Start point

Mile 464 at an unnamed tentsite

End point

PCT intersection with Lake Hughes Road, mile 485.8

Miles hiked

21.8

Wilderness area

Angeles National Forest

People I met

A few locals

The day on trail

The allergies are persisting. I think they will until I can wash all the pollen off my face and body. It’s brutal, still, but at least I am feeling a little better rested. I slept in my tent just to try and prevent some pollen. I also just wanted my little space with how I’ve been feeling the past 24 hours.

Benadryl helps a little at night, but it makes me so terribly sluggish during the day that I can’t take it then. I’m taking Claritin in the morning and Allegra in the evening. It’s my normal regimen for the peak of allergy season. It does the trick when I’m not sleeping in the kind of grass I did the other night. Ugh.

Despite my sluggishness, I got out of camp earlier than I have been. I’m still lagging behind everyone, but I often catch up because I take fewer breaks. I tend to get into a groove and rhythm when hiking and stopping to eat is a big interruption to that groove. It’s kind of a walking meditation for me.

Today was glorious. I don’t want to say that I needed to get moving before it was, it just was. It took me a bit to appreciate it, but I was surrounded by this beauty from the start. Well, before the start, I suppose.

It started with stepping over a gate.

Thanks for the pep talk, gate. I appreciate you.

There have been these little clay figures all over the trail. They’re really cute when I have energy and creepy when I’m tired.

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I really wish I knew their story. I’ve been seeing them since around Cajon Pass, so for a little over a hundred miles. I’m curious as to how many I’ve walked right by and missed. I haven’t photographed every one I’ve seen, so I don’t have a catalogue of what I’ve found. It’s just interesting and fun. I love the whimsy.

I’ve heard of a lot of bunnies, but I finally saw my first of the trail, and was lucky enough to get a photo! Poor fella had a piece missing in his ear.

And this gorgeous butterfly.

There was a climb up with a memorial bench, a local plaque, and a gorgeous reservoir.

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Right around there, too, I crossed under some power lines. These buzzed and didn’t crackle, and they weren’t unsettling in their sound. That’s apparently my new gradient for power lines — do they make me want to run or can I take my time?

And I had to cross a little wooden bridge! I love these things. They remind me of the Wonderland Trail!

All it needs is to be over a raging glacial river and have a rickety handhold.

Possibly one of the most delightful things I saw was these manzanita flowers on the ground. They looked almost like little pearls strewn about the base of this bush. Next to its muddled jade leaves and red bark in the tan sand, it was a play of color and texture. I just wanted to capture the flowers though. I’ve been seeing them on the bushes for over a month and now I get to see the next stage of their world.

I came upon a rest area that a local Scout troop built out. As pretty as it was, there was a hive of bees occupying it, so I couldn’t sit down.

I booked it fast from there.

Some more flowers.

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Ahead there was a trail register. I figured a limerick about my allergic misery would do well.

Above my name you can see Sinead trying on Sunrise as a trail name, and Piñacolada and Rafael were all just ahead of me.

It’s fun to leaf through trail registers and see who’s ahead and by how far. I’m often surprised by how little others are ahead of me. And it’s really common for people to leave a little quip about how they’re feeling or what they’re doing.

A sign to tell people where they are at a road crossing.

I really enjoyed looking at this slide area at the saddle of some hills. This tree was just chilling at the top.

And I found the cutest horned lizard.

The views are constantly beautiful.

I saw this pinacate beetle climbing a rock. I don’t know if he knows where he’s going, but he was determined to ascend. And I do love a pinacate beetle.

I stopped to get some water, as I was approaching camp. There were a lot of seasonal streams reported, and it was also reported that they dropped off closer to Lake Hughes Road. So I grabbed a few liters of water around a mile or two away from the destination. It wasn’t a bad carry because it was mostly downhill.

I also passed by a bunch of drainage pipes. We’ve started calling them “forbidden water slides” as a macabre joke. Some we’ve seen, like on the Highway 2 road walk, would just doom someone 200’ down. These would just mangle you.

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Finally I got to camp. It was in a spread out wash, and there was water access so I didn’t actually need to carry water. I didn’t mind though; I prefer to play it safe when I can. The desert is fickle and will surprise you when you’re not ready. If there’s water, take it.