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Click "Play" below to listen to the Day 14 audio journal.
June 7, 2015
Day: 14 Daily Miles: 50 Total Miles: 670 Hours Hiking: 16.5
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| Sunrise with joshua trees, about 5 miles after Kelso Valley Road. |
June 7th, I made it 50 miles on the dot, just passed the best Spanish Needle Creek Fork water at basically mile mark 670.25...that point is 0407265 E 3959627 N UTM. Today was a good day, I had a really great morning, I was happy, I woke up from a nice spot, I had a really really good sleep, I think I only woke up twice...and that just started it off...right away I walked through some cool junipers and then it's kind of a flatish walk over to Robin Bird Pass Road, but with the sunrise, you kinda of weave through these hill and joshua trees, with views all over, and boulders and stuff, and it was just a realllllly nice morning, I really enjoyed it. I put some music on, just to jam out and take it all in. Again, I passed another 6 people still camping/sleeping, which is a lot of people. I got to Bird Spring Pass Road, again there was water, so I topped mine off. Then, there's a BIG climb to get up...but the big climb is very well graded, such that it's about perfect for me so I can crank on it...and I did... I passed 4-5 people on the climb itself, which was great. There was even trail magic at the trail crossing at Bird Spring Pass Rd. Some lady had just topped it all of, she yelled " Enjoy, Bye!"... Yeah, from there I just pushed it to the top of the climb, and once you're on top, you get your first view of the high Sierra, wayyy in the distance, which is a bonus.
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| A few miles before Bird Spring Pass Road. |
Then you drop off that hill and have about a 6 mile, really boring walk through the woods, which is fairly flat, and then you're on this dirt road, that doubles as a motor cycle trail all the way to McIver's Spring. That whole time, I had an audio book in, it was HOT, but at least there was a breeze. Other years I've had no breeze and it's been miserable....but I just zoned out, just go...it's just one of those places where if it's easy trail and you're feeling OK, it isn't too difficult to not stop. By the time I got to McIver's Spring, it was about a 25 for the day...and I started to feel tired, like my body was saying "you should take a break!". But, I needed water, or well I didn't NEED water, but I wanted to get to water.........AHHH Ohhh my gosh, little flies go away [blowing noises]......... I wanted to get to water and take a little break then...So, I pushed to Walker Pass, it was a 30, the last 5 miles are pretty much downhill anyway, so I just kept going, listening to my book...nothing too significant...there are great views all around, once you start the descent. It was getting pretty hot...about 2 miles from the pass itself, I came around a corner and there was a girl hopping on one foot, putting on her shoe (laughs)...she said "Oh great, now I'm that person blocking the middle of the trail"....so we joked about it....I said " Ahh, you're no worse than any fallen tree, I can just go around you". So we chatted all the way down to Walker Pass, where there was some trail magic happening...I forget who it was, but there was about 10 hikers there [campground]...it was basically just some beer, water and some hot dogs, but who cares, trail magic IS trail magic. I hung out there for only about 35 minutes because I knew I had to move on....in 2012 Meadow Ed was there with trail magic and I spent like 1.5 hours there, which put me behind for getting to Kennedy Meadows, for hiking that night, so I knew I needed to NOT do that.
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| On the descent to Walker Pass after the boring road walk. |
So, I slowly managed to wrench myself out of there, but by then, it was about 3:30 pm and blazing hot...I got up to the Pass, did that climb, the big switchbacks...at the corner of the first switchback there were some dayhikers stopped and were exclaiming "ohh my gosh" while taking pictures...what it happened to be was a rattlesnake, at the switchback corner had curled up and partially buried itself in the sand, it had made an impression in the sand and was more or less level with the trail, but ON the trail, so if you were to walk by, you may not notice it because it was coiled up and literally....after they were done taking pictures, I told them I was going to move it off the trail because it's one of those things people won't necessarily see and it is literally 6' from your leg and will actually be able to get you [bite]. It wasn't very aggressive or anything, it was just hanging out...most rattlesnakes when they get your scent, rattle and get the hell away from you...this guy was like 'nope, I'm here...I'm staying here....this is my spot'...So I prodded him with my trekking pole and got him off the trail. Just walking normally on the trail, I would have put my foot down 5" away from where he was, and it was so near where anyone would normally would step to walk, so that may have saved someone from being bitten...I think that was my fourth rattlesnake actually. I've been seeing lots of gopher snakes and a couple king snakes...that was interesting....
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| Heading back up after Walker Pass. |
I continued on up the climb, I finally made it up and over to the big rocky area, where you are on the east side of the mountains looking down towards Ridgecrest...it's just a different type of trail than whats normal. It was one of the last areas where I could get cell service [until 200 miles later in Reds Meadows], so I took another break, turned on my phone and got a few texts...and then I got one from Leah, which said she was getting off trail, that she wasn't happy, so I'm going to have to give her a call at Kennedy Meadows to figure out what's going on....she might get back on, she might not, who knows??
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| The last part of the 'rocky' area after Walker Pass. |
So, that's a little disappointing, but other than that, no news...and I kept going. At that point, I knew I needed to take some caffeine, because doing the rough calculations for time vs miles...I needed to hurry, pick up the pace a little. I drank half my Mtn. Dew I've been carrying for like 200 miles...(laughs)...I put some good music on and just went. I topped out from the rocky area, and then there's just this big gnarly rocky downhill....forever...and ever and ever to Joshua Tree Spring, which there were at least 5 people I saw camped out there. In about 6 miles more is where I wanted to be, which was the Spanish Needle [creek] water. To get there, you have to go up this really steep hill for about 2 miles and then drop you another 3.5 miles to where the creek crossing are, buuutttt, unlike the way that they made you come up to the pass, which was steep, they have these stupid, lazy flat switchbacks...forever....and you're like, "consistency, where is the consistency in this trail?!?!? One side of the mountain is straight up, the other side really stupid switchbacks...I don't understand.." It got dark, I pulled out my headlamp, I only had 2 miles to go...I had a little confusion...is this the right crossing [for water]? because a couple of the crossings have a little bit of water, but I went and I went and I went and then I had 1 more mile and I came across about 10 people camped out, between an OK water source and the better one which was above them. Right as I was passing by, a guy who was setting up his tent said he had just seen 2 bears, and though I should know.
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| Sunset around Joshua Tree Spring. |
I got up to the water source, it was great...I filled up my waters...and then I was on the side of this mountain...pretty high up...and I have to find a campsite...and so, it's one of those times where you just have to keep walking until you find a spot....and low and behold, about 0.25 mile later, there's this one little tiny canyon/indent where the trail contours into, and boom, flat spot more or less... perfect. I'm at my mileage, it was a little later than I wanted it to be, about 9:40 pm, but the spot was covered with trees, had a soft squishy bed...it was perfect. Only a couple mosquitoes, but they weren't too bad...although, the only downside was that it was hot...I don't know how warm.....I don't usually hike in the evening with no shirt on, but coming down off from that saddle, the last 4 miles, I thought 'it's just hot out, it's not good'....and yeah, sleeping, I was sweating a lot, so I'm hoping to get up into some colder territory [2 days later I was being snowed on haha], otherwise I think I'll be sweating again tonight.
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Long Morning shadows stretch across the land before Bird Spring Pass Rd.
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