Saturday, October 30, 2010

October 9th Upper Lytle Creek Ridge to Near Silverwood Lake

I woke up early this morning at a time when the world was still dark with shades of gray. Silhouetted in the sky, like an airborne shadow, was a bird of prey hovering no more than twenty feet directly above my head. I watched in silence its outstretched wings, adjusting to capture the currents of air drifting over the ridge. Then, poof, it was gone. I'm sure if I was a Native American that I would see some omen in this, but for good or evil, I cannot tell. After breaking camp, I passed through the remainder of the Sheep Fire Area, but at one point lost the trail. So, instead of following the PCT to Lone Pine Canyon, I was left following a jeep track down to Lone Pine Canyon Road, doing a short road walk, and reconnecting with the Pacific Crest as it crossed the road further south. There was a fully stocked water cache soon after the crossing. A bit of up and down in some badlands, a walk near the railroad tracks, and an underground passage to the opposite side of Interstate 15 and McDonalds was in sight. Not a regular patron of fast food joints, but in this case, I made an exception. Got a pancake breakfast with a large strawberry shake (my real reason for coming) and found a nice corner booth to sit in while I ate and did some planning. My brief contact with civilization complete, I set off into the canyon lands. To my surprise, there were actually a few creeks flowing, so water wasn't much of an issue. I met a section hiker not far from Siverwood Lake and he told me water wouldn't be a problem as it was plentiful in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. That's good news. There were some nice views as the trail ran above the western shore of Silverwood Lake, which had a number of recreational boats motoring over its surface. Found a campsite a few miles into the hills past the spillway in a small area that had recently been cleared of brush. A small haven for a backpacker/cowboy camper. It was my sister Loana's B-day today. I was thinking of you.

32 Miles

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