While I was trying to secure our permit, almost all of the camping areas that I wanted to go to were full. Since we've been up to San Gorgonio so many times, I was trying to get spots along a couple trailheads that I've never been to. Eventually, I got us a permit at Anderson Flats, which is accessed from a trail I've never hiked, Forsee Creek.
We did have one incident before we even got to the trailhead.....We were at the ranger station getting our permit and had tied Harlan to a shady bush. We were in the ranger staion for a few minutes heard him barking and whining a little, but didn't think anything of it. I came back to him and he was kind of hiding behind a bush, he came over to me and laid down and I was petting him for a bit. I even had my hand under his chin and scratching him. I told him to get up so we could go, and when he stood up, the snake slithered out from underneath Harlan and started rattling and coiled up a couple feet away!
When I tied him up I didn't see the snake. So it must have come up to Harlan while he was sitting there and we were inside the ranger station. That's when he got scared and started barking and whining.
My hand must have been inches away from the snake while I was petting him. I just can't believe Harlan didn't get bit. Not sure why the snake did nothing while Harlan laid on top of him. It was crazy.
Harlan seemed fine but we decided we better go to a vet just to make sure.
For Harlan, the worst part of the day was probably when they stuck the thermometer up his butt at the vet. He could have cared less about the snake.
After the vet, we made it to the trailhead and started our hike. Like I said, this was the first time any of us had gone up the trail and It was great! It was steep but we had a few steam crossings and a lot of great views of Big Bear lake.
We hiked about 7.5 miles up 3200ft to our camp for the night. While we were packing, we could not find the poles to our tent. I'm not sure where they are and currently they are still lost! We ended up stopping at Home Depot on the way and picked up 2 9X12 .7mm tarps for $1.98 each. I also picked up some corde tie lines to attach the tarp to the ground. When we set up camp, the weather was perfect, wasn't too cold, no clouds, no wind, just overall very pleasant. So we simply just layed out one of the tarps and set up our sleeping pads and bags.
A couple hours later, a breeze rolled in, then it picked up to a slight wind, then picked up even more until we had a strong wind with a few good gusts every once in a while. We decided we better set up the other tarp as a wind break. After a half hour, I had a wind break set up and it protected us for the most part. A few spots on the tarp would buzz from the wind but even with some seriously strong gusts, it stayed up the entire night.
Here's our shelter in the morning
While the tarps worked well for the night, I would say that was the end of their life. They were too fragile to take on a multi-day trip, especially one like the PCT. The pros for these were the price, and the weight. $1.98 is pretty cheap for a one time use shelter, cheaper than one of those tube tents you can buy at a sporting goods store which is very similar to this. Each tarp also probably only weighed about 3-4oz and their packaged size was about 6in x 2in x 2in. The only con is that repeated use is almost out of the question. They were strong enough to no rip when I duct taped the corners and tied them off, but repeated use may cause them to fail.
If I was to go on another one nighter where I knew there wouldn't be a major significant storm, I would use these Home Depot tarps if I didn't have anything better.
Now the next day, we did a short day hike up to the summit of Anderson Peak (~10,800ft). This was the first time any of us had been up there. There were some amazing views from the top, you could see all of the major mountain peaks in Southern California.
After the peak, we hiked back to camp, packed up and hiked back down to the car. It was a great overnighter. I think the fact that it was a new trail that we've never done before really helped. We have done the South Fork trail of San G about 100 times. So the new scenery was refreshing. And I think the trail and views are nicer at Forsee Creek than South Fork. It felt more like the Sierras and reminded me of hiking the John Muir Trail last year.
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