Day 19 - Ziggy and The Bear to 226

Going to sleep last night I kept getting dizzy when I turned around, and I felt hot and cold, like I was having a fever (I checked yesterday morning, and I had none. But maybe I got some later). But during the night it got better, and I think I got a pretty good night's rest.

Another view back to snowy San Jacinto

In the morning I tried to assess how much dizziness I'm feeling, and whether I should head out on the trail. I was worried I'd might have to get to Big Bear by car, just so I can continue with Idan later. But after breakfast I felt almost %100 fine, and decided I'd head out for an easy day.
I finally left at 9:30 (I apologize for not saying goodbye to everyone. I was talking to Ron and we were walking towards the door, and then it felt strange to come back and say goodbye. Sorry.)

Getting some (white) water, and chilling my feet in the steam

The trail was very very windy at first, but as Ron said, it got much more manageable after getting over the first climb. From there the trail kept on the ridge, before going down into Whitewater Creek. A short hike up the creek and I reached the first water source.
I was afraid I will have ask for someone's filter, since mine started acting up on me, and having water spill from the side, when I used it with Smart Water bottles. But I tried it with the original bag, and it worked fine, so I filled up an extra 1 liter with filtered water and set there, trying to decide whether I should keep on hiking through the hot hours (it was around 14:00), or wait for the heat to break, before doing the extra 6 miles of the day.
At the water, I met Smitty and Luna, who set up their tent to stay away from the sun, and Matt, who is hiking the CA section of the trail this year.

The caterpillar of the day

I had a strange encounter with a caterpillar who was probably climbing my hat before I put it back on, and suddenly I felt something crawling on my ear. I threw it away in freight, not knowing what it was, but later during the day I saw a gazillion more and the trail. I think I managed to not step on any. They were kinda cute.
Matt left first, and then I headed out. After a while, when I was climbing up from the creek, I found his camera on the trail. I picked it up, and kept looking up, expecting to see him running down the trail to find it. Just before I reached the top he appeared, and was very happy to see I had it.
The trail went down and then up another small canyon, climbing up its walls. It was fairly moderate, and then after the third climb it just went up along the ridge, before finally dropping towards the campsite. I really took my time on the last bit, not walking too fast, and I finally got here at 17:20. I filled up my water, and set up my tent next to Matt's, who showed up ten minutes later. Smitty and Luna appeared afterwards, but they just got some water, and headed out to do 3 more miles today. I think I heard someone else just passed by recently, before heading out.
I wonder if hikers that left Ziggy's at the afternoon will get here later, and if they will stay here. I guess I'll know tomorrow morning.
It was a good day, and I'm glad I headed out. Hopefully tomorrow will be as nice.

Day 18 - Zero at Ziggy and The Bear

I woke up with a splitting headache and feeling dizzy. A bad start for a bad day.

I was hoping it will get better soon, but the dizziness was here to stay. Finally, Idan left at about 9 to head towards Big Bear. He is planning to do it in 3.5 days, and then take a zero over there. So I'll have time to catch up to him.

The day at Ziggy's was very relaxed, and I might have enjoyed it more, had I not been feeling like shit the whole time. Ziggy, The Bear and Caretaker Ron run an excellent place for hikers to rest.

Many hikers left this morning, and some waited for the heat to break in the afternoon. Some even left at complete darkness. It seems that night hiking is very common on the PCT.

Many new hikers came today, including hiker #400, who got a McDonald's gift card as a bonus. Each hiker that passes through registers and gets his photo taken, and he has to remember his number (mine is 368), so that when he sends Ziggy a postcard from down the trail, they will be able to easily find him in the books.

At 13:00 Ron made the Burger King run, getting everyone's orders. I got their veggie burger and fries. Wasn't too good, but at least I had lunch.

I met Rustic, who hiked the trail last year, and got snowed in just before the Canadian border. His girlfriend (who did the trail on a horse) and him finally finished October 28th. Probably the last of the season. Now he is training to start the trail in June, and finish it in 75 days. Very impressive.

I also met 5 US war veterans who are hiking the Warrior Hike, to "hike off the war". They all came and left today. An interesting bunch.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing zero. But I was too bummed out to notice most of it.

Day 17 - mile 191 to Ziggy and The Bear

That was one cold night up there on the mountain. I had all my clothes on, which meant I had only a pair of boxers and a pair of socks to use as a pillow. It wasn't that bad, except for my feet, which were a bit chilly.
In the morning we waited for the sun to come up over the ridge, and start warming us. Idan had a leak from his water bladder, and he got some of his gear wet, which bummed him a bit. But we took our time, and he got it all dry by the time we left.
The trail was a long waterless stretch for 15 miles of hiking down around 2000 feet. It quickly got down below the snow level, and it was just an annoying downhill slog for a long long while. It was just 4.5 miles as the crow flies, but we had to go the long way around.
It really strange, the way we started in the cold snow, and quickly got down to the hot hot desert floor. We quickly started to miss the chilly weather. I didn't miss the wet feet, though.
We were fantasizing about reaching the spigot and resting there under some shady trees until the heat broke, before we head out to the last miserable 5 miles of hiking along the sandy desert floor. When we finally got there we were sad to discover there is almost no shade in there, but we managed to cram ourselves under a big rock for about an hour of rest.

The Snow Canyon Road faucet, after 16 waterless miles. Oh, and that was all the shade we've had.

We headed out at just before 15:45, and it took us about 2 hours to finally reach Ziggy and The Bear.
This is an awesome place - the house was bought to serve as a pct hostel. They give you an Epsom salt foot bath before you can use the solar shower (by the time I got there it was icy cold), and they accept hiker packages, and also sell many hiker oriented supplies. They also served ice cream. I hot vanilla.

A view back towards snowy San Jacinto from the valley floor

Finally reaching the I-10

There are a lot of hikers staying here at the moment. But we found a good secluded spot to lay our mattresses.

Hikers at Ziggy and The Bear