April 30-May 2 2001 - Laguna Mountain

This segment covers the Laguna Mountains that I skipped early in April.

Flying back:

Apr 30 - GATR Road (49.1-5440) at 2015 to Mt Laguna(42.9-5980) at 2300. Arriving late, I checked into the Laguna Mountain Lodge/Store (limited hours 9-5 make timing critical; the post office next door has even more limited hours). At 1530 I decided to look around Mt Laguna, and took the PCT to the Big Laguna Trail, which is legal for bicycles, with the result that unsigned illegal bicycle trails are everywhere, and sure enough I lost the main trail and ended up at the Laguna Ranch and the Sunset Trail. That was OK though, sunset was near, and the combination of the Big Laguna and Sunset trails was a much better introduction to the essence of Laguna Mountain than the PCT, which skirts the boundary between forest and desert. On the whole, one would say that in lush green late spring on a sunny day with the wildflowers booming, Laguna Mountain is as beautiful as almost any place in California outside the high mountains. It's truly a high plateau, with scarcely 500' of elevation gain to be found... mostly surrounded by very steep cliffs. I encountered no hikers or rattlers.

I got back to the PCT at Nobel Canyon/Penny Pines/GATR Road, just at dark, and walked back to the lodge under bright moonlight. The open desert and light forest terrain was ideal for a night walk, but no pictures. That raises the question of whether anybody has hiked the PCT entirely between sunset and sunrise. That would be a lot easier in the open country of southern California than in the deep dark forested canyons of the North Cascades.

The Laguna Mountain Lodge rooms have microwaves and refrigerators, making it convenient to cook anything requiring boiling water, which is just as well since the Blue Jay Lodge restaurant down the street only seems to be open on weekends.

May 1 - Kwaaymii Point (53.7-5450) at 0900 to (66-4200) at 1345 and back at 1830. Mile 66 was my turnaround point on April 3, so I was eager to link up with it, and finally made it as part of a very long day that left me with one blister that I popped, one rattler heard in the bushes, and six northbound hikers.

The water cache on the trail at mile 58.5, where the trail comes very near the Sunrise Highway at the Lucky 5 Ranch gate, is quite large but was only 1/3 full. Not being sure when it would be refilled, after my hike I took some empty bottles down to the GATR faucet, filled them up, and drove back to drop them off. The next day when I came by again, I saw the entire cache had been refilled and neatly put back in order. Later I learned that volunteers keep this cache and the Scissors cache filled on a weekly basis during the season.

There was no water at Mason Valley 62.7, and a cache was almost empty at the Chariot Canyon campsite 64.0.

May 2 - Kwaaymii Point (53.7-5450) at 0900 to GATR Road (49.1-5440) at 1045 and back at 1245. Kwaaymii Point is amazingly windy, which is I guess why hang gliders start there. The Pioneer Mail horse trough was full but not very appetizing; definitely requiring a filter. Today's main effort was to finish section A by hiking from Kwaaymii Point to GATR Road/Penny Pines and having a big drink from the fine faucet there. By most standards it was an odd place to end section A, but not too surprising given my plan to do San Felipe when it was pleasant and Mount Laguna when it was pleasant, times which seldom coincide.

After returning to Kwaaymii, I hauled some water back to the Lucky 5 cache only to discover that it had been completely refilled that morning. Then I proceeded to the point where the California Riding and Hiking Trail crosses Sunrise Highway on its way from Cuyamaca to Chariot Canyon. I hauled three water bottles down the CRHT to the Mason Valley Truck Road 62.7... and discovered Don, Tom, and Jeff again, resting in the shade of the last pine trees for sixty miles. They were on a leisurely pace to Idyllwild by May 12 or so. In all I encountered five northbound hikers today and one big black rattler.

Returning to my car at 1445, I drove through Julian, much busier now than on early April weeknights, and on to Warner Springs Ranch Resort.

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