[pct-l] Trip Notes - SoCal - C1 to C6

[pdascalos at gmail.com (Peter Dascalos)]

I hiked sections C1 through C6 NOBO. Actually starting at Snow Creek where I 
left off from previous section hike.
The hike was on Sept 8 to the 11th. The first day I got an early start and 
it was bloody hot by mid morning. I found a bush to get out of the sun for a 
few hours in Whitewater Canyon! There is still a very good stream flowing in 
Whitewater. By the looks of the canyon this would have been some kind of 
crossing in the spring. As a note - there was water in a tank in the back of 
an old truck at what I am guessing is the "Pink Motel". By the first night I 
had made it over to Mission Creek and the creek was flowing nicely, it felt 
great getting into and soaking after a long hot day! 
The second day was the long trek up Mission Creek to Mission Creek Trailside 
Camp. There was good water the whole way up. If I do this section again, I 
would camp at the trail side area just shy of the "Trailside Camp", much 
better location and water. The temperature did get down to the thirty's and 
the feel of fall was in the air.
The third day was beautiful and cool, the wild flowers are still in full 
bloom and snow is still visible on the summit on San Gorgonio Peak! I 
climbed this peak in the spring and am not surprised that there is still 
snow up there. This was pretty much a waterless section until getting to 
Arrastre Trail Camp. The water there was flowing slowly and had a little bit 
of an odor, but after filtering tasted great.
The final push onto Route 18 was again a little warm and waterless. Was able 
to get a hitch into Big Bear City within about 20 minutes. 
The first day I met up with an other section hiker, Mark, that was hiking 
NOBO. Other than that I did not run into any other hikers. On the final drop 
down to Route 18, I ran into some mountain bikers, of course I had to give 
them the usual "You know no bikes are allowed on this trail" as they grunted 
past me. Over all another great trip on the PCT!
I am back in the comfort of my work cubicle and planning the next 
section....
Hike on - OC