Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - May 9th
Day 30: Thursday 9th May Gleason Road – Mattox Canyon
I overslept in the morning and was still breakfasting when Nate and Parker went past
at 7.30am. Shortly afterwards “Jaybird” went steaming past me. Most of the hikers
walking long daily distances did so by walking long hours, but “Jaybird” often started
late and stopped early, but used his long legs to walk very fast.
“Cloudwalker” also caught up with me fairly early and I walked with him most of the
morning. He was slackpacking and would be meeting his wife at Soledad Canyon, so he
went ahead when I stopped for lunch. He was a very fit 62 year-old from Maryland, now
retired to Florida. Before retiring he ran a swimming pool business, which he has now
passed on to his children.
I also met a lady, with an aggressive little dog, who was acting as support for her
husband Joe who was section hiking the PCT. She walked with him for a couple of hours
before returning to the car and going round to the next road to pick him up.
It was another hot day and I was relieved to reach N. Fork Ranger Station to get
water and ended up spending an hour with the Ranger, Todd, who didn‘t seem to have
much to do except chat to the hikers. This was the first day that more than one hiker
had passed the Ranger Station. Manfred was still well ahead of the pack. As well as
giving me a much-needed long ice-cold drink, he also let me use the shower.
While I appreciated the shower at the time, I’m not sure that it did me much good,
since the trail down to Mattox Canyon was the dustiest yet and I was soon sweaty and
dusty again. I was feeling exhausted by the time I reached Mattox Canyon and was
relieved to find a camping site on the dried up creek bed of the rocky canyon. The main
interest as the sun was setting was the appearance of a black animal with a white back,
about the size of a badger, creeping along the creek bank. It looked more like a comic-
book animal than a real animal. I later learnt it was a Striped Skunk, so I am glad I
didn’t have a close encounter since, if threatened, it produces a fine spray of yellow
odoriferous liquid with a most unpleasant smell. I was told that the only way to hide the
odour of the skunk was to take a bath in tomato sauce!
Day 30: 19.2 miles 7.35 hours Camp: Mattox Canyon
I overslept in the morning and was still breakfasting when Nate and Parker went past
at 7.30am. Shortly afterwards “Jaybird” went steaming past me. Most of the hikers
walking long daily distances did so by walking long hours, but “Jaybird” often started
late and stopped early, but used his long legs to walk very fast.
“Cloudwalker” also caught up with me fairly early and I walked with him most of the
morning. He was slackpacking and would be meeting his wife at Soledad Canyon, so he
went ahead when I stopped for lunch. He was a very fit 62 year-old from Maryland, now
retired to Florida. Before retiring he ran a swimming pool business, which he has now
passed on to his children.
I also met a lady, with an aggressive little dog, who was acting as support for her
husband Joe who was section hiking the PCT. She walked with him for a couple of hours
before returning to the car and going round to the next road to pick him up.
It was another hot day and I was relieved to reach N. Fork Ranger Station to get
water and ended up spending an hour with the Ranger, Todd, who didn‘t seem to have
much to do except chat to the hikers. This was the first day that more than one hiker
had passed the Ranger Station. Manfred was still well ahead of the pack. As well as
giving me a much-needed long ice-cold drink, he also let me use the shower.
While I appreciated the shower at the time, I’m not sure that it did me much good,
since the trail down to Mattox Canyon was the dustiest yet and I was soon sweaty and
dusty again. I was feeling exhausted by the time I reached Mattox Canyon and was
relieved to find a camping site on the dried up creek bed of the rocky canyon. The main
interest as the sun was setting was the appearance of a black animal with a white back,
about the size of a badger, creeping along the creek bank. It looked more like a comic-
book animal than a real animal. I later learnt it was a Striped Skunk, so I am glad I
didn’t have a close encounter since, if threatened, it produces a fine spray of yellow
odoriferous liquid with a most unpleasant smell. I was told that the only way to hide the
odour of the skunk was to take a bath in tomato sauce!
Day 30: 19.2 miles 7.35 hours Camp: Mattox Canyon
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Cloudwalker
Santa Clara Divide
Santa Clara Divide