Sometimes you get lost in the sauce This section’s theme was trying not to get lost and sometimes also getting lost.
Day 17 – to Whitewater Preserve!
I woke up at Rainbow Carrot’s Nonnie’s home feeling incredibly better than the night previous. The smell of eggs wafted through the living room as the other hikers were getting ready to take on the day. I got up and got to work. I packed my bag and helped clean up the home. Since we are all hikers, we know how to not leave a trace!! (let’s not focus on the fact that i am constantly losing things and just hope that the LNT gods forgive me)
Mesa Wind Farms!
We left the house and got in an uber. We got to the trail at 7am and began our hike. It was already hot and sticky. We came up on the Mesa Wind Farms – huge wind turbines that create renewable energy. The hike takes you up and over a smallish mountain which was very difficult for me. I hiked alone this morning because I do my best work in the heat when no one is around to see me sweat to death. Slowly and surely, I reached the top to begin the descent into Whitewater Preserve.
on top of the little hill that kicked my butt!
Whitewater Preserve is located in the San Bernardino National Forest, and is apart of the Sand to Snow National Monument. The Whitewater creek eventually leads to the whitewater Watershed that feeds desert towns like Palm Springs, Coachella, ect. The geological reason that whitewater and mission creek both exist is due to faulting!! It is filled with conglomerate sandstone that were carved out by glaciers.
view mount san jacinto
I arrived at the Whitewater Preserve Ranger Station midday and was disappointed to see that the building was closed because it was Memorial day. I just know there were a bunch of informational signs indoors but I guess I had to settle on the free informational pamphlet that was located near the outdoor map. The preserve also had shaded picnic benches and bathrooms! what a win!! I saw so many familiar faces, it felt like a reunion.
kinda a bad photo of the Whitewater Preserve Picnic Area!
As I continued onward to mission creek, I appreciated the glacier carved valley. The wind was pleasant and I thought about the history of the area. Mission Creek was named in the 1820s after christian missionaries went through this area. The goal for tonight is to camp right before the washed out creek early tomorrow. There is no real trail tomorrow – Hurricane Hilary happened in August 2023 and swept the established path away. Forcing us thru-hikers to navigate and trail-find. We have the advantage of having Far-Out comments with detailed beta and satellite navigation that tells us our exact location. Modern technology makes this trek much more accessible. Even with all this, I was still a bit nervous to go through this section. I don’t think I would want to be an 1800 explorer; going into an unknown area with no prediction of what to come sounds spooky.
Whitewater River!
I made it to camp around 6:30pm and I ran into the Swedish Couple; Jonathon and Sandra who eventually got the trailnames Collie and Wishwasher. I have been hiking around them since day 4 but we haven’t really chatted. But we discovered our plans were similar for the following day and I asked if they wanted to tackle Mission Creek together. More minds are better than one. They agreed and Brooke & Dennis also made it to the campsite. We enjoyed dinner together and shortly went to bed.
Day 18 – Mission Creek
I woke up bright and early to get out of camp on time so I can begin my hike with the Swedish Couple. The actual hiking reminded me of New Hampshire; rocky with lots of river crossings. The directions that were outlined was to follow the stream for several miles and then at some point get back on trail, then encounter another intense washout, go back to the stream, and then eventually find yourself on trail again. Pretty straight forward. So, that’s what we did.
One boulder at a time, focusing on our feet placement, we walked and walked. We ended up crossing Mission Creek a total of 37 times due to the meandering river bouncing off the canyon walls. The light colored pebbles reflected the sun making the valley warm and bright.
a cairn made by a past hiker to indicate the correct way
It was so enjoyable walking with Jonathon and Sandra. I have hiked with people while out here but this was the only time that I hiked with someone from sunrise to sunset. The only other time I hiked with someone for a full day of hiking was with Brooke, when we climbed up Mount San Jacinto, but we didn’t start until 3pm. As we all hiked together, we chatted and got to know each other a bit better. We passed the time by playing games like 20 questions. Turns out Tie Dye is not common in Sweden and Sandra & Jonathon really struggled to guess my word. 
river crossing
We eventually got out of the washed-out mission creek and had lunch under a huge oak tree. As we sat and enjoyed our summer sausage wraps, we watched multiple hikers who we thought they were in front, past us. Including Pablo and Flo, who I thought was definitely ahead since they camped further than us the night previous. Turns out, they got lost for about 2 hours – which is pretty common for this section. They were not the only one. I also know a few hikers who got off trail all together after Mission Creek due to either injury or loss of enjoyment that they acquired in this section. Personally, I had a great time and I was grateful I did this section with others. I knew I could have done with on my own however I would have done it with a lot more anxiety.
more of the trail
We got to our campsite after 13.7 miles, pleased with our progress. We set up camp and enjoyed our dinner. Brooke and Dennis eventually came and decided they were also going to stay at camp with us. Woohoo!! Partayyy. I looked at the map and noticed we were exactly 26.2 miles away from Big Bear and a hum began to brew in my brain day. “mar-a-thon , mar-a-thon”.
Campsite at Mission Camp
Hmm… should I do my first marathon day? Tempting. I curled up in my sleeping bag with the persistent thought that maybe I should try. So, I opened my alarm clock app and fell asleep.
Day 20 – Marathon or Yap-a-thon?
I woke up the next day and realized the only thing I did was open my alarm clock app – not actually set the alarm. Shoot. If I wanted to do a marathon day, I probably would have woken up at least an hour earlier.
I heard rustling outside of my tent indicating that my buddies were already moving. I groaned – waking up is so hard. When I eventually got out of my tent, I was unsurprised that the Swedish couple already left and Brooke&Dennis was still there. (at least I thought). I got out of camp by 6am and made my way to Coon Cabin – a campground maintained by the San Bernardino National Forest. It looked old and spooky. I went up to use the pit bathrooms, and there was Sandra & Jonathon!!! and Brooke!! How exciting!! Turns out, it was only Dennis in the tent. I hung out for a bit but I was still aiming for 26 miles, so I got a move on.
Coon Cabin from a distance
Eventually Brooke caught up with me and talked and talked and talked. We jokes that even if we don’t do the marathon, then at least we had a yap-a-thon. (yap means to talk). The miles went by so quickly with the easy terrain and the good conversation. We got to 17 miles by 1pm and stopped for lunch. We were killin it!! Dennis also eventually caught up (actually he passed us at this point so we actually caught up to him) and we all ate together. I left the break first and had service, so I decided to make some phone calls.
I guess I was engrossed in my conversation on the phone because the trail began to become weirdly residential. There were a few “no trespassing signs” but I didn’t think anything of it because there have been those signs in the past that explicitly do not apply to PCT hikers. But I also thought that I should be getting to the water source soon and I wasn’t seeing anything. So, I checked my Far Out and turns out I was on private property and I was 0.4 miles off trail! Oopsies!!
I turned around and laughed at the fact that I didn’t get lost in the notorious mission creek but instead on a dirt road where I just missed the turn. However, this totally discouraged me from my marathon day since this detour added almost a mile onto my day. I trudged along and eventually got to the water source. for a bit going back and forth with what I should do, and decided to bail since there will be other opportunities to push big miles. I went another few miles to a campsite that sometimes has wild donkeys, where Sandra and Jonathon were also staying. I decided to cowboy camp for the first time on trail (camp with no tent), and fell asleep under the stars.
me cowboy camping
Day 21 – to Big Bear
At 4:30am, my alarm actually went off. Yay!! no wild donkeys visited me in my sleep – i was quite nervous about that occuring. Anyways, it was another 6.7 miles to Big Bear and I was determined to get there early. I stayed cozy in my quilt until 4:45am when urgency hit me. I needed to move and get to town. Sandra and Jonathon left about 15 minutes before me. The trail so smooth and nice. While walking, my thoughts were consumed by trying to figure out trailnames for the swedish couple. During Mission Creek, Sandra was very awesome and kept making sure that I wasn’t falling behind. When we walked, she enjoyed setting the pace or being in the back to ensure that we were all right. It was like she was herding. I thought maybe Herder as a trail name but that sounds too similar to Hurter – which is inaccurate for Sandra. So maybe something more specific, like Sheep Herder.
sunrise
Before I knew it, I got to the road at 7:30!! 7 miles in 2 and half hours – not bad. (I felt very cool and strong in this moment). I also saw Sam and Sky!! It’s like I am tagging them. We met a trail angel, Tania and she brought the three of us to Big Bear and we immediately got breakfast at the Grizzly Manor with pancakes bigger than the plate. I shared my thoughts about Sandra’s trailname and Sheep Herder changed to Border Collie (the sheep dog) which was shorten to Collie. It took her a while but she agreed to take the trailname. At breakfast, we also met Kathy and Kelly, two trail angels who gave us their number if we needed a ride back to the trail!! Super kind!
us and the trail angel’s, Tania
breakfast!!
I treated myself to a hotel room in the Robinhood Resort and hung out and slept majority of the day and relaxed. I ate a lot of food, did my chores, and then got dinner with Collie and Jonathon, and Gadget!
us at dinner!
Day 22 – Out of Big Bear
Have you ever heard of being “Town Vortexed” ? It is a concept in thru-hiking that refers to the idea that you get stuck in town. You end up spending way more time than you expect. Sometimes when you get to society, the comfort of real food, reliable service, regular bathroom access becomes impossible to peel away from. My goal was to get back on trail by 12pm. In reality, I began hiking at 4pm. Well it’s a good thing my philosophy out here is to shoot for the stars to get the moon!
I woke up early and worked on my latest blog; my favorite town chore. It took a little longer than expected. And all of sudden it was 11am and there was no way I was getting on trail by 12.
my breakfast burrito!
I decided to walk to the shopping market and get food on the way. I eventually found myself at a Mexican Restaurant with breakfast burrito. It was delicious. Then, I decided to wait for the local bus in Big Bear. For a spread out town, Big Bear is very accessible. It has two ski resorts and a 7 mile long man-made lake. This town that sits at around 6,000ft is jam packed with recreational outdoor activity and has a very inviting personality. I really enjoyed this town and I was not surprised that it was hard for me to leave.
me, kathy, and her dog!
After all said is done, it was 3:30pm and I had 5 days of food worth of food and the heaviest pack in the world. I have Kathy a call, the lady I met at breakfast, and was able to get back on trail by 4pm. Kathy was awesome and had the cutest dog in the world. She told me a little about the history i the area too, including that the Serrano people used to live on this land and there are current movements to give sacred land in the area back to the Serrano people which I think is pretty rad.
my campsite!
I did 7ish miles and decided to camp. Then for the second night since being on trail, I camped alone. It was a lot less nerve-wracking than the last time. I think the key was to play music while setting up camp to enhance the beauty of the world rather than sitting in silence. The silence can make every crinkle of a leaf a deadly animal depending how active your imagination is. It made me happy that I was able to fall asleep easily and feel comfort within my own self.
