We woke up this morning with the sun in our eyes and Wrightwood on our brains. We had slept in a little after our late night and as we packed up the hikers from Swarthout Canyon passed us on their way west. Before long we were on our way and heading up. We would climb for several miles towards the junction with the trail to the top of Mt. Baldy (aka Mt. San Antonio).

After a few miles of steady uphill grade we entered a burned stretch with lots of poodle dog bush, last seen in Mission Creek. It was passable without getting up close and personal to the plant, but it did require some shimmying and careful stepping. In another week or so this might not be the case. Luckily the stretch ended at a jeep road and we were happy hikers again. Just past the road was a new and nearly-empty water cache. Good thing we didn’t need any…

We kept climbing up into the higher reaches of the San Gabriels. We passed from desert scrub back into pines once again, and the views around us stretched to bald-topped mountains further up the range. On the north side of the spine we could see the Mojave desert laid out into the distance. Almost before we knew it we had passed the Mt. Baldy trail at 8300 feet, about 3500 feet above where we’d camped that morning. The climb wasn’t effortless but it was easy enough that my mind wandered on autopilot for much of it. This is the first time I can remember this happening. All day long I kept stopping to look at the vistas around us, feeling incredibly grateful to be out here doing what I’ve dreamed about for a long time.

It was windy again to a degree that we haven’t seen since Whitewater Creek. As we got higher it started tossing us around. Luckily, it was mostly upslope instead of towards the cliff. After the junction we had a few level miles to the Guffy Campground and our first reliable water. We stopped here to cool lunch but had to find a spot on the lee side of the ridge to avoid the gusts.

It really got bad after we left the campground. The trail took us over an exposed, treeless ridge and we fought the wind nonstop for a quarter mile or so. Sometimes all we could do was lean on our poles and try not to get blown over. Dropping behind the ridge top made for much easier walking, but the last few miles to our exit point wouldn’t all be so easy.

We crossed through a ski area past snow-making water reservoirs, intermittently out in the open. Trying to pick our way down a rutted trail full of large loose rocks is tough enough without the wind, but the unexpected gusts ruined our balance. This, combined with short ups and downs steeper than we had seen all day, made for a few of the most frustrating and nerve-wracking miles we’ve had.

Once we reached the highway things looked grim for a while. Our guidebook said this was an easy hitch into town, but we saw no cars for about 10 minutes. We were considering roadwalking, but the shoulders on the winding road were very narrow. We were sard from having to make a tough decision when a car came around the curve. I threw out my thumb, and incredibly, they stopped! We had a ride! The guy who helped us out was actually lost a little hit after trying to take the scenic route home, but he still helped us out. In minutes we were 6 miles down the road in town and headed for a shower and a pizza. We’ll take a zero tomorrow, rest up and do our town chores before heading for Agua Dulce.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 369