve been in snow that deep before.
We later came upon Coon Creek Cabin near the trail. It was only 3 pm but we decided to stay there for the night. A hiker named Bigfoot caught up to us and stayed the night too.
It was reservation-only but we didn’t worry about it since it looked out of order. The cabin was windowless and doorless so I have no idea if it’s an active reservation site. Ignorance is bliss.
The walls were covered with inside jokes from past years of hikers and campers. Any night that I don’t have to pitch my tent is a good night and I was stoked to sleep on the concrete floor.
We pulled wood off a fallen tree for the fire and ivy swept the cabin floor with a branch before we set up our beds. Our shoes were all soaked from the snow so we dried them next to the fire. Some of the rubber melted.
We had plenty of time to kill since we got to camp so early. This was very different than my last week of hiking where I would wake up with the sun and hike until sunset.
There are fewer reasons to take breaks when hiking alone so I enjoyed the slower pace and having more time to enjoy where I was.
It was a cold night in the 20’s so we didn’t sleep very well. Travis and Bigfoot got up in the middle of the night to reignite the fire and sat by it instead of sleeping. My spare socks were frozen in the morning.
We needed to go 20 miles to get to Big Bear before the next storm came in. To make the snow more passable, we got up at 5:30 am and started hiking while everything was frozen solid.
Our footprints in the mud from the afternoon before were frozen solid. It was strange walking on completely hard mud where it looked like it would be wet.
Getting up early was well worth it. With microspikes on, you could walk at a normal pace over the deep snow. By the time the snow started softening in the sun, we got below snow level.
We were clearly getting closer to the Mojave as we moved north. There were Joshua Trees mixed in with the pines which I was not expecting to see so close to Big Bear.
Looking north into Lucerne Valley and the greater Mojave Desert. I liked the snow but I was so excited about getting into the warmer weather for a time.
We quickly got a hitch from a guy named Holden who let us cram all of our gear and one too many bodies into the car. We had been talking for a couple of days about Jack in the Box tacos and he was willing to bring us straight there. He gave us the full rundown on what restaurants to try and where to get cheap groceries in Big Bear.
Hitchhiking on trail has led to meeting some really kind locals!
I thought we wouldn’t run into very many hikers in Big Bear because it is so much larger than other towns we’ve been in, but I should know by now that Hikers think alike and always cross paths.
Before we could get situated in our hotel, we were challenged by another group to bowling the following night. This included the Germans (Louanne, Lily, Lukas, Julius), Nash, and other tall Luke. Losers would have to go in the lake afterward.
We agreed that we were awful at bowling, but accepted the challenge.
We did our regular town chores together. Ivy finessed her way into using the lodge’s laundry room and got us a lower rate for the additional nights we added.
Next, it was bowling time.
Nick had a habit of buying random things in town and we used his temporary tattoos to look jokingly more intimidating before bowling against the Germans. Unfortunately, the tattoos had no effect and we scored half as many points as the other two teams.
All of us hikers went to Murry’s (a karaoke bar) after bowling and spent hours singing songs there. We cheered loudly in support of the locals and every hiker no matter how poorly they sang.
We finally went to the lake at 1 am to take our polar plunge.
We pushed through ice at the edge of the lake which left our shins bleeding. Ivy got bruised tripping on a submerged dock, and Travis sprained his toe. After a frigid dunk, we sprinted back to our room to warm up and got the floor soaking wet. We could have done without the injuries, but at least we followed through.
To avoid the below-freezing nights, we day-hiked 9 miles of trail the next day and then hitchhiked back into town for the night. We were able to connect a section of trail without repeating any miles and then stay another night in town.
When it was time leave Big Bear, we mindlessly pulled our gear together on the lodge room floor. With some things going on at home, I was emotionally tired and also developed a cold. Travis was barely walking on his sprained toe (from the polar plunge), and Pete was working out some big decisions in his personal life. We stopped packing our things and agreed to stay one more day in town.
It was relaxing. We wandered around the shops in Big Bear’s village and I took a nice long afternoon nap while listening to Kacey Musgraves’ new album. Nash, Pete, and Travis spent the evening singing songs and playing guitar and we didn’t bother going out for dinner.
I loved Big Bear. We spent days eating great food, playing farkle and cards, meeting more hikers, and resupplying for the week ahead. The storm was indeed real and it relentlessly snowed for an entire day. A local told me the temperature was in single digits at night and we were all very grateful not to be in our tents in that weather. We went to Azteca twice, the German deli twice, the gear store too many times, and Jack in the box 3 times.
Somebody had told us Big Bear was not hiker-friendly in the way that Idyllwild and Julian were. It is much larger and doesn’t have the same charm but the people themselves were great. In the few mile walk from the trolley back to the trail, two drivers slowed down to encourage us, and a man in his front yard was ecstatic to talk to us because we were the first hikers he had seen this season.
After Big Bear, I was in for a day of microspikes, powdery snow, ice, mud, and wind. The wind was brutally freezing at times but it was a clear day.
We walked through a big section of forest that had burned in recent years. Small new pine trees were popping up all along the mountain and the few surviving trees stood tall around them.
There are lots of spiky shrubs along the trail. After so many careful steps, it wasn’t worth avoiding them anymore and I would rather get scratched up than have to go slowly or step in snow.
At Little Bear Camp, Nick and I cowboy camped in a horse corral. The temperature plunged at night and the water in the trough froze over. I wore every single layer of clothes I had and was fine through the night. By 10 am the next morning, I was down to just my shorts and sun hoodie again.
We were finally out of the snow! There will be much, much more of it in the future but I’ll take the easy miles while I can
Up next, we have Deep Creek hot springs and the last stretch of the San Bernardino mountains. I am excited to tackle the LA mountains and see how close I can get to home before get picked up on the 16th!
*
