Day 29 - PCT 2024

April 08, 2024

Day 29 - PCT 2024

Miles Hiked: 8

Total Ascent: 3,877 ft.

Total Descent: 486 ft.

Waking up in ‘One Call Cove’ was delightful. Currently, it rates as my favourite PCT camp yet. The slight wind overnight kept the condensation away; thankfully sheltered by the boulders. I slept warm enough overnight. Packing up is always longer than expected. I don’t have a good system. Since I stopped early last night, I have five miles to make up today. Walking the creek bed is exhausting but fun.

Mission Creek was harder today than yesterday. The rocks were slightly bigger or more prominent but my foot was worse off today. The creek crossings were an bit easier after we passed a fork where two creeks met so the crossings were narrower but somehow these five miles felt harder. My blister was problematic but I had to push through despite having wet feet. Keeping Glacier Gel on with KT tape while having wet feet is almost impossible. It’s a shame Leukotape rashed my feet. It stays on wet feet better.

The creek bed was lovely though. I saw frogs and lizards. Swallows flew overhead. The surrounding mountains were majestic. Snow top peaks surrounding San Gorgonio were glistening. Although I was tired and my knee and feet were sore, the creek hike was one of my favourites. It was a huge bonus to have unlimited water so I never carried more than 1L at a time.

Patrick and I took a break around mile 235 for lunch. We ended up in a wind tunnel and lunch got unbearably cold. The wind was bad today at 45 km/h. We quickly ate; I made a BBQ chicken wrap and quickly stuffed it down. We filtered creek water, enough to carry up the ridge since we knew there’d be no water source along there. It made our packs much heavier.

The PCT trail resumed at mile 235.5 with a couple of blow downs but in overall good condition. As we approached mile 235, we saw a couple people ahead of us. As much as I wanted to catch them, my foot had me hiking too slow. However, we did catch a single female hiker right before the trail began but she decided to stop for lunch so we pressed on to the ridge without her.

The ridge! The “tough” climb previous hikers and the fear mongers warned us about was finally here. We made it! The 7 mile section of trail beyond the ridge is the most damaged by the storm. There are waterfalls and cliffs to climb and should be avoided by those less experienced or those lacking proper equipment. This ridge was route-founded by hikers to avoid the gnarly 7 mile stretch.

Patrick and I discussed this section at length while we waited out the storm back in Cabazon. It was absolutely nothing like I imagined. I knew the ridge was over 2000 feet of elevation gain over two miles, and my brain instantly thought, “steep” especially with how other hikers have described it. But, there’s really nothing like seeing it for yourself. Was it tough? Yes. Absolutely it was. But not in the way I thought it would be. It wasn’t particularly steep. There were some steep sections of the ridge but overall, doable. This coming from a larger bodied, not-as-fit, heel blistered injured hiker with a ripped shoe.

We began our ascent at 2:40pm. Took tons of micro breaks to catch my breath. We stopped about 3/4 of the way up because we finally had cell reception after days without! So we sat down on the ridge and took a long break. It’s hilarious albeit sort of scary how reliant humans are on technology. I was able to book an appointment with Foot Jesus, Jesse Angelini, a trail pedorthist that works alongside Blaze Physio to assist hikers with their feet issues. After two pairs of failed shoes, it was time to do something about it. As we were breaking, the wind picked up and the air turned cold. We decided we needed to finish our climb to the top. As we got up from break, we saw the lone female hiker we passed earlier, Kathryn, climbing the ridge just below us and we waved. The three of us made the rest of the climb and stopped at the top to admire the views. By this time, it was nearing 5:30pm.

I was fairly exhausted when I reached the top but was thankful to be on the actual PCT trail again. We had a camp site planned but as we began our trek down the other side of the mountain, we encountered snow. A lot of snow. It was very deep on a sloped ridge. Kathryn was the smartest and decided to sit down and put her microspikes on. Patrick and I followed. This was the sketchiest section we have encountered yet. I wouldn’t say I felt unsafe, but taking precautions by using microspikes just made sense. It was short lived, thankfully. Only about a 2.5 mile stretch. And we had plenty of previous tracks to follow in. As we neared Coon Creek Cabin, we unanimously agreed to stop for the night at the cabin instead of pushing on. We were all cold, hungry and tired.

The cabin was interesting! The doors and windows were all missing. Graffiti plastered the walls. Kathryn decided to set up camp inside whereas Patrick and I set up our tents in front of the cabin. With Norovirus being a constant threat on the PCT, I decided my tent was likely the safest sleeping option. Other hikers were there as well but no one was in much of a mood to hang out. The sun was setting and it was getting colder.