Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

Heading out from the cowboy camping experience last night, I was looking forward to Deer Creek Hot Springs that is apparently very popular among the locals too & tended to get crowded during the weekends, even though one has to hike in a mile or so from the trailhead parking (or hike 308 miles on PCT 🙂). Reached it early enough, but still it was chock full of people - locals & thru-hikers both - most of whom had camped there overnight in spite of it being a No Camping zone. People were lazing around in some of the pools in various states of undress, as it was a clothing optional area. It was way too crowded for me and I decided to head out. But, as I was heading out, I saw a small pool of water with nobody in it and the water was pleasantly hot (not just warm).

Pool I "discovered" away from the crowds

Close-up of the pool

Me in the pool 😋

What a lovely feeling to be in a hot pool, especially after not having had a hot shower in days! True pleasure, indeed.

The hiking was fairly easy today, since it was mostly flat.

Cross Deer Creek here finally, with shoes off

Mojave Dam - not exactly sure what it is supposed to hold back (everything looks empty on both sides of the Dam)

PCT also goes on busy roads sometimes

What's this huge pile of stones holding back? 🤔

All kinds of signs saying keep-out

Ah! So, it is a power plant

So, this is what the huge pile of stones is holding back - Silverwood Lake

The final part of the hike today was in Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area and since it is State Park, they don't allow dispersed camping i.e. camping anywhere one wants to. One has to camp in the designated campground, which meant leaving the trail, buying a campsite permit for $5 and walking another half-mile to the campsite. But, before that, the trail went around the huge & pretty Lake.

And, this was my campsite - a nice, flat sure with clean restrooms nearby. Not bad for $5 🙂

Data:

You will notice that I have put in the "official" start & end mile markers in the title. I will do that for all the previous & future posts too.   By "official", I mean the mileage from the Far Out app I am using. There is no real official data, I think. Various sources give different values. So, caveat emptor.

This is my GPS watch reading, which is also a bit iffy I think 'cos of the hilly terrain.