Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - Day 4 April 11th
Day 4: Thursday 11th April
Lower Morris Meadow – Saddle above Oriflame Canyon
In the morning the trail continued through woodland, where the main point of interest
were the food caches of the Acorn-Woodpecker. This woodpecker hammers out small
holes in the bark of Jeffrey Pine and pushes in acorns from Interior-Live-Oak and Black-
Oak trees. When insect larvae hatch in the stored acorns the woodpeckers return for a
tasty feast
The trail passes Burnt Rancherio campground, the site of a seasonal ranch built by
Cattlemen in the late 1800s, much to the displeasure of the local Indians who burnt down
the ranch.
The trail then dropped down to Mount Laguna store, where I had cached my first
supply bag. Manfred had failed to get the store before it closed on Wednesday evening and
he joined me for a cup of tea while we waited for it to open. Mandy, a youngster walking
on her own, was also waiting for the store to open. She was section-hiking the first 200
miles from the border and had been lucky enough to be taken into their home by a local
family for the night. She was intending to “slackpack” (hiking without a rucksack) today
as her hosts were going to pick her up at the end of the day for another night in Laguna.
She hadn’t seen another hiker since the border and didn’t sound as if she was comfortable
walking on her own.
I walked with Manfred for much of the morning, but he went ahead when I stopped for
lunch. I was able to replenish my water supplies when I came across the first of many
water caches left on the PCT for thru-hikers by “Trail Angels”. In this drought year it
would have been very difficult to walk the trail without this help from the locals.
I had a lengthy lunch break in the welcome shade and I only walked a few more miles
before camping early, when I found a lovely spot with a grass covered floor in the shade of
pine trees above Oriflame Canyon. I had planned an easy day, as I wanted to build up my
fitness slowly while hoping to avoid injuries. Most thru-hikers will be starting a few weeks
later and get into high mileage mode straight away. This is fine if they are trail-fit at the
start, but some will find themselves suffering from bad blisters and muscle strains because
of their fast start. By my campsite was another acorn larder and Acorn-woodpeckers were
flying around the area. As usual the main course of my evening meal was a freeze-dried
dinner, in this case Sweet and Sour Pork with rice. All I had to do was boil a pint of water,
add it to the foil bag, stir and wait ten minutes. Then I would eat it from the bag using my
only utensil, a spoon, and there was nothing to wash up. This was just as well as I would
usually be camping away from water and water was too valuable to waste on washing up.
My first experience of freeze-dried food was when I hiked the Pennine Way with three of
my students in 1973. The meal was inedible and we left most of it in the pan outside the
tent. The sheep must have been less fussy than us, as they had cleaned out the pan by the
morning. Things had improved tremendously over the years and the meals available in the
USA were now both nutritious and appetising. Unfortunately for the European backpacker
the US meals aren’t available in Europe and the meals obtainable in Europe are much
lower quality. The portions are such that backpackers always buy the 2-man pack and
even this won’t really be big enough by the end of the hike.
Day 4: 12.3 miles 4.52 hours Camp: Saddle above Oriflame Canyon
Lower Morris Meadow – Saddle above Oriflame Canyon
In the morning the trail continued through woodland, where the main point of interest
were the food caches of the Acorn-Woodpecker. This woodpecker hammers out small
holes in the bark of Jeffrey Pine and pushes in acorns from Interior-Live-Oak and Black-
Oak trees. When insect larvae hatch in the stored acorns the woodpeckers return for a
tasty feast
The trail passes Burnt Rancherio campground, the site of a seasonal ranch built by
Cattlemen in the late 1800s, much to the displeasure of the local Indians who burnt down
the ranch.
The trail then dropped down to Mount Laguna store, where I had cached my first
supply bag. Manfred had failed to get the store before it closed on Wednesday evening and
he joined me for a cup of tea while we waited for it to open. Mandy, a youngster walking
on her own, was also waiting for the store to open. She was section-hiking the first 200
miles from the border and had been lucky enough to be taken into their home by a local
family for the night. She was intending to “slackpack” (hiking without a rucksack) today
as her hosts were going to pick her up at the end of the day for another night in Laguna.
She hadn’t seen another hiker since the border and didn’t sound as if she was comfortable
walking on her own.
I walked with Manfred for much of the morning, but he went ahead when I stopped for
lunch. I was able to replenish my water supplies when I came across the first of many
water caches left on the PCT for thru-hikers by “Trail Angels”. In this drought year it
would have been very difficult to walk the trail without this help from the locals.
I had a lengthy lunch break in the welcome shade and I only walked a few more miles
before camping early, when I found a lovely spot with a grass covered floor in the shade of
pine trees above Oriflame Canyon. I had planned an easy day, as I wanted to build up my
fitness slowly while hoping to avoid injuries. Most thru-hikers will be starting a few weeks
later and get into high mileage mode straight away. This is fine if they are trail-fit at the
start, but some will find themselves suffering from bad blisters and muscle strains because
of their fast start. By my campsite was another acorn larder and Acorn-woodpeckers were
flying around the area. As usual the main course of my evening meal was a freeze-dried
dinner, in this case Sweet and Sour Pork with rice. All I had to do was boil a pint of water,
add it to the foil bag, stir and wait ten minutes. Then I would eat it from the bag using my
only utensil, a spoon, and there was nothing to wash up. This was just as well as I would
usually be camping away from water and water was too valuable to waste on washing up.
My first experience of freeze-dried food was when I hiked the Pennine Way with three of
my students in 1973. The meal was inedible and we left most of it in the pan outside the
tent. The sheep must have been less fussy than us, as they had cleaned out the pan by the
morning. Things had improved tremendously over the years and the meals available in the
USA were now both nutritious and appetising. Unfortunately for the European backpacker
the US meals aren’t available in Europe and the meals obtainable in Europe are much
lower quality. The portions are such that backpackers always buy the 2-man pack and
even this won’t really be big enough by the end of the hike.
Day 4: 12.3 miles 4.52 hours Camp: Saddle above Oriflame Canyon
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Mandy at
Laguna Store
Laguna Store
Garnet Mountain