PCT Days 4 and 5

Day 4, Scissors Crossing to Barrel Spring (Trail Mile 77 to 101.1)

Started out of Scissors crossing alone, the air was cool, I had 4 liters of water to get me to Barrel Spring and really happy the trail was going uphill.  I like up much better than down. The rain from a few days ago had the cactus all in bloom and even the really prickly ones looked nice in the early morning light.

I enjoyed hiking alone but in the early afternoon I came up to the hiker gaggle sitting in the limited shade of a bush by the third gate crossing. Even Woody was sitting there, I didn't think I would see him at all till I got to the spring.

Good news was there was a water cache a 1/2 mile down a side trail. Bad news was that it was 1/2 mile down and back up a side trail. I wanted a quart so I made the trip. After a short break we all headed off kinda at the same time and in a few hours became the Barrel Springs campground group. With 1.1 miles to go to for the day we crossed the 100 trail mile spot (gotta love GPS). As it is a significant mile mark I had to get a picture. Today was as good as it gets. I felt good and the miles passed easily.

Day 5, Barrel Spring to Ridge at Mile 123 (Trail Miles 101.1 to 123)

Up before sunrise again but was the 3rd one out of the campground we turned Barrel Spring into. Woody was really moving this morning and left me behind after the first mile. Passed through a meadow where a herd of cows was grazing. They all came running up to say hello so they must have been used to being fed over the winter. I'm pretty sure that there are some hikers following behind that are going to be freaked out by the cows. I thought they were great company for the 1/2 mile or so they tagged along. 

Trail Groupies

Soon after leaving my cow friends behind I made it to the over photographed Eagle Rock where Sheriff Woody was catching lizards and taking a break. 

We stayed together from Eagle Rock to Warner Springs where he had his resupply drop and we enjoyed a second breakfast of pancakes and eggs at the very friendly community center with lots of other hikers. The packs lined up out front let everyone know this was a hiker friend place.

A reporter from the San Diego paper was there chatting with everyone and taking pictures. As we left to get back on the trail I took a picture of him and Woody. Found out later that a picture of Woody and I made the online version of the newspaper. Think it must have been the umbrella he was toting.

After the 3 hours we spent at Warner Springs it had heated up and we had slowed down so it was a slow grind till sunset when we found a break in the brush and stealth camped on a ridge. It got windy for a bit in the middle of the night but the stars were fantastic.