PCT Day 6
Mile: 73.4 to 77.3
Start: Campsite just outside the Scissors and Julian road crossing
Finish: Comfy hotel room in Oak Hill Inn Julian, California
Weather: Hot and mountain lion-y
We slept in a bit this morning (if sleeping till 6am is considered sleeping in) and when the hot desert sun started to cook us in our tent so it was time to get up. As we packed up, our buddy Treebeard came by with only a half liter of water for the next five miles so he was trying to make good time to the water cache under the bridge while it was still cool temperatures out. We offered him water but he said he was fine and took off!
We finished packing up, waved to Benji, Crystal and Louisa who were starting to come down the mountainside and took off headed into town, our spirits high. The mountainsides gave way to the low lying desert flats filled with unearthly looking agave or Century plants in full bloom. These plants look like they’re straight out of Jurassic Park with
their giant asparagus stalks and bright buttercup yellow flowers.
As we were trekking across the desert lowlands, all of a sudden two fighter jets came tearing across the desert basin aimed straight at the mountainside. It looked like they were going to crash but they pulled up at the last second, the daredevil pilots narrowly missing the ridge line. The roar of the afterburners echoed so loudly that it woke us up out of our sleepy haze like a triple shot of espresso! We hooted and hollered at the knuckleheads flying the fighter jets and later learned that they were not supposed to be flying in this area.
Shortly after, a second pair of fighter jets from the US Marine base in San Diego came flying straight at the mountainsides again and pulled up to safety at the last second. Benji, who was behind us a little bit still up on the mountain trails, was pretty sure the pilots had locked on to him because he was so close to the fighter jets that he could see the guy’s eyes on the cockpits. That’s a little too close for comfort!
Trail Angel professor (who maintains the water cache at Julian) said that the Marine Base pilots weren’t supposed to come this way. Every few years, after enough people complain to the Marine Base, they daredevil pilots stop tearing up the skies and waking up the locals. When a new general takes over with new Marines, it’s the same thing all over again. To us it seemed pretty cool but to the locals I can imagine being woken up at 6:30am would get old pretty quickly.
After traipsing through the dusty desert, we arrived at the Scissors Crossing where the road looks like a giant pair of scissors at the intersection from the sky. We hiked alongside the road as cars tore past and finally arrived at a shaded road overpass, where PCT Trail Angel “Professor” was refilling 60 to 70 gallon jugs of water for the PCT hikers. We helped him bring down the full jugs from his car to the giant horse troughs where the water was stored, returned the empties to his car trunk and cleaned out the trash.
Professor gave us a ride the 18 or so winding mountain road miles into Julian, tearing down sinuous roads with steep dropoffs, where he said mountain lions will cross in front of his car two to three times a year. Yikes! We gave Professor a $20 donation for gas and water which he was thankful for. Normally he had a team working with him to replenish the water for thirsty PCT hikers who otherwise would have a 20-30 mile dry stretch of trail. This year with the reduced number of PCT hikers it was just him filling the water cache because sometimes his volunteer team in years past wouldn’t show up and hikers would go thirsty. He also said, with COVID that the amount of hikers have been reduced, and this year hikers were probably going through 30 to 40 gallons of water a day instead of in 2019 when it was closer to 100 gallons of water a day he was replenishing. He comes to check on the water three to four times a day to fill it up and make sure no hikers go thirsty. That is some serious Trail Magic!
Once we arrived in the quiet streets of Julian, we walked the length of the tiny touristy town with its one stop sign to Oak Hill Inn. We had heard a lot of good things about it on the Guthook app (the thru-hiker’s digital bible for navigating long distance trails). Someone had even rated the Oak Hill Inn 10,000 out of 10, so we knew it was gonna be good. The owner, Mike, was super kind to us and even gave us a veteran discount for Shannon’s service in the military. The room he provided us was super cozy and cute with a kitchenette, TV, bathroom and a patio with string lights hanging under a large Live Oak tree.
We relaxed, did laundry, showered and napped before we ventured out to purchase our lunch special from Jack’s Grocery which gives PCT hikers a sandwich, pickles and chips for only $5! After lunch of yummy ham sandwiches for Shannon and a lettuce wrapped gluten free pastrami sandwich for me, we hit up the other free or discounted places in town for thru hikers, like free apple pie, ice cream and drinks from Mom’s Place. Shannon chowed down on caramel apple crumble pie and I got strawberry rhubarb, though being gluten free I just ate the fruit and not the crust.
We hung out with Treebeard, Crystal and Benji outside the Jack’s Grocery Store eating pickles and people watching. After those guys left to head over to the RV park, we talked to another hiker named State Farm, whose real name was Jake, lol. As the day heated up, we went back to the hotel, swam in their pool with the little bridge, relaxed some
more and talked with the inn hosts Lauren and Mike who were such sweethearts. They had bought the inn from Laura’s aunt and uncle, now in their 70s and 80s, who had run it for over 30 years supporting PCT hikers. Laura and Mike had just taken over the inn a few months ago and were so busy and so excited to be taking on this venture.
Over some glasses of wine from the Inn’s “honor bar,” we had a great time talking to them. We petted their fluffy cat, learned about what it was like to live here and then they showed us a crazy video from their Ring doorbell on the front door. Only a week ago around 1:30am a large mountain lion came by their front yard and sniffed around only 15 feet from their front door. Yikes!! Their neighbor had also seen it a few days ago so Mike warned us to be careful if you went out at night. I was a little bit nervous and there was no way in heck I was going to go out at night!!
Later on, we ordered takeout from the Julian brewery and vegged out propping our sore feet up and watching Key and Peele and Van Helsing on the TV until it was Hiker Midnight at 8pm when we promptly fell asleep. Our feet and bodies thanked us for “Near-o” aka the low mileage day we did before hiking into town.