Mission Creek is Mission Complete

What? Mission Creek? But you were just leaving Julian! I know…okay! I’m behind on my articles. From Julian I can say a few key things I faced in the last 70 or so miles. 

70ish More Miles on the PCT:

-Pain

-Exhaustion

-Rad Views

Rad View for proof of rad views

-The beautiful sounds of nature like Mountain Lions and wind singing you to sleep at night

-More Pain

-Dehydration

-Pretty cool people

-Lots of desert and enough Vitamin D to fuel you for life

More Details Please!

So here it is. Before Mission Creek I started hiking 16-18 mile days. I had a few large water carries and was saved by caches like this one below:

Thank you generous trail angels!

I truly felt so exhausted in the section between Julian and Idyllwild after picking up mileage. It was sun exposure, sand, cactus, and long water carries. It was also lots and lots of elevation. I still have yet to see a flat desert!

Some cool things that happened along the way included a bucket shower in Warner Springs, getting bbq at Mike’s Place, and sleeping in a hostel next to the chicken coop. Yes, the rooster started crowing at 2AM. His system is totally off. 

This bbq saved my life. Thank you Mike!

For the small price of a donation, you can sleep next to the chickens:) and avoid a little rain

I ran into some issues with my microspike shipment once I reached Paradise Valley Cafe at mile marker 151.8. Nomad Ventures was out of my size for microspikes and to ship mine priority mail would be $150. Nope!! I told my mom don’t worry about it. So, I skipped up to Black Mountain Road and hiked back onto the trail. It was unsafe to do the snow at the time especially for a Texas girl like me who is not used to hiking on it. 

I’ll be back for you!

After completing Black Mountain Road, I hiked down to I-10 and beyond into battle. 

The Battle at Mission Creek

The incline at the beginning of Section C is tough and was just the beginning. There is a large water carry from I-10 to the next river and I had several moments of feeling dehydrated. I kept thinking I was carrying enough water, but after being in the sun all day doing inclines you drink more than you think you would. I ran out about 1.5 miles from the next source. Before I started feeling too delirious I made it to the water source. I decided to camp in the oasis of Whitewater Preserve before heading into Mission Creek, so I could rehydrate. 

After leaving the oasis, I started a 6 mile hike to Mission Creek. I was a bit nervous as most people I had met were skipping around this section. Since the trail has been washed out in this area, it’s recommended by the PCTA to skip from I-10 to Big Bear Lake. I felt confident I could do it safely. 

There was one last incline before descending into the creek. I stopped a couple going southbound as I descended down. “Hey, are you guys turning around?” I was a bit nervous and wanted to get as much information as possible. “Oh no!” The woman answered. “We just finished it. We are going Southbound.” Great! I thought. I proceeded to get as much information from the couple as possible about what I was going to encounter in Mission Creek. They said they followed this comment on FarOut and made it through easily. 

So, basically just follow the creek for 6 or so miles and then get back on the PCT to avoid some waterfalls. Sounds simple! I started walking the rocks and boulders in the creek. I knew there was no way to keep my feet dry, so I plunged in the first crossing with my shoes. The cold water enveloped my feet and actually cooled me down. 

Walking on this for miles = send me home

The first day was surprisingly fun. I liked the change of pace in having to slow down and navigate the rocks. The water was cool, and although I was in the sun all day I at least had as much water as I could drink. I ended the day after a few miles on a sandy bank. The creek takes about a mile an hour, so it’s slow going.

The only strange part of the afternoon was a group of around 50 men with spray bottles navigating the creek to who knows where. They had on school backpacks and only had a few water bottles. No trekking poles in sight to get over the rocky creek bottom. Well, if they could do that then I can! 

Leaving the Victor

The next morning I woke up bright and early to finish the creek. My feet got wet within the first 10 minutes of hiking as I did my first crossing. I continued crossing for the next 5 miles. It took almost 5 hours and it was not fun anymore. The smile had effectively been wiped off my face and I was ready to be done. My shoes had taken a good beating and the tread was starting to wear down. Walking in the water made the bottoms of my shoes very slick and made me slide on the rocks. Finally, I reached the point where the trail made a reappearance. I hopped on with high hopes of having made it! But it was not so easy. 

The trail had not been maintained and it wasn’t long before thorn bushes had ripped into my legs and caused large scratches. I had to climb over several tree blow downs and there were three washouts to navigate. I scrambled up gravel to the trail only to go back down into the creek again. It was a tough day and I fell several times as my shoes could not get a solid grip on the boulders.

My battle scars

I felt a feeling of pride as I finally ascended from the creek for the last time. The pines greeted me as I left behind the boulder strewn battle ground. Good riddance! I thought. I’m never seeing or doing mission creek again!

Although, many people are still taking the ridge line route which shaves off several miles of the PCT, I found the actual trail doable. It’s not maintained trail, but it’s nothing a PCT’er can’t handle! 

It wasn’t long after coming up from mission creek that I received a garmin message from my mom. “Everyone is getting sick in Mission Creek. They think it’s norovirus or something in the water.” I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Looks like my battle wasn’t over as I started anxiously thinking about getting sick. I pushed on and completed a 16.4 mile day outside of the road to coon creek cabin. I was exhausted and hardly could cook dinner, but I slept the best sleep of my life. 

Long story short I made it to Big Bear and I didn’t get sick! So, I beat mission creek in multiple ways. I drank the water after only filtering, so I am unsure of what was causing the sickness. I’m grateful to have had the chance to go through this section and to have had made it through safely. Although, a lot of information has not come out about the sickness I wish all hikers going into Mission Creek the best of luck!