Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - May 12th
Day 33: Sunday 12th May
Spunky Canyon Road – Maxwell Truck Trail
“Billy Goat” left at about 5.30am. Even at his age he was able to get up, pack and
start walking, while I needed to spend time stretching and getting the stiffness out of
my body. As often happens the fire died down overnight as the wind dropped and no
smoke was visible, but it obviously wasn’t under control as the tanker aircraft were
flying in soon after dawn to drop fire retardant chemicals and smoke soon reappeared
over the ridges. When I reached the Green Valley road there was a reminder of the
dangers from the forest fires with a memorial to a fireman who lost his life in the
Elizabeth Fire in the valley in 1981. There was also a USFS fire sign indicating that the
fire risk was low, unfortunately smoke could be seen rising behind the sign.
I had my second breakfast at Green Valley with “Cloudwalker”, “Billy Goat”,
“Honey Bear” (“Cloudwalker”s wife) and Mary. They supplemented my breakfast
supplies with bagels and cheese as well as filling up my water bottles. While Mary was
staying in a small motor home at the trailhead each night, “Honey Bear” was driving a
4-wheel drive vehicle and picking up “Cloudwalker” at the end of each day’s walk,
returning to a large motor home on a RV site in Palmdale. This involved a lot of
driving for “Honey Bear”; even more today since many roads were closed due to the
fire.
I walked with “Cloudwalker” up to the Elizabeth Lake Road through dry Chaparral
covered hills. He then left with “Honey Bear” to relocate their motor home closer to
the trail. I waited with Mary, as we were concerned about “Billy Goat” who had
dropped behind on the climb out of Green Valley and was still suffering from the chest
problem, which had hospitalised him. He was struggling with the heat and I didn’t
think he was carrying enough water to avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion in these
extreme conditions. It was a couple of hours later that he arrived at the road. He
seemed to be in a demoralised state about his health, but he was tough and I expected
him to continue in the morning.
In the evening, with the sun low to the horizon, there was more shade and I climbed
the hill up to the Maxwell Truck Trail where I camped by a water cache in a glade of
Black Oaks. The Maxwell Truck Trail was a dust road, open to 4-wheel drive vehicles
in the summer, and my camp was soon covered in dust when the USFS came down the
road with bulldozers regrading the trail, before opening it to the public.
Day 33: 18.2 miles 7.44 hours Camp: Maxwell Truck Trail
Spunky Canyon Road – Maxwell Truck Trail
“Billy Goat” left at about 5.30am. Even at his age he was able to get up, pack and
start walking, while I needed to spend time stretching and getting the stiffness out of
my body. As often happens the fire died down overnight as the wind dropped and no
smoke was visible, but it obviously wasn’t under control as the tanker aircraft were
flying in soon after dawn to drop fire retardant chemicals and smoke soon reappeared
over the ridges. When I reached the Green Valley road there was a reminder of the
dangers from the forest fires with a memorial to a fireman who lost his life in the
Elizabeth Fire in the valley in 1981. There was also a USFS fire sign indicating that the
fire risk was low, unfortunately smoke could be seen rising behind the sign.
I had my second breakfast at Green Valley with “Cloudwalker”, “Billy Goat”,
“Honey Bear” (“Cloudwalker”s wife) and Mary. They supplemented my breakfast
supplies with bagels and cheese as well as filling up my water bottles. While Mary was
staying in a small motor home at the trailhead each night, “Honey Bear” was driving a
4-wheel drive vehicle and picking up “Cloudwalker” at the end of each day’s walk,
returning to a large motor home on a RV site in Palmdale. This involved a lot of
driving for “Honey Bear”; even more today since many roads were closed due to the
fire.
I walked with “Cloudwalker” up to the Elizabeth Lake Road through dry Chaparral
covered hills. He then left with “Honey Bear” to relocate their motor home closer to
the trail. I waited with Mary, as we were concerned about “Billy Goat” who had
dropped behind on the climb out of Green Valley and was still suffering from the chest
problem, which had hospitalised him. He was struggling with the heat and I didn’t
think he was carrying enough water to avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion in these
extreme conditions. It was a couple of hours later that he arrived at the road. He
seemed to be in a demoralised state about his health, but he was tough and I expected
him to continue in the morning.
In the evening, with the sun low to the horizon, there was more shade and I climbed
the hill up to the Maxwell Truck Trail where I camped by a water cache in a glade of
Black Oaks. The Maxwell Truck Trail was a dust road, open to 4-wheel drive vehicles
in the summer, and my camp was soon covered in dust when the USFS came down the
road with bulldozers regrading the trail, before opening it to the public.
Day 33: 18.2 miles 7.44 hours Camp: Maxwell Truck Trail
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Green Valley Road
Memorial plaque
Mary, Honey Bear
and Cloudwalker
and Cloudwalker
Mojave Desert
over Lake Hughes
over Lake Hughes