Jbobier - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2007

Wow, today...sucked. Hard. We walked all day through the nearly completely burned San Gorgonio Wilderness in temperatures of 100+. It's hard to describe the feeling of suffocation. The closest I can come is the guidebook which calls this section little Death Valley. The trail was wisely built following a creek for most of the day, which is really the only thing, I think, that made this hike possible at all.I drank 8 liters of water in 13 miles and was still mildly dehydrated and feeling really nauseous. On a normal day, I've been drinking about 4 liters.We did camp out for a couple of hours under one of the few trees along the creek to survive the burn. This was nice and I got a good foot soaking in for the day.

Note to self: If you ever think about repeating this section, you've lost whatever marbles in that head of yours you had.

I agree 100%. Today was totally miserable. I imagine this creekside section was probably hot but pretty before the burn, but the burn has left it entirely exposed. We crossed Mission Creek about 20 times during the day and each time I dipped my hat or a bandana into the stream and dumped them over my head. That would usually cool me enough to get to the next crossing. Something about the combination of a burn, heat, and dry air is just devastating to my will to walk.

At the end of the day Angie asked, "If the whole trail was like this, would you do it?" Not without coming at it from a different perspective. There really wasn't anything pretty or interesting about the day. It was just hard.

Tomorrow we climb many thousands of feet up. Hopefully, that will help cool it off. Tonight I'm going to sleep the sleep of the dead.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!!