Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - May 21st
Day 42: Tuesday 21st May Road SC47 – McIvers Hut
“Billy Goat” was the only one of our group who got much sleep during the night. I was
being battered by my tent buffeting me in the wind and “Cloudwalker” had to get up
half a dozen times during the night to repeg his tarp, which was threatening to blow
away. It was still blowing hard with freezing temperatures when I left camp at 6.30am,
ahead of “Billy Goat” and “Cloudwalker”.
After three hours I came across Jan and Laura and their two dogs, still having
breakfast in bed at this late hour. They had started at the Kelsey Road and were hiking
to Lake Tahoe, reckoning on walking about 8 miles/day. By now the cloud was starting
to break up, but it was still very breezy and cold. To keep warm I had needed to wear
all the clothes that I was carrying. “Billy Goat” and “Cloudwalker caught up with me
here and we walked together for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon the trail traversed rolling hills through land badly damaged by a
recent fire.
In the evening we came upon McIvers Hut where we spent the night. A batten board
hut built by McIvers and Welch as a rustic retreat in 1938, it was in surprisingly good
condition, despite being open to hikers and accessible to off-road vehicles. We were
entertained by “Billy Goat” trying to kill the hut mouse with a brick. Although the
mouse was fairly tame, it wasn’t stupid enough to get caught. As protection from the
mouse, we hung our food from the rafters while “Billy Goat” decided to sleep outside. I
slept on a mattress on the floor and was very comfortable and fortunately the mouse
didn’t disturb us all night.
Day 42: 17.3 miles 8.30 hours Camp: McIvers Hut
“Billy Goat” was the only one of our group who got much sleep during the night. I was
being battered by my tent buffeting me in the wind and “Cloudwalker” had to get up
half a dozen times during the night to repeg his tarp, which was threatening to blow
away. It was still blowing hard with freezing temperatures when I left camp at 6.30am,
ahead of “Billy Goat” and “Cloudwalker”.
After three hours I came across Jan and Laura and their two dogs, still having
breakfast in bed at this late hour. They had started at the Kelsey Road and were hiking
to Lake Tahoe, reckoning on walking about 8 miles/day. By now the cloud was starting
to break up, but it was still very breezy and cold. To keep warm I had needed to wear
all the clothes that I was carrying. “Billy Goat” and “Cloudwalker caught up with me
here and we walked together for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon the trail traversed rolling hills through land badly damaged by a
recent fire.
In the evening we came upon McIvers Hut where we spent the night. A batten board
hut built by McIvers and Welch as a rustic retreat in 1938, it was in surprisingly good
condition, despite being open to hikers and accessible to off-road vehicles. We were
entertained by “Billy Goat” trying to kill the hut mouse with a brick. Although the
mouse was fairly tame, it wasn’t stupid enough to get caught. As protection from the
mouse, we hung our food from the rafters while “Billy Goat” decided to sleep outside. I
slept on a mattress on the floor and was very comfortable and fortunately the mouse
didn’t disturb us all night.
Day 42: 17.3 miles 8.30 hours Camp: McIvers Hut
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Hoar frost, Skinner Peak
Hoar frost
Billy Goat on
Skinner Peak
Skinner Peak
Joshua Tree
Laura and Jan