Day 23: The Trilogy Of The Deep Creek Baptisms
May 3, 2017
Mile 289.94 Campsite to Mile 310.18 Beach Campsite after Rainbow Bridge
Today started out hard again. Still in a funk from yesterday. We had a lot of water today so I never carried more than a liter. Around 8 miles in I came across a good sized creek that I waded through and washed. Glow Worm, Dr. McDirty and Cougar showed up soon after and we relaxed together for an hour or so. After that break it started to het really hot; up into the 90’s. Fortunately we ate lunch a few miles later by Deep Creek at a nice swimming hole and were able to cool off in the water before eating. The rest of the afternoon was fucking hot. It’s days like today that prove to myself that I can do this whole damn trail. The afternoon wore on and on and the sun beat down on us relentlessly. We skipped the Deep Creek hot spring because it didn’t sound appealing on such a stifling day and it also has been reported as to be teeming with brain eating bacteria. We did, however, see Soren again. We haven’t seen him since Warner Springs. He had skipped the fire closure into Idyllwild and opted out of summiting San Jacinto so he was able to leap frog us. The day started off hard emotionally, but ended hard physically even though the terrain was fairly even. Fortunately though, we came across a nice beach site next to Deep Creek and were able to get a much deserved swim in to cool and clean off before cowboy camping on the sand. Yardsale, Bandit, and Metric showed up too along with several others. There’s this saying that the trail provides and it did when there was trail magic under I-10 after our ridiculously windy night on San Jacinto and it did again today after being broiled by the sun today. As I write this laying in my sleeping bag on a sandy beach facing a beautiful creek with the sounds of rushing water in the distance, I can look up at the moon and know that no matter what this trail throws at me, there will always be an end and the dissonance will resolve.
Despite having “Pacific” in the name, the Pacific Crest Trail goes nowhere near the ocean. Our beach campsite next to Deep Creek is the closest we’ll get.
