[pct-l] Preliminary hike report - Cottonwood Bridge to Trail Pass

[Anthony Biegen]

Since everyone is at kickoff I wanted to get this info out as soon as
possible. Just completed this section which I will refer to as my upside
down trip - 27 degrees in Tehachapi and 80 at Warner Springs.

First of all the overall water report. Water was seen at all the expect
locations. I will file a detailed report later. I happened to run into the
couple the own the property in Spanish Needle and they summed it up very
well. As three trail crossing of Spanish Needle Creek were flowing. Looked
fine to me. I was able to fill my bottles in second at the second
crosssing. But the owner described it this way, "It looks like September
flow after a really bad rain winter." There is water out there now but we
may have to rethink the water report assumption that there was water at
some places in 2007 which was the driest year so it will always be
available. This year may change that. The owner at Spanish Needle says that
they are only at 35% of normal this year and that is the lowest he has ever
seen.

The good news for hikers is that there is virtually no snow on the trail
all the way to Trail Pass. I did see some small patches of snow but no more
than your average Blenders couldn't use up in an afternoon.  No exposure,
no danger, no need for ice ax or special footware. Send your ice ax to Lone
Pine. I should say the my hike stopped at Trail Pass and the snowless
status may extend further. Maybe send your ice ax to Oregon or Washington
or to Ned. Not sure. Wait till some more reports come in.

Bad news for California - it's really dry up there. The rhododendrons all
have brown leaf tips from the excess heat up there. Today near 10000 feet I
was grabbing what little ice I could to cool down. It must have been 65 or
more up there today. The future looks dry. Not good for California.

TrailHacker
Ralaxing in Lone Pine with perfectly dry feet.

-- 
Best,

Tony