Day 29: (05/16): to 363.4 :: 1.7 miles

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Saturday 5/16


Our neighbors are gone by the time we wake up. We had wanted to see the sunrise and peek out of the tent to seeing a glowing pink and orange sky around 5:45 but sleep lures us back in and we doze awhile longer. We are in no rush today. When we finally do wake up we eat our final food items, 2 Bob’s Red Mill dried fruit, nut and oats bars each with extra peanut butter on top. We are packed up and walking by about 8:30.


We have some easy flat walking in the pine forest on the top of the ridge before we reach the Acorn Trail junction and begin the descent into town. We chose this trail as our access to Wrightwood because it leads you right into town. Most other hikers keep going to where the trail crosses Highway 2, the Angeles Crest Highway at a busy viewpoint called Inspiration Point. From there they hitchhike to town, since walking any extra, especially on a “steep” trail like the Acorn Trail is out of the question. The only problem is that right now the highway is still closed. The highest elevation section of the highway closes each winter due to snow and because of corona virus it has not reopened yet. Hikers are walking 2 miles down the highway to where it’s gated off and then hitching to town. It’s really hard for me to understand why almost none of them are willing to hike any extra and why they wouldn’t want to be self sufficient if they could be! And why are they out here hiking anyway if they don’t even like hiking enough to walk a side trail to town!


There is a business on the outskirts of town called the Bud Pharm that has been hosting most hikers who visit Wrightwood. It’s some kind of marijuana growing operation. The guy has a van and a helper and they go out each day to get hikers from near Inspiration Point, bring them to town for food and errands, let them camp in their yard and have showers and do laundry and then take them back to the trail. They repeat this every day, charging 10-$15 for the ride, but no other fees that we know of are collected. We can’t see what’s in it for them. We don’t know all the details because we chose not to stay there. We didn’t want to be crammed in with all the other hikers.


I reserved us an air bnb for 2 nights, and my mom will be meeting us this afternoon with food and will be staying a night with us and bringing her little dog Luna! We had planned to send ourselves a resupply box to the post office but learned that the post office is not open on Saturday, so that is why my mom is driving the food all the way here! We could have bought a bunch of food from the grocery store in town, but I had already packed all of the food we would need and my mom enjoys any excuse for an adventure. 


We find the Acorn Trail to be quite pleasant with nicely graded switch backs. As we make it down to lower elevation we begin seeing lots of oak trees and acorns. The trail is only two miles and lets us out in the neighborhood at the edge of town, from there it’s a pleasant one mile walk into the heart of town. Along the way we admire many of the lovely houses. We are lucky to get to check into our air bnb early, since we are the first to stay in it since before the corona virus started! Wrightwood has a ski area called Mountain High that is very popular for people to visit from all over Southern California. Normally the place we are staying would have had many spring skiers visiting, but everything was shut down and restrictions were even placed on hotels and vacation rentals.


Our our way to our apartment we walk past a church which is hosting a food drive. They are wrapping up for the day, and one really chatty guy reels us in and insists on giving us food because they will have a lot leftover. We walk away with 2 bags of oranges, each weighting 3 pounds, a 5 pound bag of potatoes, a pound of walnuts, a pound of pecans and two granola cups. We already looked a little crazy walking through town with our backpacks and trekking poles and now we really do, loaded down with arms full of food of the variety not commonly carried by backpackers!


We were done hiking and inside our apartment by about 11. We are in a small apartment above a detached garage. The owners of the place live in the main house next door with many barking dogs. The apartment is just one bedroom but has a pull out couch, a full bathroom and a well stocked kitchen with lots of appliances. We also have access to laundry. I quickly get to work making us hash browns with our food bank potatoes. I am delighted to find a box grater and a Cuisinart griddler machine, which makes excellent hash browns. 


My mom and Luna arrived around 2 and shortly after we get take out Mexican food from Mexico Lindo. They have a vegan burrito on their menu and they are enormous! So big that we don’t get hungry for a real dinner later. I’d asked my mom bring all the ingredients for a spaghetti and garlic bread dinner and I was rather disappointed that we don’t get to eat it!  


We take our showers and do our laundry and lounge around. We watch a little news on the television to see if we can learn anything about the goings on in the world and the corona virus, but there is little new information to learn, just more of the same. In the evening we take a short walk around the neighborhood and admire more houses and gardens, and then go to bed early in a nice soft, warm bed.



View of our next climb when we leave Wrightwood, Mt Baden Powell 

Snow plants. They are similar to mushrooms and pop out of the ground each spring once the snow melts off.

Mexico Linda burritos and fresh squeezed orange juice from the backyard tree at my moms house. I made her pick us oranges and bring the juicer!

Comments

  1. JGAugust 19, 2020 at 12:10 PM

    You mentioned an area of huge scenic rocks, just before you get to Wrightwood. Those are called Mormon Rocks. Named by the Mormon Battalion, I believe, who rode through there in 1846 on their way to San Diego, to give a show of force to the Mexican forces at the presidio, fighting in the Mexican War with the U.S. There's a Mormon Battalion memorial in Old Town.
    Anyway, Mormon Rocks have been used as movie locations, for many western and science fiction movies (including the Star Trek TV show), because they are so iconic. The old black & white sci-fi movies shot there are especially eerie looking.

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