Monday, May 11, 2026.
TRIGGER WARNING (mainly for my mother) 😀
Things sound bad on this and the next 2 trail logs, and they are bad. But I don’t die, I get off the trail, and I get over it all.
Up at 5:00. On the trail at 6:00.
The day started out well. Brad and I made decent time through the initial Mission Creek section. We will hike this all day. Some people say that this is one of the hardest days on the PCT due to the damage. Here is the official PCT warning:
Storm damage along Whitewater and Mission Creeks in Sand to Snow National Monument alert:
In August 2023, the remnants of Hurricane Hilary caused significant damage to portions of the PCT within Sand to Snow National Monument.
The damage in the affected stretch (Nobo mile 216 to 241) particularly impacts the Whitewater and especially Mission Creek drainages. Reports indicate that the most significant impacts to travel may be in the upper portion of North Fork Mission Creek (~mile 235-238).
A range of challenges include major trail washouts, substantial debris accumulation, erosion of trail entrances and exits along the riverbed, and in some instances, complete trail disappearance.
This is some hard, nasty trail. The actual trail is OBLITERATED. The flash floods ate away the trail that used to be about 25-50 feet up on the riverbank. There is no riverbank anymore. Just water-blasted base rock, landslides, and boulders ranging from basketball to dishwasher size everywhere. And where there isn’t rock, there is loose sand and gravel that is very difficult to walk in. It’s all at an ever-increasing angle upward to camp. As we got closer to camp, the ravine narrows. That narrowing caused the flood damage to increase. This damage is incredible and hard to show in still photos.
My bad day began again after about mile 5. I had to stop every .5 miles or a bit less.
We took a 1-hour break in the shade with Kellie and Infinity. We ate a bit. We were dreading the next 4.5 miles uphill to camp.
Had to stop every .1 miles for the last 4 miles today. My asthma issues flared up massively. Hard to catch my breath, and we are at over 7000 feet. Asthma plus 7000 feet elevation plus 5299 feet of elevation gain today makes for a very bad day. The breathing issues also cause muscle problems in the legs.
We made it to camp at 6:45. That last mile took us over an hour. This sucks. Kellie, Infinity, Margarita, Hell Yeah, Chinchilla, BFG, and others were here. All concerned about me. Exhausted. Ate a small dinner and crawled into bed.
Once again, Brad stuck with me. I had no bailout options for the last two days. The hike to the next town is 26 miles with a 16-mile water carry. I can’t do that. I found a dirt road .6 miles up the trail that leads 7.4 miles mostly downhill to Hwy 38, where I can hitch to Big Bear Lake. I plan to get off the trail in the morning after the gang leaves and then figure out my future on the PCT. Needless to say, something had to change.
Technical Notes:
- Pop Tarts 340
- Jerky 100
- Jerky 100
- Fatty Beef stick 210
- Dehydrated ground beef 100
- Curry noodles 300
- Propel x 3
- Water liters: 8
- Miles: 1439
- Time: 13:00
- Up: 5299
- Down: 466
- Calories consumed: 1150
- Calories burned: 5005
- iPhone battery used: 50
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