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[pct-l] Tales from the Trail

Hello all:

I thought I would share another stretch of the PCT with you all.  This leg
goes from Burnt Rancheria Campground to Pioneer Mail Picnic area:

Ariving at BRC, we parked one car in front of an abandoned restaurant after
dropping one car off at PMPA.  It was off season for the campground and the
place was empty save a few wood peckers and chipmunks who volunteer.  We had
just geared up at the grocery store up the road, across from the fire station.
 As we wandered through the empty campground, the voices of children and
families and picnics could be heard just under the winds that swept up from
down in the Anza Borrego desert.  A short way led us to the metal gate at the
end of the campground.  The lucky horse shoe welded to the top marked the
beginning of our short pass over the Cuyamaca Ridge.  These metal gates have
become reasurring milestones lately and don't seem so out of place.  On the
trail the path leads around a hillside to drop into a shaded oak and pine
grove with a rock water fountain, now capped, that lies in the saddle of
Desert View campground.  A small trail leads up to the right and leads to some
of the best views of the Anza Borrego desert anywhere.  It looks like the
Grand Canyon.  The spanse is so huge that it's hard to put it all together and
take it in.  This valley is the path used to first colonize Southern
California.  If you have a chance, I would take highway S2 east, when you get
Scissors Crossing and have a look at the historical markers along the way. 
The trail heads along the ridge and skirts a hill with a Government
Communication facility "golf ball".  The trail soon crosses a road that can be
followed uphill to the abandoned naval base.  At the top of this hill is a
plateau and heading east from the plateau you can follow the hillside over to
some great views of Anza Dessert.  In your PCT guide, there is a picture of
the Anza Desert that was taked from behind a huge naked Manzanita tree.  This
tree should be a few feet down the hill to your left.  It hangs out over a
cliff that drops over into the desert.  We named it the tree of Woe.  If you
climb out onto one of the limbs that hangs over the anza drop, only one word
comes to mind, Wo!, hence the name.  I would encourage this short detour. 
Back down the path the trail leads in and out of the hillside before long you
come to a very sharp hairpin turn left.  An old dirt road lead strait and was
convincing enough to us that we mistook it for the trail and followed it down
into the Anza canyon.  This detour ended about a mile down the road where it
found an abondoned shack beside a small creek.  Obviously a favorite spot for
some local beer drinkers.  We headed back up the trail and found the
switchback which led just beside and below S1.  Some mild undulations carry
the trail down the chapparal slope to Pioneer Picnic area.  

Happy trails,

Next story, Pioneer Mail to Scissors Crossings.

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