It all started with me trying to get everyone together around the end of September (9/27 being the anniversary date), but due to a forest closure and people's schedules, that didn't happen. Ultimately we agreed on October 23-24 and hoped for good weather. As it turned out, we beat a storm by one day and we had a beautiful, partly cloudy to sunny experience the whole weekend.
Six of us drove up on Saturday evening via 3N31 to Gobbler's Knob camp, which is just an end-of-the-road parking area where you can pitch a tent. 3N31 has a rough scree section, which David spent some time improving before everyone else drove up. Thank you, David! Then Ira and Madison joined David, and I arrived shortly after sunset around 7pm. Madison handed me a beer and life was good. Dima and Sondra rolled up a little later, and life was even better. We watched the moonrise and picked out Jupiter in the night sky. Then we all tried to get some sleep for the main event the next morning.
I woke up around 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. David also woke up early. We spoke a bit and around 6am noticed the eastern sky begin to lighten.
At 7am I figured I should start my car and charge the battery for awhile. We were expecting two more pirates, Jeff and Cecelia, around 8am, so it was time for everyone else in camp to start getting up. But I forgot that Madison was sleeping in his car right in front of mine, and he received the brunt of the engine noise. Sorry, Madison!
I had slept in my tent without a pad, even though I brought two blankets for such a purpose. Still, I managed to sleep a few hours, and it was that much easier to put away my stuff before Jeff and Cecelia arrived shortly after 8am.
Now, with all eight of us, life was perfect. We soon headed out on the Pacific Crest Trail up the Lytle Creek Ridge. After dipping into the 40s at night, the weather was now sunny and warming. It was going to be a great day for hiking.
Since the camp is located at the base of Gobbler's Knob, both Madison and Dima tagged that peak first. Jeff and Ira would climb it later, on the return.
Initially the PCT here has open views all around as you cross from one side of the ridge to the other.
Looking back we could see the low cloud layer creeping up the Cajon Pass into the high desert, with Gorgonio and Jacinto in the background.
Pretty much all day we enjoyed clear views of Telegraph, Thunder, Harwood, Dawson and Pine.
It's approximately five miles one-way to Wright Mountain. Around the midway point the ridge becomes more populated with tall trees.
The trail enters this forest and begins contouring around a couple bumps. Dima found a shortcut here using the old firebreak, which has several of those triangular metal signs spread out along the ridgetop.
While Dima took the shortcut, the rest of us stuck to the PCT. We all gathered up again at the junction with the Blue Ridge Road, then we took the east ridge route to the summit of Wright Mountain. We found a nice, sunny spot near the highpoint for a group photo.
A week prior to this, Jeff and I had hiked the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek. When we got to Commanche Camp, I told him that I was craving a grilled cheese sandwich, and he said he could make that happen on the anniversary hike. So I asked Cecelia to buy the bread and cheese and butter and bring them up on Sunday morning since she was carpooling with Jeff, but it turned out that Jeff also bought bread and cheese and butter, so we had plenty of ingredients. However, we then forgot to pack the pan and the butter! Shortly after starting on the trail, Jeff remembered the pan and ran back to his truck to fetch it. He also checked on the butter situation and added that to his pack. So, a big THANK YOU, Jeff, for making the grilled cheese hike happen!
Your cooking was delicious and it somehow made life more than perfect.
