MY FIVE DAYS OF SOLITUDE ON THE PCT

                                                      November 1999

              Scissors Crossing to Warner Springs to Lost Valley Road in Section B.

I phoned a friend just as I finished this small hike:

The phone call was to reassure you that I am fine......My plight if you would call it that was on all the lower California TV stations. It made startling  news for awhile. I of course did not know I had a plight. I am so fine now that I drove for  three hours on the way back home,  with a warm fleece on and with the air conditioning going. (think I was cold inside).

Now on to the trail:
Here I am on the first day of section B. The temperature is 94 Degrees and I am sitting at a spot
where I hiked in to yesterday. I drove in and hiked about a mile and half to cache two  gallons. of water. It is about nine trail miles in from Warner Springs going North and is intersected by a old jeep road called Lost Valley Road I am going to spend the night here and recount what has happened to date.

Day One:
I left Yuma at 6.30 A.M. stopped for breakfast at 8 A.M. .I came through the town of Julian, it was a  wonderful drive, some people I know would say it was Glorious. I am parking my car at the
the school in Warner Springs.

I am now on the trail going South to Scissors Crossing from Warner Springs and from eleven a.m. to one p.m. I was off the trail under a big shade tree.  It was 92 degrees. I have my boots off, snacking , cooling off and resting. I arrived at Barrel Springs at 4.30 p.m. and it took me until five p.m. to find the two gallons of water that had been stashed for me by Jeff Eckert from the PCT list.

 Barrel Springs was not running, if anything a drip, maybe one quart in a two hour span. The pipe was also broken. The water stashed by Jeff was on the upper level on a flat spot by the Spring and it was spooky up there. So I ate, and had a wash and drank a lot of water. Then I decided to hike a little longer and find a place to sleep. I walked for an hour on a very narrow side hill trail, there was no place to lay my bag down and it was getting dark and I was concerned. Finally at the end of a gully there  was just enough room for me to put my sleeping bag down and be off the trail. It is really dark at 6.45pm.

Did you know when you are in your sleeping bag and all cuddled up and you think you hear someone walking. Well all it is ...is your heart beating against your sleeping bag. I did it all wrong the first night, I am not setting up the tent, it is too warm.  I was very hot, so in the dark I just jumped into my bag "au natural" that was a mistake. At midnight I woke up a little cool and finally at 4.30 A.M. I got up and put on my sleeping clothes.

Did you know that the moon in this area is directly above you at midnight  and it is like someone turned on a 200 watt light bulb. I did not sleep sound, just so so. Did about nine and half miles this day.
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Day Two:
I was up at 6.45 just when it started to get light  and started walking about 7.30 a.m. there were two big fellows on mountain bikes who caught up to me within a half hour. They were hunters and were using huge pistols instead of rifles.

 To day I am drinking lots of water, I put in some powdered Gatorade and it taste yummy. I think I will drink more water if it is flavored like this. At ten a.m. it is 84 degrees. It has been a very hot day so far. I ended up drinking a full 2 liter bag which makes me short for tomorrow.

I camped at five pm. on a sandy wash near  the San Felipe Hills. I had a little problem finding the Northern trail out of that wash, but with a little bit of bushwhacking and lo and behold there
was the trail and the gate I was looking for. I ate and  went to bed early and slept.  I did about twelve  miles today......It was  very hot.

Day Three:
The moon woke me up at 12.30 a.m. so I just turned over and shut my eyes. I woke up again  at 4.30 a.m. I had slept enough, so decided to eat my breakfast by moonlight while still in my sleeping bag at 5.30 a.m. Then I dozed until dawn came.  I was hiking by 7.15 a.m. I am still not putting up the tent. 

 I am hiking down those forever switchbacks in and out of gullies that go forever and. I am about three  miles from Scissors Crossing and I meet up with Jeff who is hiking in to meet me and drive me back to Warner Springs. Jeff is a great person, a  really nice man about 49 years old. We had not met until this instant on the trail.  I was sitting on a rock in a shady part of the trail and he came around the corner, he startled me and I startled him.

.I had been rationing my water and only had about 2 cups left. It was 96 degrees today and Jeff had brought me a bottle of Gatorade which I consumed on the spot. He also had another small bottle of water for my hydration system. I was a little light headed this day due to the heat and
consequently had a fall down and scraped up my knees and one arm. We were down to the Cottonwood tree at one p.m. right on schedule. We went to a cafe and had a sandwich and then talked about stashing water for me for the next day.

We drove up the Lost Valley Road and then walked about a mile and quarter, I put two gallons in the bush there.. I planned to take my car to Kamp Anza, where Paul Miller and Pat runs an Oasis for Hikers. They really do a lot for hikers who want a layover day with the convenience of showers and laundry. They like to know who is on the trail, Paul is trying to start a safety net, especially in the Off season for people like me.

I did not get there until 5.30 p.m. They had a friend visiting  called Mr. Bill Jennings. He had been out that day stashing water up ahead for me. I have a list of instructions now for the next couple of days. The help from people like Bill Jennings and Paul and Pat is marvelous.

It had been a really hot day for me today, again in the 90 degree temps.  The trail had been exposed for the last five miles and no breeze.  I had to sit under a bush every twenty minutes so I could get unheated and dry off. Getting to Kamp Anza so late in the day did not allow me to get much done, it was too dark. I slept on their deck. Next morning early, I  repacked my pack from the re-supply in my car, had a shower and got ready to leave again.

Day Four:
Paul has now driven me again to Warner Springs and I am heading North for approximately thirty-four miles and if my water stashed work out then I will come out at the Jeep Road for Terwillinger Rd. There is absolutely NO Water in the Aqua Calente Creek. In fact there has not been any water anyplace that I have hiked.

Now I am back on the first part of Section B which I started this episode (where I stashed the water)  . Somehow I was sitting in a bunch of red fire ants and got about 20 bites on one leg. Gosh, they hurt so bad. I washed my leg, put some ointment on, but that did not help, the leg burned all night long. I was feeling very sorry for myself. I finally got to sleep, when the most raucous, ,howling, moaning evil sound woke me right up. I thought it was going past me on the trail when all of a sudden it was back on the other side of me going the opposite way. All I could do was blow my whistle for a half hour.  I sat up in my sleeping bag with the hood up, bent over, and hoped it would go away.. . and me without my tent up. It got my attention and I did not sleep much this
night. I dozed on and off and wished for a end to this night.

So far all the animals I have seen, one coyote in Barrel Springs area and one beautiful black and white fox...a small one. I think it is too dry even for the animals.

Day Five:
I am getting a late start today, it somehow does not feel quite as hot. I am on the trail about 8.30 a.m. I am weary and need to have a good sleep also, and could this be possible, a little bit cranky? 
The day turns out hot and I am having to deal with this. I make pretty good time for first two hours  and then take until two p.m. to do another two and half  miles. I am very near to my next stash of water and Gatorade when I start observing what is going on around me:

First it is the smell like someone is burning tires or creosote? I remember reading that Chaparral bushes smell like creosote when burning. I look up at the sky and what I thought was a welcome cloud cover is in actuality smoke. Now this all has my attention......I climb up hurriedly to the next ridge and have a look.  I can see over  two ridges from me, is a big fire, though all I can see is the smoke and 6 planes and helicopter dumping water.

I decided that my best option would be ( I am in fifteen trail miles) to hike the six or so miles back to where I camped, then I could get on the old jeep road and hike another one and half miles and be out. This was my plan and is what I did. Suddenly my pack became much lighter and I went very fast. The heat did not bother me and my adrenalin was running. When I got about two and half  miles from the road, I came around another corner and there was the ridge right there, with all the flames and  smoke billowing up. I stayed there for about fifteen minutes to see if this fire was going to come over the ridge. The winds were really squirrelly. I went as fast as I could and got out on to the paved road. 

I decided to sit down and regroup, at this point I am not sure which way to go on the road. I am sure if the fire comes down here there  will be fire trucks coming along the road. I had no idea they were looking for me. Apparently there was a helicopter going up the trail, but further up then I was.

It was a good thing I was so slow this morning.  They were checking all the campgrounds in the
vicinity to see if I had hiked out to any of them. It was on all the lower California TV stations that there was "A 72 year old Female from Idaho, hiking alone" and was in danger from the fire.

As I sat on the road eating my gorp and thinking what to do next, a speeding Sheriff's car comes along and I wave him down and ask very nicely if he can help me. He screeches to a stop and his first words are "Are you 72 year old Marge" well we have been looking for you. He then gets on the radio and proudly announces that he has found "72 year old Marge" I told this very engaging young man that if he told one more person how old I am then there was a good possibility he could loose his job. 

The long and short of it was, I was in his custody until Paul from Kamp Anza, who had reported to them that I was in the area, came and got me. Everyone was very kind to me. The medical technicians  wanted to work over my knees, but I assured them they were just fine. They were all just happy that I had the presence of mind to go the right way and that I was safe. If I had continued on I would have been going in the same direction as the fire. They wanted to do a back fire, but not until they were sure I was not in the way of the fire.

Well my day is not finished yet. I have to go with Paul to Kamp Anza to get my car. This is about an hours drive from the fire. Then all I want to do it get to a Motel, sleep in a bed and have a shower.  I had to drive 50 miles through all the little towns to find a motel at 9 p.m. No Cafes open anywhere, so I  went to a convenience store and brought some junk food  to eat. I did not want to eat any of the trail food. The night was again a sleepless night, I got into the tub and washed my scratched up arm and legs and they did  hurt during the night.

Day Six:
 I am now back in Yuma and I have decided not to go back on the trail until the weather cools down and there is water in the creeks. I am home safe.
 ....