It's been a lot of driving, and a lot of walking. In the past three weeks, I've put approximately 5,000 miles on my vehicle and 200 on my legs.
The highlight thus far was of course
the San Diego Trans-county Trail (SDTCT). The SDTCT, as its name
might imply, runs the width of San Diego County, from the Salton Sea
to the Pacific Ocean. The Salton Sea is an inland endorheic lake that
was created when the Army Corps of Engineers accidentally diverted
the flow of the Colorado River into an irrigation ditch about a
century ago. Talk about a bad week at the office! Over many decades,
it's slowly dried up and become a stinking, nasty mess.
Over the course of 160 miles, the SDTCT
winds its way through a series of badlands, up and over a couple
different mountain ranges, past a bunch of reservoirs, through a deep
river canyon system, and finally through a series of semi-urban open
spaces to end at Torrey Pines State Beach.
The Good: The SDTCT, as outlined
above, has a tremendous amount of scenic diversity. Each day brings a
new ecosystem. I started in the desert, passed through the mountains,
and finally through lush coastal marshlands. And ending on a sand
beach is pretty great!
Even more than the natural environment,
though, I appreciated the people I interacted with along the way.
Undoubtedly, the best part of my trip was the opportunity to visit
with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Karin, along with my cousins. It's been
half of forever since I've last seen them, and never had I been out
to California to visit them. They still live in the neighborhood
where my Dad grew up. It was truly a blessing to sit down with them,
catch up, and swap war stories. And of course, they armed me with a
few excellent meals and the finest in citrus from the trees in their
backyard.
The Bad: I'm so glad I escaped
the winter doldrums of the midwest for sunny southern California.
Except, of course, it absolutely poured on me for the majority of my
hike. I started in the rain on Day 1 and saw a small flash flood as I
hiked through desert washes. It was dry and sunny on Day 2,
thankfully. Because it rained on me continuously for 56 straight
hours on Days 3-5. On Day 4, I reached a small restaurant just as the
sun was setting. The place was completely deserted, except for the
Channel 8 news crew breathlessly reporting on a half inch of snow
that had already melted. Only in San Diego is that kind of thing
newsworthy!
Nonetheless, the weather was truly
terrible – 40-degree rain for three days with strong, cold winds. I
was so desperate to sleep somewhere dry that, after leaving the
aforementioned restaurant, I went and slept in a porta-potty. I mean,
I've slept some weird places before, but even for me, that's a new
low.
With another dousing rainstorm
forecasted for Day 6, I finally caved. A long-time trail angel, Girl
Scout, had posted in a hiker's forum a while back, offering a helping
hand to hikers on the SDTCT. The next stretch of trail involved a
gnarly bushwhack; something that's unpleasant when dry and absolute
misery in the rain. So I called up Girl Scout and asked if I could
sleep on his floor while waiting out the storm.
Long story short, Girl Scout is
awesome, and very generously put me up for a day while the last round
of storms moved through. While at Girl Scout's, I also met Sam and
Gaia, hikers a few days ahead of me who had just finished up. We all
met up with another SDTCT veteran for dinner that evening – a
terrific hikertrash get-together.
Girl Scout dropped me back off at the
trailhead the next morning and nothing notable happened for the last
three days of my hike, except when my sleep was interrupted by a
hundred screaming boy scouts. But that's a story for another day!
The Sketchy: On Day 7, I went
through an area of private property. This is the big downside of the
SDTCT. A decade ago, there was a vibrant trail organization
advocating for the SDTCT and the trail had the support of various
federal, state, and local land managers, who all put plans together
to build the sections of trail that crossed their various lands.
But of course, that kind of thing is
political, and priorities change, people retire, etc, and ten years
hence, the trail remains incomplete. Suffice it to say that there are
many sections where the trail isn't complete, and continuing forward
entails some pretty blatant trespassing on private land. I passed a
house that had a shot-up naked mannequin in the front yard – not
exactly a welcome mat! I must have hopped 20 different gates on this
route. As much as I enjoyed the route, I probably wouldn't do it
again until the private land issues are resolved. According to an old
newspaper article I read, the county was picking up the liability for
hikers crossing private land while the trail remains incomplete...
I'm not a lawyer, and that seems rather suspect to me. Besides, crazy
coots with shotguns rarely care about whose liability is whose.
The everything else: I went to
Snow Canyon State Park, Valley of Fire State Park, Sequoia National
Park, and Joshua Tree National Park. But I'm not going to comment on
those because only my relatives are still reading and people are
giving me the side-eye at the McDonalds PlayPlace as I type this. So
I should probably get going!
