Freighting Cajon Pass - Saturday, May 24

What does it take to support a population of 10 million people? After spending two nights at Cajon Pass I can unequivocally state it is trains. There are three main lines that grind up and down the pass and all three are in constant use by freight trains traveling both ways. In the period of a few hours as we hiked down into the pass we counted 8 trains either going into or out of the Los Angeles basin. And these are massive trains. They continued up and down the pass twenty four hours a day for the two nights we spent at the Best Western at the pass. Of course, I-15 also snakes through the pass and it was a constant stream of freight trucks as well. It takes a lot of freight to support that many people.

Today will be a grunt of the highest order. We are starting at elevation 3000'. The trail goes continuously up to 8400' in 20 miles. There are a few ups and downs along the way, so the total climbing will be more than 5400'. To add to the challenge, there is no water once we leave the hotel (okay we pass the McDonalds in half a mile-but after that…) until 24 miles up the trail at a place called Guffy Springs. So this means we have to lug water up the hill, enough for two days because we cannot make 24 miles in one day. The temperatures are beginning to rise again after an unseasonably cool period with highs expected to be 90° in the pass. We hope to be far above the pass in cooler elevations by the time the day's highs are reached.

We pulled out of the hotel about 6:15, played "dodge the speeding cars" again crossing 138 and walked the half mile to McDonalds where Sally used the potty for a final hurrah before entering the land of "poop in the woods". The lines at McDonalds were what you might expect at 6:30am Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend-out to the door, so I walked to the Chevron quickie mart next door and got us each a Pepsi for the trail. I was carrying 7 liters of water, the liter of Diet Pepsi bumped me to 8, or 17.6 pounds of fluid in my pack.

The weather could not have been better. There was thick fog/clouds obscuring the sun and the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s.

The trail started out going under Interstate 15 in a long curving dark tunnel, then under dual railroad tracks then over another set as it twisted and wound uphill thru what appeared to be a random jumble of rock and hills, but the planners of the trail had found a route that took us nearly continuously uphill, connecting one hummock to the next.

At six miles we had only climbed about 600' of the 4000' we had in store for us today. The trail took a decidedly uphill slant at this point, so we stopped for first lunch/second breakfast. We were still blessed by fog and clouds. Another interesting aspect was we had not seen anyone yet. A nice morning of solitude. We continued up the trail, remarking at it's nearly perfect 10% or less grade. You can hike to the town of Wrightwood on the road and it is 11 miles. By trail it is 24. 10% is the reason why. This trail weaves and traverses across the hillside to keep from tilting steeper than 10% and in the process adds miles and miles to its length.

As the day wore on people started to catch up with us and the sun finally burned through the clouds. The four from the hot tub did not catch us until about 5, but they had stayed below for the Continental breakfast and lunch at Mickey D's and had not left until noon. Other hikers, some known, some unknown also passed.

By 6:00 we were about 14 miles up the trail with another 2 to camp. We were beginning to move pretty slow. We crossed a dirt road and I scrambled around looking for a campsite but nothing presented itself. Another couple hundred yards up the trail I found a secluded, level place to camp and we pulled in for the night. It was about 6:30. We had hiked 16 miles and gained 4000' in about twelve hours. Sally's feet did great all day as did the rest of her. This was the longest distance she had ever hiked in a day, and nearly every step was uphill.

At the road I had seen a water cache and noticed about 1/2 a gallon of water left in one of the bottles. At the time I was more concerned about finding a place to camp than water so I passed it by, reassured by the little less than 5 liters I still had in my pack. By the time dinner was done we were down to 2.5 liters, a scary proposition with 8 miles until water. I considered going back for the water, but darkness was upon us and it was unlikely anyone else would be on the trail this late. Still, those two liters back on the trail were the difference between a thirsty struggle to the springs tomorrow or a comfortable one.

Both Sally and I has been listening to Dick Van Dyke's autobiography on our phones as we hiked. I knew Sally's favorite movie was Mary Poppins so at the hotel yesterday I bought and downloaded the movie. I had not told her, so after dinner when nestled in
our cocoon we watched Mary Poppins on the iPad. We were both pretty tired and feel asleep about the time rain fell on Bert's chalk pavement pictures in the park.

Perched on the ridge, nestled in our tent, 16 trail miles from the pass we could still hear the trains blowing their horns as they plied the pass.