Did you know about Mountain Yellow-legged Frog? (D-21 383.9 - 406.6 plus 1.5 miles & D-22 406.6

Did you know about Mountain Yellow-legged Frog? (D-21 383.9 - 406.6 plus 1.5 miles & D-22 406.6 - 430.4)

Encountered this trail angel, Cheshire Cat, within 2 hrs of starting the hike yesterday (D-21) morning and he offered sweet, juicy fresh fruit. Took a piece of honey dew melon and an apple.

Breakfast

And this is the reason for the title:

Thanks to this frog, a section of the trail was closed and all hikers had to long detour walking on the highway and then a side trail before joining the PCT, which added 1.5 miles extra 😬. The frog species better survive for making us all go thru the extra miles 🙂.

While walking thru the side trail, we came across this brilliant red plant, called the Snow Plant per another hiker, in the middle of all the brown:

The obligatory rattlesnake photo:

And, a little bit of trail magic near the end of yesterday - Tootsie Rolls and boiled eggs. Strange combination! Skipped the eggs.

Trail magic today, thanks to a friend of a fellow-hiker:

All the hikers resting in the shade of the truck, after the beer, and before the long, hot climb this afternoon.

I thought the trail looked nice here

Finally, the tent site tonight

Data:

D-21

D-22

Comments

LisaB said…

The snow plant is really neat! I was curious and looked up more info. Apparently it is edible and can be cooked like asparagus, however it is rare and is therefore protected in CA so it is illegal to pick or disturb it. Kind of cool that one protected species (the frog) allowed you to see a different protected species. Thanks for sharing! - Lisa

May 9, 2022 at 5:56 PM

A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morn...

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More trail magic and a lesson learned (D-5)

The day was pleasant with lots of wind again, but the trail was mostly flat or gently uphill. It also went through a very large meadow with only grass and cows for miles around 🙂. My goal was to reach Warner Springs since I had seen this sign yesterday at Scissors Crossing. The shower, recharging & WiFi along with possible cold/hot drinks was very tempting. BTW, this is the first time I found out that there was a name - "bucket shower" & "bucket laundry" - for what I had thought was normal bathing and washing clothes all during my childhood in India 😀. Made it to Warner Springs after 23 miles, well before the 7 pm closing time. The Community Resource Center provides all these services for PCT hikers. Though the Center itself was closed (no cold/hot drinks alas), their grounds were open and showers/laundry/recharging were all available and I made full use of it. Very thankful to the Center! Sinks for laund...

A thru-hike attempt

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