Cabazon to Big Bear City, 41 Miles
Everything changes so quickly out here. In 40 miles, we came from a blistering desert to a roaring river, to again at 8,000 ft in the high country. We found an oasis in the desert and realized how dramatic the presence of water is to a landscape.
Day 22, Cabazon to Whitewater Junction, 9.5 Miles
Cabazon is a bleak little town that resides on a busy corridor of I-10 near Los Angeles. Its business stems from the large, opulent casino in the area and various strip centers for food.
It took us about 2 hours to get an uber out of here, and though I am grateful for the Chipotle, I don’t plan to visit again.
Returning to our hike, we were dropped off at the hottest point of the day. These were the most extreme temperatures we had found yet, often exceeding 95°. Due to this, we waited and took a novel approach to our hike thus far.
We hiked at night by the view of our headlamps. It was an amazing experience to see the desert come alive in the cool evening temperatures. After sunset, we saw toads, millipedes, spiders and a species of nightjar, a bird I never thought I would see. Often heard, the most common nightjar on the East Coast is the whip-poor-whill.
Another surprise came to us as we heard roaring water ahead of us from our campsite. The landscape changed again as we reached the Whitewater River.
Day 23, Whitewater Junction to Mission Creek, 14 Miles
Today’s section was the wettest we have yet encountered on the trail.
We forded a river, and came to Mission Creek. Coming from the snowmelt of the San Gorgonio Mountains, Mission Creek crosses the Pacific Crest Trail over a dozen times in the span of 12 miles.
The surplus of water came at a cost, however. All of these stream crossings broke the trail to such an extent that the only method to find your way forward were small stone cairns. With no trail to speak of, stone riverbeds, and footprints to nowhere from lost hikers before us, this was quite a task. I am immensely grateful for the excess of water, but I do not know if it justified the amount of bushwhacking we found ourselves doing.
Due to the heat, we took a siesta by the creek and cooked lunch during the hottest portion of the day, and hiked later into the cool evening.
Day 24, Mission Creek to Coon Creek Cabins, 15 Miles
I cannot say that I expected to be back at elevation so soon, but here we are at 8,100 ft. As we ascended into the San Gorgonio mountains, we encountered an unfortunately common feature along the Pacific Crest Trail: burns from wildfires.
It is eerie to hike through these places, as suddenly, all goes relatively silent around you. In addition, these areas are difficult to traverse with fallen trees and burned trail. It was 8 miles straight up as we gained 5,000 ft of elevation through this terrain.
After all this hiking, the funny thing was when we reached a viewpoint overlooking Cabazon, where we were nearly 40 miles ago! Pressing on, we reached one our oddest, and best campsites. The Coon Creek Cabins are historical structures built around a National Forest Service campground that, ostensibly, is abandoned at the moment.
I camped next to one of the cabins, as it was well sheltered from the winds. Mary actually set up her tent inside of a small cabin with a dirt floor, grateful for the extra warmth.
Exhausted from the heat, we reached Big Bear City the next day and spent the night in town. We truly felt fortunate as we encountered our favorite food. Big Bear had not 1, but two Indian restaurants!
Our next stretch is a long one, nearly a week to the mountain town of Wrightwood, nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Total Miles: 250
Amazon Prime has a good documentary, Six Million Steps, on thru hikers on the PTC.
One of the scenes the film showed was the wind farm you posted on your blog. Super cool!
You and Mary keep your eye on the ball. We are all proud of you two.They don’t post, but you have a big following in NE Florida.