November 4

Distance: 25.0 miles | Ascent: 1830′ | Descent: 7120′

Mile marker: 2429.7

Lunch: J&A – chicken parm (B, B)

Dinner: J – chicken taco (B-), A – oatmeal (B-)

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The first half of the day was great! The trail was cruisey and soft and present. In hindsight, we didn’t appreciate this part of the day enough.

We got to Mission Creek for lunch. We ate near the water in a washout. We had read about this next stretch having a lot of washouts, and we had also received a message from a friend down trail warning us about the conditions. But, from our lunch spot, it didn’t look too bad.

As soon as we left lunch and tried to get back on trail, we hit a wall – almost literally. The entire creek had washed away. The earth where trail was supposed to be had melted. We turned around and followed the creek bed until we could find the proper trail again.

Once we found the trail, it didn’t last long. It lead up and away from the creek. It was the last remnant of trail in this valley that hadn’t been swept downstream.

Having no other choice, we had to take the creek down. Sounds easy? Not exactly. Without a properly defined or made trail, it was nearly eight miles of wayfinding, mild bouldering, stream crossings, and poor footing. We knew we were going downstream, yeah, but we could be following a route that led to a 15ft wall where the creek had washed away the ground and was eroding more under our feet. We couldn’t scale such walls down because of our heavy packs and the loose rock that weakly constituted the walls. We were trying to follow footsteps in the sand, but even those were unreliable.

It was hard walking. The creek was windy and the small vegetation growing in the creek bed added more obstacles. The sun went down, giving an extra level of challenge and danger to the whole thing. In total, about eight miles of trail had vanished. Fortunately, we had the nearly full moon to guide us. When the trail finally reappeared, we were able to just use the moonlight.

We were tempted to camp in the middle of the giant wash, but Alex casually commented that a sudden storm could mean a quick and soggy death, so Jason urged that we carry on just another tenth of a mile to relative safety of a slightly higher bank. The damage was caused by Hurricane Hillary in 2023. It was unlikely another hurricane would form and endanger us in such short notice.