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| A view of Bouquet Lake. |
Bouquet Rd. to San Francisquito Canyon Rd – Nobo
Miles: 13
Hiking with: Gary
Lodging: Best Western John Jay Inn, Palmdale, CA – There are a lot of hotels in Palmdale along Hwy 14. I got my Best Western discount and so got a real deal. Regardless of what I paid I feel Best Western is always a great deal. They’re always cheaper than the Marriotts, Hiltons, and Holiday Inn Expresses and usually get comparable rooms. However, this hotel only had hard wired Internet in the rooms. The only wireless available was in the lobby.
Shuttle: I bought a Dual Sport Bike (Kawasaki 250) that I can now put on the back of my Excursion & shuttle myself!!!
Dining: We ate at Fresco II at the Antelope Valley Mall. It was sort of high end food and pretty good. I usually prefer cheaper food but Gary was paying. The mall had a lot of traffic and all the restaurants were really busy. I would have preferred to eat in Lancaster at the Bayou Barbque or Baha Fresh.
Start: Bouquet Canyon Rd. mile 466
End: San Francisquito Canyon Rd. mile 479
People along the trail: We saw no one on the trail -- surprising for this area of the PCT.
Description: We dropped off my new motor bike at the fire station / NPS picnic area just south of where the PCT crosses San Francisquito Canyon Rd. A fireman saw me unloading my bike and came and asked what we were doing -- I told him and he was very nice and let me chain it up inside a fenced area that was open but out of sight. We then drove to Bouquet Canyon Rd & the PCT -- about a 30 minute drive and parked my car off the road.
This was a hike typical for this area -- uphill the first half and downhill the second half. Early on there were some good views of Bouquet Lake. Interesting items was a sign for The Leona Divide 50/50 is a 50 k & 50 mile trail run known as an ultramarathon (a normal marathon is 26.1 miles). There is a sign along the PCT with the winning times posted. You'll also see the name "Bob Kimmerly" on a bench next to the sign. On the Leona Divide 50/50 website it states: "The Leona Divide 50 was the brainchild of Bob Kimmerly who in late 1991 with his friends John Swallow and Don Hughes mapped out a 50 mile course through the beautiful Angeles National Forest near Lake Hughes. A portion of the race traveled the Leona Divide Truck Trail and passed through Leona Divide twice, hence the name. Losing his battle with cancer in January of 1992, Bob never saw his dream, but his family and friends made sure it became a reality in April of 1992."
Also of note is WR471 -- a water cach. It was on the left side of the trail. As we walked by it looked like a permanent weekend camp of some locals so we just cruised on by. After the hike I looked at the map and realized it was a water cache -- decorated up with some chairs and other misc. stuff. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture.
Also along the trail is a PCT marker that also says "BSA Troop 415". I researched that and found nothing. I assume the Boy Scout (BSA) troop did some work on the trail and left a marker.
I jumped on my motorbike and road back to Bouquet Canyon Rd where my car was, loaded up the motorbike, and returned to pick up Gary. We then cruised back to Phoenix.
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| Snow along the PCT |
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| Winners of the Leona Divide 50 |
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| Bench remembering the founder of the Leona Divide 50 |
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| Wind swept clouds above the PCT. |
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| Foot bridge on the PCT. |
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| A view back at the PCT. The mid-right and mid-left cuts are the PCT. The top cut is a road. |
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| Troop 415 sign along the PCT. |
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| Gary at the end of the hike. |
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| A sign across from the fire station on San Francisquito Canyon Road just south of the PCT. |
