[pct-l] Trail report: I-10 to Mission Springs (never so glad to see snowmobile tracks)

[colving at silklaw.com (Gregory L. Colvin)]

> The three of us hiked from Interstate 10 at West Palm Springs to
> Highway 38 at Heart Bar Campground (Sections/Maps C1-C4) from Friday
> March 3rd thru Sunday March 5th (approx 15 miles/day, 30 PCT miles
> total, from elevation 1000'+ to 8000'+).  Here are the highlights:
> 
> Friday, the trail from I-10 to West Fork Mission Creek was a gorgeous
> blooming desert.  Water was mid-thigh crossing Whitewater River.  Some
> route finding problems, esp. at beginning rounding the trailers, etc.
> to get to Cottonwood trailhead.  Not too hot, took 6 hours.
> 
> Saturday, weather was mixed, rained off and on in afternoon and half
> the night.  We pushed up to past Forks Springs and camped.  Beautiful
> vistas crossing the ridge from the West to the East Fork of Mission
> Creek at the start.  After that, many treacherous stream crossings,
> wading up to our knees, lots of logs and limbs in the creek
> obliterating the trail, which we had to find again many times (climb
> the bluff on one side, is it up here, oh there it is, no it's on the
> other side).  Before the season begins, it will need lots of clearing
> and remarking.  Needed sandals for wading to keep boots dry.
> 
> Sunday was the worst.  The weather was better, but from the "pleasant
> creekside camp" at 6100 feet to Mission Springs, the trail was visible
> only in patches, otherwise it was covered with deep to very deep snow.
> The post-holing and routefinding were awful.  Our boots were sopping
> wet and cold for 10+ hours.  It took us from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m to
> go 6 miles to get to Mission Springs, where we felt lucky to see the
> PCT post just sticking out of the snow.  We felt even luckier to find
> snowmobile tracks on the Forest Service road going over the ridge and
> then down to the locked gate on Hwy 38 at the Heart Bar Campground,
> another 7+ miles.  We followed them (and some crosscountry ski
> tracks), with headlamps after it got dark, and finally hit the highway
> and our second car at 8:15 p.m.  Coming down was an exhausting forced
> march, breaking thru the crust every 10th unexpected step, but at
> least we didn't have to spend another night up there with very little
> food or be rescued.
> 
> We had ice axes, and used them for stream crossings and snow climbing.
> We did not have or need crampons or other climbing gear.  Snowshoes,
> if they were light and we all had them, might have helped shorten our
> hike by an hour in the last 2 miles up to Mission Springs and on the
> road down to Heart Bar.  Heavier hiking boots, long gaiters, and extra
> emergency food would have been advisable, but of course more weight
> would have slowed us down.
> 
> The worst was losing and having to find the trail again in the
> tributary ravines, on the slightest evidence (a slight depression, a
> sawed-off limb) with the early season snow.  Seems to us that a lot of
> trail maintenance will be needed below Mission Springs and below Forks
> Springs before April and the hordes come through.  Others can follow
> our tracks (if it doesn't snow again); we didn't go far off the trail
> before we found it again.
> 
> My two sons and I are doing a 10-year section hike from Mexico to
> Canada.  In January, March, and November of 2004 we completed approx.
> 200 miles of Sections A and B (except for 20 snowbound miles between
> Apache Peak and Fuller Ridge in the San Jacinto area)  We chose to go
> up Mission Creek now to avoid the heat later, but it was a mighty
> challenge.  We are glad were survived it.  We wouldn't advise
> attacking Mission Creek so early in the season again.
> 
> Anyone else tried this trip in March?
> 
Greg Colvin, with Jared Emerson-Johnson and Chris Colvin