Day 24, May 11: Mile 320 to 342
Start: Mile 320.1
End: Mile 341.9
Miles: 21.8
Ascent: 2763 | Descent: 3395
G and I woke up to our quilts being covered in frost, but fortunately, I was hardly cold at all while sleeping thanks to me bundling up entirely underneath my quilt with the drawstring tight around the top of my head.
However, less fortunately, I had misread the weather report and G and I did not sleep with our filters, which were now busted. Our filters were both hollow membrane, which become damaged when ice crystals freeze and expand, crushing the delicate membrane inside and rendering them useless. Oops. ☹️
Despite the mishaps, continue on we must. G and I hiked out early and walked along highway 173 for a while. This section had some of the least scenic parts of the trail yet, and we walked through a construction yard, next to the Mojave Siphon Power Plant, and on the highway itself.
After that lovely utilitarian tour of Hesperia, G and I reached the (actually) lovely Silverwood Lake. The early morning light reflecting off the lake was beautiful, and made me wish I was boating or fishing on its waters.
We made our way around the lake, and G and I took a break by the bathrooms in the park and I had a highly nutritious and well balanced breakfast of Good N Plenty and Corn Nuts. I had some cell service so I ordered a new water filter and a few other things.
We kept hiking along some pretty easy terrain and chatted as the miles passed by. After a while, we came upon a hiker spread out on his belly in the middle of the trail. He saw us and pointed out the reason for his prostration: he was taking a photo of a small snake eating a lizard twice it’s body size. It was so cool!! We accidentally spooked the snake and it uncoiled itself from around the lizard but kept it in its mouth, and dragged the entire thing off the side of the trail! It was awesome to see so much strength from such a small snake.
After more hiking, we got our first glimpse of Cajon Junction (along I-15) and my beloved San Gabriel mountains in the distance! G and I made our way down the descent into Cajon quickly with the promise of hot, fresh, salty McDonald’s beckoning us forward. My foot was killing me but I was feeling excited about the food and also about the fact that Amazon, G and I decided to get a motel in Cajon instead of hiking out of Cajon that day, like the rest of our group was planning to do.
We finally made it to McDonald’s and there were hikers everywhere. I put in the biggest McDonald’s order I’ve ever made: a double Filet O Fish, double cheeseburger, McChicken, medium fries, 10 piece chicken McNuggets, a large drink and an Oreo McFlurry. This particular McDonald’s is in the process of being remodeled and the inside seating is closed, so once I got my order, I brought it over to the grassy area where all the other hikers were sitting. I devoured almost all of it except for the double cheeseburger and half of the nuggets. I felt equally gross, elated and accomplished. And also outshined- by G, who was doing the “McDonald’s Challenge”, an arbitrary PCT challenge where you resupply the 28 miles between Cajon and Wrightwood solely on McDonald’s. I was tempted but ultimately declined to join.
After chowing down and lazing in the sun for a bit, G offered to get us an Uber so we didn’t have to walk the 0.7 miles to the Cajon Inn, where we’d be staying that night.
In thru hiking lingo, there is a concept called “blazing.” On trail, to take a “blue blaze” is to take an alternate path to the official trail. A “yellow blaze” is where you bypass sections of trail by riding in a car. There are a few others, including “platinum blazing” which is where you spend lavishly for hotels, nice dinners, etc. as you hike along. Amazon, G and I were having fun singing silly songs about “platinum blazing, platinum blazing!” in regards to our motel decision.
Getting the motel turned out to be an incredible idea. The room was clean and well stocked. We took turns showering and we organized our packs. We enjoyed charging our electronics and watching our own videos in the solid wifi. After a relaxing evening, we all passed out by 8:30pm.