Pacific Crest Trail: Mile 101 to 110

There were endless fields of flowers on this hike.

Section A
Warner Spring to Barrel Springs - Sobo
Miles: 9
Hikers: Dan, Chris & Gary

Lodging: Historical House Lodging, Julian, CA – Try another B&B as this place had a bath tub, no shower.

Car Rental: Hertz Car Rental – Coachella, CA

Dining: Julian, Ca at Romano’s Dodge House which was recommended by a local. It had great Italian food and was moderately priced. We also got a couple of apple pies to take home to the family from Mom’s Pies. This is a must stop as it’s been featured on the TV Food Networks before.

Start: Mile 110 at Hwy 79 near Warner Spring Resort. A PCT sign is posted alongside the road and the shoulder is extra wide to allow for cars to park alongside the road. We were the only car when we parked early in the morning (sunrise) but when we picked up our car around 10 am there were 4 other cars parked there.

End: Barrel Springs on the south side of County Hwy S22. There is a lot of space to park next to the road.

People along the trail: We saw only one group of 5 going Nobo. We also crossed paths a couple of horseback riders on the trail. The PCT is for hikers, pack animals and horses.

Description: We opted for this section of trail rather than hiking 20 miles south of Scissors Crossing because we were beat from doing the 24 mile section south of here from Barrel Springs to Scissors Crossing (it was a little hot too). If we had more energy I would have started this hike at Barrel Springs and hiked 8 miles past Warner Springs. The trail from Barrel Springs to Warner Springs is fairly exposed, and the 8 miles north of Warner Springs has occasional shade as well as nearby water most of the time.

This is a great section of trail with gentle rolling hills loaded with flowers and grasses. Although we saw a lot of blossoms, it was probably greener about 2-4 weeks earlier in the year. There is something magical about walking through large fields of flowers – it reminds me of Dorothy dancing through the poppy blossoms in the Wizard of Oz.

Eagle Rock is a must-see 20 yard detour located in the middle of rolling grasses. It is a rock outcropping (unusual for this trail) that looks like an eagle. Hiking Sobo you couldn’t really see the eagle until you were looking at it from the Nobo direction. There were chuckwallas and the black lizards all over the rocks.