Mt. San Jacinto poses for
a picture taken from the
trail's highest point in
the San Bernardinos.
Day 17 of musli and soy milk
in the old ziplock.
Uh Oh...its a Joshua
tree. Are we heading
into some dry country?
Yup, we sure are. This is a
crummy picture, showing the
view north and providing our
first good view of the Mojave
Desert. (Beats looking at another
picture of me, eh?)
Another mediocre picture of the
Mojave. I passed up a great
overlook and had to settle for
shot between the trees. It was
so beautiful in the afternoon
light but I couldn't capture it.
You will have to use your
imagination.
We left our campsite as the lights of Palm Springs faded in the morning light. Soon, we climbed to a ridge which was the highest point on the PCT in the San Bernardinos-8750 feet. Does this mean it's all downhill from here? I wondered. (Ok, so I'm a dreamer)
We descended the ridge where the trail skirted a ranch. Then, we saw a strange sight. There on a small rise by the side of the trail were large enclosures containing a bear and a tiger, who stared back at us, seemingly resigned to their unfortunate fates. There were other cages, but I couldn't make out what the animals were. Other PCT hikers from previous years had written about these animals in their journals and I believe they commented that the animals are used in T.V. or films. We hadn't seen many animals on this leg of the journey and when we did, they were caged. Sad.
As we hiked that afternoon, our view north began to show us how close to the desert we were. The Big Bear Lake area is situated in the northeastern corner of the San Bernardino Mts. and meets the Mojave Desert on the northern and eastern sides. Although Big Bear Lake is in a lovely alpine area, just east and north, the forest turns to arid desert-like landscape and it was in this that we walked all afternoon. At last, we came to a northern overlook and there was the Mojave Desert stretched out before us. In the fading afternoon light, it looked like a painting. I was entranced and as I hiked, I kept tripping over rocks as I gazed at the view. It was strange to think that only this morning I had been gazing down at Palm Springs and now here was the Mojave.
Suddenly, and surprisingly, we came upon a huge, new house sitting in a valley with views of the Mojave to the north and snow capped mountains to the south. It had huge floor to ceiling windows and large wrap-around decks and was gorgeous. I said as much. Scott responded. You may guess his response. Was it:
A. What a location!
B. That architecture is fabulous!
C. They won't ever be able to keep THAT place clean in a million years.
I'm sure you guessed correctly, so I will continue. I responded, "I'm sure "they" don't clean it." He said, "Still, that place looks like a compound." I said, "You mean like for cult people?" "Yes," he said. (No, I can't explain why. I don't even pretend to understand how his mind works)
We left the house of the supposedly misguided and hiked on. The pleasant wind that had been so refreshing that afternoon turned cold and nasty. We finished hiking at dusk and scarfed down some food, donned our balaclavas and climbed in our mummy bags, pulling them tight so just our noses stuck out. We looked like two fat larvae lying side by side. Scott only likes to put the tent up in inclement weather. Apparently, this definition only includes rain. Freezing, bitter wind does not qualify. His general response to the suggestion, "Let's put the tent up," is "That's what your balaclava is for. (Until this trip, I had no idea how very versatile a balaclava is. I thought it was only used for robbing banks and convenience stores.) I was too tired to argue. (because I CAN get my way, just in case you were wondering who is really in charge here) As I lay there in my bag, I fantasized about running back to the compound and beating on the door yelling, "I'm a believer-take me in!" They probably wouldn't have understood, but it would have been warm in there.