Pacific Crest Trail: Southern Sierra: Day 1: Highway 58 to Golden Oak Spring

Pacific Crest Trail

Day 1: Mile 566.5 to 583.2

PCT Mile 566.5, off Highway 58.

Logbook.

And the ascent starts. At least we're getting away from the freeway.

Jackrabbit!

Enjoying the view.

Looking south. WIndmills everywhere.

Joshua trees about mile 5, near the top of the hill.

8:30am and already feeling the heat.

Pink-purple cactus flowers.

One of many gates designed to remind people the trail is closed to vehicles.

No more joshua trees.

Great resting spot at mile 9.5 (PCT Mile 576).

More windmills, just shy of mile 13 (PCT Mile 579 or so).

Golden Oak Spring, PCT Mile 583.2.

We go this way tomorrow.

The concrete pool was full of tadpoles.

Yay for water! Remains of a trailer a hundred feet up the hill.

Remains of a trailer a hundred feet up the hill.

And the view.

Windmills in the afternoon sun.

With a 40 mile hike and 3 days of freeze-dried to look forward to, McDonald's seemed like a reasonable breakfast. McMuffins and hash browns for everyone, including extras for lunch!

Quick drive up Highway 58, a few miles of trail along the highway, then the real fun begins with a nice 2000+ foot climb straight up into the Piute Mountains. We don't quite make the "10 before 10" (10 miles before 10am) goal, but we do make a quick stop under an awesome tree at mile 9.5, and then a proper lunch siesta to beat the heat around mile 10.5.

Terrain varies between desert scrub and oak trees, plenty of windmills, and the occasional mid-summer flower to break things up. One more decent hill climb but that's it. Laying low to beat the worst of the mid-day heat proves to be a good idea, and we reach the beautiful, albeit mosquito-infested, Golden Oak Spring (about 16.8 miles of hiking today) by mid-afternoon. The concrete trough is pretty handy, and the metal grate that lets you fill your water containers without having to hold them the whole time is pretty bomb.

A few hundred feet from Golden Oak Spring is a gorgeous view over the ridge, the remains of a smashed trailer turned into a shelter, and yes, more windmills. Plus a squirrel that kept trying to drop pine cones atop our heads right at the spring. o_0