Day 4 (5 April) - Mile 30.15 - 41.47

Kitchen Creek Road Campsite to Mount Laguna Lodge

Last night was much better sleeping than the night. The temperature was perfect and the sound of the creek and frogs right behind the tent was soothing...at least to me. The outside noises are keeping Barbra awake so she hasn't had a good night sleep in 4 days.

We left the tent and found this huge bag of camping gear that the 2 women we met yesterday wants Tim to take to Mount Laguna for them. Yes, the bag is as heavy as it looks!

Now that's a heavy bag.

For some reason Barbra was rearing to go before I had even had breakfast...it was probably the hot coffee she was able to drink this morning...so she decided to go ahead. That's cool, see you on the trail in an hour or so. I relaxed and enjoyed my Carnation Instant Breakfat and protein bar. And was finally ready to go 30 minutes after Barbra left. Instead of walking up the road 0.4 miles, Tim drove me back to the trail. This allowed me to gain some time on Barbra.

Barbra has 20 minutes in me...gotta go.

Today we climb from 4000 feet to 6000 feet in about 11 miles, so it's an up, up, up kind of day. Here is the sign marking the trailhead from Kitchen Creek Road. Pretty cool.

PCT trail head.

Now it is time to track down Barbra. After about 1/2 mile I came across a couple of birders. They were looking for a bird that is know to nest this time of year although I don't recall the name. More important than the bird, I found out that they sighted Barbra about 1/2 hour ago. Great. Onward I go.

About 1/2 hour later I spotted a Teva footprint in the sand which I presumed had to be Barbra's.

Footprint of Barbra.

About 2.5 miles from the start I met a couple of women we had met the second day. They told me Barbra was about 20 minutes ahead....I'm making ground. Just after Leaving them I came across this sign. In May 2009 a Marine helicopter crashed near here. Munitions carried by the helicopter were scattered as a result of the crash. This sign warns hikers to stay on trail because of a safety hazard from unexploded military ordinances in this area.

WARNING!

One of the nice things about hiking alone is that it is much quieter and the creatures stay out. I was able to catch this lizardy thing sunning itself.

Desert lizard.

Finally after about 2 hours of solo hiking I caught up to Barbra. She had slowed down some to allow me to catch up and I managed to average about 2.2 miles per hour which is pretty good with the climbing involved. Also, the weather today is perfect for hiking...not to warm with overcast and a slight breeze.

At this point both Barbra and I were getting hungry, so we stopped at the 7 mile point to eat lunch and relax for a bit. Barbra wanted to try to catch up on some elusive sleep and laid down for a bit:

Napping Barbra.

However, the nap was short-lived as a solo woman from Oregon decided to join us. Her mom had died recently so she decided to quit her job and use the few thousand she inherited to do the PCT. As we were leaving she asked us to tell Pierce, if we came across him, where she was. Sure...no problem.

We started hiking and saw Brad just 1/10 mile up the trail where he stopped for lunch. Bummer...we just missed joining him for lunch. He hiked with us for about 1 hour and stopped to filter water and there was Pierce...and he was British. I told him that his friend was just down trail and with his cute British accent said thank you. That was when I had to give him the trail name 007. His eyes lit up as he loved the name. He then said that he liked his water shaken, not stired...funny. I told him that he was now responsible to provide intelligence to other hikers on the trail. So far this year most all the hikers we have met have been really nice.

Barbra and I continued up the trail and the terrain changes from deserty "mean" plants to beautiful green pine trees and grass.

With altitude change so does the ecology

Barbra making up for missing her bar class

Incredible hiking with Barbra ahead.

A little further up trail we finally entered the Mount Laguna Recreation Area where the Desert View Nature Trail joins the PCT. We must be getting close to Mount Laguna.

Trail joins.

Finally, around 4:00 PM we came across the sign pointed towards Mount Laguna. Only a 1/4 mile walk to town.

It was then we realized that we didn't take our daily picture at the start of the day, but it is never to late.

Four fingers for 4 days.

We exited the trail and had to walk through a campground where we saw many hikers we met the past 4 days. Finally we made it to town and stopped at the local outfitter, Laguna Dave, to check out the store. As Barbra was inside buying her very own ULA Circuit backpack and backpacking gloves, I was outside helping myself to a complimentary PBR. Thanks Laguna Dave!

While drinking the beer that was a young guy from Switzerland making a sign that says "To San Diego". He hurt his ankle and is just so frustrated that he is throwing in the towel and going home. I tried to convince him to go back to the campground, pitch his tent, find a book, and relax for a few days before making any rash decision. He was pretty down and not wanting to hear anything. Good luck with you.

We left the store and met Tim and Mount Laguna Lodge. This place really caters to PCT hikers proving a bucket at check-in that you can fill with water to soak your feet, then wash your clothes in. Here is the cabin we are staying in tonight. It looks a lot better from the outside:

Mount Laguna Lodge cabin

Barbra was the first to wash her clothes...uhm...no words to describe this.

Laundry day.

Oh yeah...Brad decided to stay here as well. He came over with his dinner and Tim made a fire in the fireplaces. After a couple of hours of hanging out we were all ready for bed. Tomorrow is a short 5 mile hike, so we can sleep in and enjoy the room.