[pct-l] My 20 mile day

[kdpo at pacbell.net (Ken Powers)]

Good report, Mike.

As for your legs, get out there and do another 20 today. After the first 100
yards the legs will loosen up and not hurt for the rest of the day. And
tomorrow morning do the same. :)  After a about a week you will start
getting different pains. But they all seem to go away after a few yards of
hiking. Of course the beauty of being outdoors helps!

Thanks for the report about the burn area. When we hiked in 2000 we went
thru a burn area from the preceeding fall. The good news is that the blooms
and birds were prolific in the burn area. The desert was regrowing quickly.

Ken

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Saenz" <msaenz@mve-architects.com>
To: "PCT Mail List (E-mail)" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Cc: "AsABat" <AsABat@4Jeffrey.Net>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 11:33 AM
Subject: [pct-l] My 20 mile day


I just got a small taste of what you crazy thru-hikers do...

Made it through the Cedar Fire burn area from Mt Laguna to the Fargas
monument, just east of Cuyamaca, yesterday. 20 miles in 9 hours (including
breaks). We kept a steady pace of 3 mph (moving average).

My legs are sore...

The original plan was to do the extra 10 miles and make it to Scissors
Crossing, but more rational heads prevailed. Good thing, too. I'd have hated
every step past mile 21. As it turned out, we had a great day on The Trail.

We started on the trail at Burn Ranchiera at 8am. It was bright blue and
cold as we made our way through the frozen mud and snow of the campground.
We were on the PCT for all of 15 minutes before the jackets came off. It
stayed cool and breezy all day.
We didn't get to the burn perimeter until about 6 miles into the day. The
trees and snow patches were nice to hike through. the trail turns to ash
about the time you reach the desert view (whoa! What a view!) through the
canyon next to Fosters Point. We were lucky in that the snow patches broke
up the monotony of the blackened mountainsides. The blue sky also helped
keep us cheerful as we hiked through the destruction left by the fire. It's
truly a despairing sight. But just as the smell starts to get annoying, the
trail turns out of the burn perimeter, as it ducks in and out of the
perimeter's edge. Also, the moist ground kept the ash dust down. We got
through the worst of it at Pioneer Mail and climbed up and northeast on the
old roadway. Seeing the burn area, the desert below and the ruins of the old
concrete guardrail among the tumbled boulders reminded me of Frodo and Sam
making their way into Mordor.
>From then on, we were hiking through the `02 burn area, which, at least,
has some grasses growing and the burned bushes are sun bleached white,
instead of the moonscape of the Cedar burn. As we made our way toward Lucky
5, we saw mountain lion tracks in the snow! And later on, deer tracks on the
trail. Hard to imaging much wildlife in that area.
Met up with Justin Cramer a few miles north of Lucky 5, after a spectacular
error in landmark coordination: Justin agreed to meet up with us at Lucky 5
as we made our way north. I placed Lucky 5 about 3 or 4 miles south of it's
actual location. We planned on making it to Luck 5 at noon, but we didn't
get to Pioneer Mail until 11:30. But Justin (and his trail dog, Brittany)
patiently waited for us and then began hiking north to meet us. So he was
able to join us for about 6 or 7 miles, leaving us where he parked his truck
at Lucky 5. Thanks for he company, Justin!
After that, a cold front moved in and a cold wind kicked up. Making the last
3 miles to where we parked one of our trucks was a cold and tired hike.

Water Report:
The drinking fountain at Mt Laguna is turned off.
The horse trough at Pioneer mail was full.
There was about 4 gallons at Lucky 5 water drop.
A fair coverage of snow patches between Mt Laguna and Lucky 5.
No flowing water at the bottom of any ravines.
Melting snow patches create small rivulets on the trail.

M i c h a e l   S a e n z
McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e    P l a n n i n g    I n t e r i o r s
w  w  w  .  m  v  e  -  a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s  .  c  o  m
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