The Weather - Tuesday, May 6

It is interesting and fun hiking with people you have just met that are from all over the country. Whitewater and Hemlock are both from Georgia, Zissou from Ohio, Jolly from Colorado and The Fellowship were all four high school friends from Missouri. Everyone brings a different history and perspective to the trail.

Zissou (Brent got his name because he wears a red stocking hat) starting hiking because his high school science teacher took kids out on the Appalachian Trail (AT). At 25 he has completed the AT and when he completes the PCT this fall he is going to stay in the West and be a liftie at Mt. Hood Meadows.

Whitewater gets his name from his long history and love of whitewater kayaking. He also has climbed the Grand Teton numerous times, done other climbing adventures including Devils Tower. Also, he has owned his own general contracting company for 25 years.

Hemlock has her PhD in biology, does trapeze "dance" for fun and has done many short term hikes up to five days in length, but this is her first thru hike.

This wide variety of experiences and talents is fun, but when it comes to the weather there is a problem. Since none of us are from California, we have no idea how to judge what the weather is going to do. The wind has been blowing strongly for 24 hours, and it is cold. So windy and cold that we take our breaks from hiking in the sun to stay warm. There is no shelter from the wind. Does the wind mean approaching rain or signs of hotter weather on the way? No one knows. We notice a few clouds in the sky. Clouds in the sky in the desert environment of California are rare. Does this mean impending rain or just a few passing clouds? No one knows. For all the diversity and variety of our experiences we are sorely incompetent at predicting the weather.

We woke up to find everything wet. Sleeping bags, packs, anything left out, which was everything as we all "cowboy camped" last night, meaning we slept out under the stars. Although last night the stars were mostly obscured by moisture delivering clouds. I was slow to wake. The rustling of Whitewater and Hemlock packing up spurred me to life. I had most stuff in my pack already, trying to keep it protected from the dew, so it was a quick pack job. The clouds delayed the sunrise a bit, so although we were hiking at our usual 5:15 we needed headlamps to find our way.

We descended off the ridge for the first four miles, then modulated up and down like a disorganized sine way until we dropped into the Santa Clara "river"- a water course about 2 feet wide and 6" deep at this time of year. A KOA was less than 400 yds off the trail with the possibility of cold pop and snack foods, but we passed it by, lured by the siren call of a trail town, Agua Dulce just 10 miles ahead. We climbed steadily for the next three miles gaining the ridge and an excellent view of highway 14 snaking down the valley below. I was particularly looking forward to passing under the freeway in the long tunnel that let's the Agua Dulce river flow under the freeway when it is raging with flood water. Thankfully, it is dry this time of year so we passed through the moisture free tunnel. The trail passes a short couple miles through the Vasquez rock formations. These formations are right on the San Andreas Fault, formed by uplift caused by the fault. We were hoping for "the big one" to hit while we were there so we could witness uplift in action, but all was quiet.

We exited the park onto a road to walk about a mile into the center of Aqua Dulce, a town about the size of Toledo with a few more businesses. We ordered a 22" pizza to split three ways at the pizza parlor. While awaiting for the pizza to cook I downed 5 Diet Cokes. I guess I was a little dehydrated. I drank 2 more with my pizza, which, by the way, was superb. When you first start eating when very hungry all food tastes great. It is when you begin to satiate that hunger that the real flavor of the food becomes apparent. This pizza was excellent to the last stomach stretching bite. An ice cream cone, an orange and a hostess cup cake rounded out the midday meal and we were off to Hiker Heaven, a Trail Angel Mecca.

The Sauffley's have turned their property, about an acre, into a hiker rest area paradise. It is located about a mile west of town within an adobe wall fenced compound. They moved in a mobile home to serve as shower area, common room and kitchen, erected tents with netting and cots to sleep 50, make available bar-b-ques and patio space and wonderful lawns and a fire pit. There are hiker boxes to leave excess gear and food or grab something you need and the garage stores resupply boxes mailed in by each hiker. They do your laundry for you and have spare clothes for you to wear while all your worldly garments are in the wash. They limit stays to three days, two nights to allow a zero day for recouperation.

I went through the orientation all entering hikers receive, then scored a shower. Sally arrived by car about an hour after I did, having picked up two hikers on the way. In talking with some of the volunteers that help run the center we discovered one was the lady who had been on her horse when the trail collapsed and had fallen 100' and broken her leg. Her horse had fallen 300' and both were airlifted to their appropriate medical facilities for treatment. The horse had a fractured skull, but is expected to make a full recovery. Both rider and horse hope to be back on the trail in June and complete their thru ride this summer. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVypx3ZZSNw

We said our fare wells to Hemlock, Whitewater, Zissou, Lee, and Jolly leaving our contact information with each in the off chance we are home next September and can act as Trail Angels to them at White Pass.

We drove the three hours back to Palm Desert and our personal trail angels, Bill and Sue. Sally has a doctor appointment again tomorrow morning, hopeful that we will be together on the trail by Saturday, just as the weather begins to heat up again. We may not be able to predict the weather while on the trail, but that is far preferable to being off trail no matter what the atmosphere has in store for us.