Favorite section from campo to walker pass?

imported
#1

Howdy,
what have been thru-hikers favorite sections from Campo to Walker Pass?

kd

#2

Mt. San Jacinto most scenic; Windmachines of Cajon Pass most educational; Ridges/hills N. of LA most smoky & ticksy; rocks near Agua Dulce most interesting; Mojave most challenging…gee, I can’t decide!

gingerbreadman

#3

I would have to say Agua Dulce to Hwy 58.

You start at the Saufley’s and relax for two nights.

Your first on trail night is the Hikers Oasis Cache. Then you wake up with a pounding headache. You stumble a few miles along flat as a board yet beautiful terrain too the next road, where you meet Joe and Terrie who give you really big hugs, then wisk you away to Casa De Luna. You stay at the Casa days. During this time you whirl in and out of conciusness. You leave on a gut instinct and are happily given a ride back to the trail. You walk to the red carpet cache call the Andersons again feeling lonely. They say come back. So you walk back 10 miles to Green Valley where they pick you up again and you do some really weird things. Days later they drop you back at the trail and you make it to Hiker Town(still creepy) the next day. You leave that night shell shocked. As you walk down the aqueduct with the sun setting in 100 degree heat a series of locals in old trucks pull up along side of you warning you not to be out here after dark, the Meth Cooks will kill you, they say. You ignore them yet feel frightened as you walk by trailers with pink smoke coming out of them.
After 17 miles and at 2 AM you reach Cottonwood Bridge and have no clue that the spigot is nowhere near the bridge. After an hour you find the spigot and realize that it barely dribbles water out. After taking 45 minutes to get a gallon you decide to camp under the stars and enjoy the moonlight on you. You awake with a spider the size of your hand on your face.
You cant sleep anymore so you decide to start early after only a few hours of sleep but hey this is better then the day time. Happily you walk past the beautiful forms of Joshua trees bathed in moonlight. The sky to the east turns red then orange then the stars slowly dissapear. The Tehachapi mountains are bathed in Alpenglow. The disk of the sun breaks the horizon to the east. Your skin feels as if an iron has been pressed to it. You wish it was still dark.
How could I have brought only a gallon of water from the spigot. Why didnt I get two you think as you wonder if it is normal not to pee in 20 hrs. Tylerhorse Canyon has a nice 2 inch deep stream and you cherish it. You stay here till 6PM relaxing in the shade eating candy and watch ants kill things. As the temps drop to the low 90’s you decide to leave and realize that the trail is now a sand trap held somehow to the side of a mountain. The antelope valley below stretches out to Mount Badin Powell, and the forms of the Gorgonios and San Jacinto are clear to see far to the south. Some lingering snow is still visible 350 trail miles away.

You walk into the night confused by the number of dirt bike tracks crisscrossing the trail. WTF there are booby traps on the trail. Some hikers are trying to murder the dirt bikers. Great now the dirt bikers who you’ve been hearing all day are going to try to kill you you think.

There is a shelter along this stretch of trail and you miracuosuly find it in the moonlight. Some beer cans reflecting in the moonlight catch your attention. The sides are spraypainted with hate signs. Inside the walls have dirty pics nailed all over. The bed frames are filled with rat dung. You leave. Sleep comes soon as you get to a flat spot far enough from this cabin to feel safe. You awake and head to the Tiger Tank underneath 20 story tall sleek beautiful windmills that spark your imagination and make you feel good. Wow this thing has a shower attached to it! you get there turn the knob and nothing happens. Its broke. No water. after 2 miles walking beneath statuesque wind turbines you get to a little creek that has a mix of fast food garbage and beer cans floating in it’s algae choked flow and tank up. 8 more miles of wind farms and sweeping views across the Mojave Desert and Edwards air Force Base lead you to hwy 58 where you hitch to Mojave never to be seen again.

(This pretty much sums up this section to a T. I liked it. One of the most unique PCT stretches out there.)
:x

guino

#4

Guino sure makes a case for Section E, but i wouldn’t say it’s my favorite. Honestly, i’d pick any other section.

A is best because it’s varied, well-kept, and everything is new.
B is best because it has the biggest exciting climb (and descent) and the wonders of Jacinto and Idyllwild
C is best because it has really beautiful canyons (Mission and Deep Creek) going up and down between the high San Bernadino part.
D is best because…well, i guess i liked D less.
And E less.

I’d stick with A, B, or C.

markv

#5

Well, I have not yet hiked on the PCT so I can not say which section is best but I can say that Guino’s description is not even close to what I have been imagining.

I’m not overly concerned about the ants and the other bugs or even the sand traps and other dangers setup by Mother Nature. I am troubled to hear about the drug cookers and other human dangers.

When is the relocation of these sections going to be completed?

Miguel

Miguel

#6

San Jacinto/Idlywild, the grassland veldt north of Warner Springs, Mission Creek north of Palm Springs, the frog preserve that “We didn’t walk through.” Lots of good sections but nothing spectacular.

bowlegs

#7

I’m fairly certain the grassland veldt Bowlegs is referring to is just SOUTH of Warner Springs.

markv

#8

we didn’t have the Saufley’s, C de L, or HOC in '93… we got some hiker help in A. Dulce, then some water at 3 points & at an octagon house in the Mojave…almost sat on a broken bottle finding the only shade under the aqueduct pipe (put the 5L waterbagdown on the glass & had to repair it with a rubberband to save what was left of it)…
drank some radioactive water at uranium creek, & got our next resupply at the meadows start of JMT.

gingerbreadman

#9

Dont forget about that huge 50 mile detour thats mostly on roads in the low desert from Baden Powell to Soledad Canyon

Guino

#10

Speaking of that detour, any news on how long until the trail is re-opened? Or are people walking it anyway already?

markv

#11

Some people blasted through the closed area this May not knowing it was closed and made it fine. I thought the detour was cool, having done the real thing twice already. It was nice to be able to walk side by side with friends. I think I was absolutely drunk for 48 of these 50 miles. Me and Axilla both brought bottles, and we got to several liqour stores along the way where we got several cold twelve packs. :cheers

Guino