Day 28, May 15: Mile 376 to 395
Start: Mile 375.8
End: Mile 395.2
Miles: 19.4
Ascent: 4610 | Descent: 5981
G and I woke up by 3am to start hiking at 3:30 so we could reach the Baden Powell summit by sunrise. The climb was nice and I was enjoying the peaceful night hiking. The moon was so full and bright, and we got some cool photos.
We reached in the summit just as the sun was starting to barely lighten the horizon, and we got bundled up because the wind was blowing and we were freezing. The sunrise was indeed beautiful and definitely worth the early wakeup. A few other joined us at the summit, including Jive Turkey, who I’ve met a few times at this point.
As soon as the sun was just above the horizon, we quickly packed up and started hiking towards Little Jimmy. I was soaking in the beauty and joy of being back in the San Gabriels, my most beloved mountains. I was enjoying the views while listening to some upbeat music.
I reached Little Jimmy Spring, where I did my first ever backpacking trip on my own after college. The place holds a lot of special memories and I was stoked to be back!
G, Amazon and I filtered water and continued on. Amazon and I hiked together for the next long stretch, and had some great conversation about mental health and how we navigate the world. We passed lots of weekend hikers on the descent down to Islip Saddle and said hi to them. I was sad to see all the burned trees from the 2020 fire.
Amazon and I continued on together, and my foot was hurting a lot but I pressed on because my friend Kat was driving up the highway to meet me!
Kat and David arrived to the picnic area with their dog Leroy, and it was so great to see them! They brought incredible fruit tart from Porto’s, mangos, bananas, cuties, beer and cold Coke. Yum.
After devouring the spread, and offering extras to the hikers who joined us, we started on a 2.5 mile stretch of road walk. The true PCT continues as normal in this section, but there is an endangered frog in that area so they’ve closed the trail down. Some people hitch past it back to the trail, and some people do a road walk along Angeles Crest Hwy. We did the latter.
Also, I put my backpack in Kat’s car and I jogged/walked the road stretch- a thing in thru-hiking culture called “slackpacking.” Some purists think it’s cheating, but I don’t. It was a great decision for me.
After the road walk and meeting Kat and David at their car, G and Amazon arrived as well. The five of us all hiked out together, through Buckhorn campground and onto the Burkhart trail. It was so nice to chat with Kat and David and catch up a little bit.
We crossed a lovely shaded stream and sadly, Kat and David needed to get going so we have a hug goodbye and they turned around. It was not enough time with them but I’m grateful I got to see them both!
We made it into camp at Cooper Canyon Trail Camp where we got a lovely campsite next to a running stream. After the extra early morning, I ate dinner and passed out by 7:30pm.