Day 34, Mile Marker 324-342, Cajon Pass

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 

Hiking Uphill: 2,199ft
Hiking Downhill: 2,291ft
Distance Hiked:  18 miles

Post by Nick:

Given our plans to be picked up in Cajon pass at the end of the day, we got up very early at 5am, and started walking at 6am.  This was the earliest we have been able to get hiking this far and the key was keeping the morning simple without any cooking; just poptarts for breakfast and no coffee for me.

 

The trail had taken an interesting path through an industrial complex and along a road.  While I saw various little bodies of water and streams pass by there didn't seem to be any access or it was on private land.  Luckily we found a water cache as we started heading back up hill and were able to replenish our supplies.

 

We weaved back and forth up the mountain for an hour and at the crest were treated with views of Silverwood Lake.  We skirted the lake for quite a while and saw many a fisherman on the shore or on their boats.  On the far side of the lake we found a restroom with water and took a break there to rest and top off our water.

 

As we hiked past the lake into the hills, the difference in temperature was dramatic.  It was amazingly hot and we looked back at the lake in the distance and yearned for the cooler temps.  We spent the majority of our day weaving back and forth through the arid chaparral covered mountains and had to take many breaks along the way to cool ourselves down in any patch of shade we could find.

 

Along the way we saw a black rattler, tarantula hawks, a horny toad, lizards, and many cool land formations.

 

Black Rattler

Horny Toad

He likes his belly rubbed

Lizards

More hiking pictures

As we hiked, we discussed what we were craving and would like to order as a late lunch from the McDonald's there in Cajon pass. Filet-O-Fish (yes, I know that's odd), fries, coke, soft serve cone, etc.  It was painful and I normally don't like to play this game but since there really was supposed to be a Mc. D's in Cajon I played along.  As we weaved through the mountains we knew we were getting closer to Cajon but we still couldn't see the golden arches or any signs of civilization other than the 15 fwy.  Melissa, who had just managed 3 miles over the last hour (faster than I've ever seen her go so far), was increasingly getting frustrated and questioning whether I was teasing her about the Mc. D's.  After passing down through the last section of hills we came to a sign that showed Mc. D's only .4miles away and finally saw it on the horizon.

 

We walked the .4miles as quickly as we could which was actually an old original section of route 66.  We dropped our packs, ordered some food, washed up, and sat down to enjoy the best Mc. D's ever...which was fine cuisine given how hungry we were.

 

The longest .4 miles ever...

After we had finished eating Royce, Tank, Erica, and Kara had walked in.  We were surprised to see them and thought them to be a day or two ahead.  Apparently they had taken it easy over the last couple days from the Deep Creek Hot springs and were napping across the street under a tree.  After catching up a bit with them my Mom showed up ready to chauffeur us home for a second dinner and zero day...