Hike #5 Highway 78 Barrel Springs

5:04 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's

Hike = 23.9 Miles

The Hike
This is a very difficult hike that has no way to make it shorter. We, as a group, decided to start hiking into the night as long as we could, then sleeping on the trail and finishing the next day. Unfortunately, we didn't start hiking until almost ten. It might sound a little scary to hike at night, but we had a full moon and head lamps to light the way. It was actually pretty cool seeing the different creatures that come out at night. We crossed over all kinds of spiders, a few scorpions, and a rattle snake (not at night thank God). We hiked for about 5 miles at night and never crossed over a place to sleep, so when we finally saw a nice large spot on the side of the mountain, we decided to pitch our tents. This meant that we had to hike 17+ miles in one day with our heavy packs in warm weather. Needless to say, the next day was not fun. We started off strong, but throughout the day we got slower and slower. To the point where Carolyn and I contemplated staying another night. We made it through in the end by literally hiking less than 1.5 miles per hour. If you hike this, make sure you are prepared for a hard hike.

Where to Stay
I would suggest either doing this hike in one day without carrying all the extra weight, or sleeping on the trail as we had, but getting further on the first day. If you want to stay somewhere nearby, Julien is still pretty close, but now you also have the option to stay in Warner Springs. Warner Springs has a cute little spa resort that sleeps many people per room and has hot springs to relax in. 

Where to Park
For this hike there are two places to hike. Depending on which direction you decide to hike in (we decided to hike north to south on this one, but I don't think there is an easier way), you can park near highway 78 which was the end of the last hike. The other option is to park at Barrel Springs  off of Highway S22. There is a nice large dirt and tree covered parking area here. 

Warning
During the spring months there are many snakes on the trail. This area is know for rattle snakes. We happened to cross over one at the very end of our hike. Carolyn walked right by it. Thank God for Jim noticing it, especially because it looked young, and we hear younger rattle snakes are more dangerous.

Websites

Warner Springs

Rattle Snake Information
Where to buy overnight hiking gear: REI

Look at how dirty my legs were from this hike. I know, disgusting!

Hike #4 Lucky 5 Ranch Gate to Highway 78

1:53 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's

Hike = 19.7 Miles

The Hike
Unfortunately for this hike there is only one option, and that is to do it all the way through. Yes, it is a long 19 miles, but the good news is that the hike is pretty much a straight gradual down hill or maintains its elevation. The bad news is that you need to get around Granite Mountain, which seems to take forever. Make sure not to do this portion of the hike when the weather is too warm. There are not very many places to hide from the sun here. 

Where to Stay
The closest place to stay for this hike is somewhere near or in Julian. Another option is to stay in one of the campgrounds  or cabins in Mt. Laguna, as mentioned for the last hike. Julian is a quiet little town in the mountains that has a few small places to stay, including some great food. Julian is known for having some great apple pies. We stopped and bought a pie twice during our PCT adventure. They also have an ice-cream parlor that is rather tasty after a nice long hike.

Where to Park
Lucky 5 Ranch Gate has a large area for parking right off of Highway S1 and an outhouse. As mentioned before, you will need an adventure pass here. Getting to the other side of this hike is a bit of a drive, because you must travel just past Julian to head down the mountain to Highway 78. Once you get down to a 4 way stop, there is some dirt area on the side of the road you can park on, or you can drive a little up Highway 79 where there is a large dirt lot for PCT parking.

Warning
Do not park your car on or too close to brush. We parked a car at the Highway 78 and 79-crossroad area at night, and when we arrived there the next day after our hike, we had a nice $60 ticket. Oops!

Websites

The town of Julian

Information on where you need an Adventure Pass

Cuyamaca camping area

Hike #3 Cibbets Flat to Lucky 5 Ranch Gate

8:52 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's

Hike = 26.4 Miles


The Hike
For this hike, we decided to drive down and do two hikes. The first day we hiked from Stephenson Peak Road to Lucky 5 Ranch Gate. The second day we hiked from Stephenson Peak Road to Cibbets Flat. We wanted to do the larger hike on the first day, so we skipped ahead then went back the second day.

Stephenson Peak Road to Lucky 5 Ranch Gate (15.5 Miles)
This is a beautiful hike that starts near the top of Mt. Laguna at 7,000 ft and follows the ridge line all the way to Lucky 5 Ranch Gate. The entire hike has views of a large valley off to the right. At about 10 miles into the hike there is a nice little park where you can stop and eat at picnic tables and use the outhouse. One section of this hike is on an old road that we read was used for transporting mail over the mountain by horse or donkeys. Just beyond that we reached an area where we saw 3 tombstones from people that had died. It was interesting that they were there on the PCT so far from a road or anything. This hike gave me a few blisters, probably because of going down hill a lot.

Stephenson Peak Road to Cibbets Flat (10.9 Miles)
I was a little hesitant to do this hike after popping my blisters, but I was very pleased that I decided to go ahead with it. It is a fairly easy, mostly downhill hike. The first part of it goes through a beautifully tree covered meadow area, then descends into the hills that lead up to Mt. Laguna. The hike continues up and down through the hills until you get to Cibbets Flat Campground. We did this hike backwards, which is highly suggested, because south to north would be a very steep challenge.

Where to Stay
For these two hikes there are several places you can stay. The first place is Cibbets Flat Campground, which was described in my last blog entry. The other options are in the Mt. Laguna area where you will find several different campgrounds and a motel with little cabins. We stayed at one of the many campgrounds at Mt. Laguna, unfortunately I can’t remember the specific name. Caution: if traveling to this area at night it is extremely dark and signs are not real clear. Some of these campgrounds are also only open at certain times a year. There are nice wooded spots for tents or motor homes with restrooms.



Where to Park
Depending on which way you decide to hike and in which order, there are three places to park in this section of the PCT. I will start with the southern most parking area to the northern most. Cibbets Flat campground, off of Kitchen Creek Road, has many places to park as mentioned in my last blog. Stephenson Peak has a small parking area for people to look out at the amazing views. Lucky 5 Ranch Gate has a large area for parking right off of Highway S1 and an outhouse. The only problem with this hike is that it takes a lot of time to get from Cibbets Flat to Mt. Laguna. There is no straight route there. When entering the Cleveland National Forrest you will need an adventure pass to park.

Tip
When hiking, try not to get your hiking pole stuck between your legs. Jim's pole got stuck up on something between his feet and his hands were strapped to them, so he fell head first into the hard ground. We had to do a little first aid on him. 

Websites

You can stay at Laguna Mountain Lodge

Camping at Laguna Mountain

Cleveland National Forrest Information



Hike #2 Lake Morena to Cibbets Flat

10:01 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's


Hike = 13.4 Miles

The Hike
This portion of the hike goes from Lake Morena to Cibbets Flat Campground. The PCT Day Hike book suggests going north to south due to the elevation gain the opposite way, so that is what we did. Plus we were still getting into shape. The hike starts off with a steep climb out of Cibbets Flat Campground in order to get to the PCT, but once you reach the PCT it travels nicely along side of a hill for a few miles. The trail slowly descends into a nice flat valley, which makes for a very enjoyable and easy hike. Right about the halfway point of this hike there is a great picnic area to stop and eat lunch. It has plenty of picnic benches, outhouses, and trees to sit under. 

Challenges
There is one part of this hike, when going in this direction that can be tricky. There is an area that you begin walking through a wash and loose site of the trail. At the same time you will be walking underneath a bridge with the highway above you. It is at that part of the hike that you need to look up and off to the left towards a hill. My group didn’t realize this and missed the trail. We continued walking down the wash for a mile or two before we realized we should be up on the top of the hill next to us. No big deal! We decided that we would continue walking until we met up with the trail again ahead of us. It was taking a chance that we would find it, but thank God we did. It actually ended up making the hike a little easier than it would have been.

Where to stay
There are two places you could stay at for this hike, Lake Morena Campground or Cibbets Flat Campground. We stayed at Lake Morena again for this one, but this time we stayed in my motor home. The facilities in this area were much nicer than the cabin area (portable potties). You can also stay at Cibbets Flat, which has plenty of campsites, but you will also have to rely on outhouse like restrooms. We only parked there, but it looked nice and had a small stream running through it.

Where to park
If you are starting the hike from the Lake Morena side, there is a nice little parking area right outside the campground where the hike comes out onto the road. It is free and there is no pass needed. To park in the Cibbets Flat area, you have two options. There is a small amount of paring space just outside of the campground, but we would suggest you park inside the campground. There are actual spaces to park in and more people around if you worry about getting broken into.

Websites

Cibbets Flat Campground Information:
http://www.publiclands.org/explore/site.php?id=6797 

Wikepedia Information about the PCT:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Crest_Trail

Information on Kitchen Creek Road (the road to Cibbets Flat) and pictures of the PCT:
http://www.miriameaglemon.com/San%20Diego%20Bird%20Pages/Sites/Kitchen%20Creek%20Road.htm


Starting the PCT

7:45 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's

Over a year ago I started hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) with some colleagues from work. The PCT is a trail that goes from the Mexico border of California to the Canada border of Washington. It travels along all the mountain ranges along the way and is a total of 2,627 miles. Many people travel this trail starting in April and hike all the way from one end to the next. This, on average takes about 5-6 months. We are not that crazy, so we have decided that we are going to hike it one day hike at a time. It will take us years to complete if we stay at it, but I think it is a great life goal.

The Hike
The first leg of the hike is 20 miles and goes from the city of Campo to Lake Morena. We got a late start for the first 2.3 miles, which were pretty easy, and had to drive to the start of the next 18 miles, so time flew by. It was getting pretty late to start the 18 mile section so three of us (Linda, Therapi, and myself) decided we were not prepared to hike 18 miles into the darkness near the Mexico border. The rest of the die hards, Ken, Carolyn, Kevin, Jim, Crystal and JR, decided to trek on and ended up finishing the hike 2 hours into the darkness after 7p.m. I am bummed that I didn't do that hike, but I was really not in shape enough and had been sick leading up to it. I will have to go back and do those 18 miles as soon as the weather is right and the baby is old enough to leave for a day.

Where to Stay
For this part of the hike it is convenient to stay at the Lake Morena Camp Grounds. The hike goes right up to the gates of the site and has several options. There are wood cabins that you can stay in (FYI: They have really hard wooden beds), tent spaces, and RV sites. There are also restrooms and showers available. All of these options have great views of the lake.

Where to Park
If you follow the directions in the PCT Day Hike book, it will lead you to a dirt road not far from the Border Patrol. Continue down the dirt road and you can park anywhere on the dirt off of the road.

Helpful Websites

Lake Morena Camp Ground: http://www.lakemorena.com/

Purchase the PCT Day Hike book:
http://www.trails.com/catalog_product.aspx?productfamilyid=10056

Learn about the PCT: http://www.pcta.org/