Day 32, South Fork Campground to Cooper Canyon Campground

After saying goodbye to our campsite neighbor, YouTube star Jay, we left South Fork Campground at 7:15 a.m.

Departing from the campground, the trail took a flat path for a short distance across the canyon floor.

We didn’t walk far before coming to Big Rock Creek, the first of the day’s stream crossings.

Rock-hopping across the creek was a little tricky because the rocks weren’t ideally spaced apart. Not everyone made it across without getting a foot wet.

The trail began to climb soon after the creek and before long the footpath dissolved into a sandy slope. Erosion made the trail barely recognizable and difficult to traverse.

The trail eventually firmed up and the footpath flattened out, but this was not the last bad erosion we would see today.

We stopped for a break at another stream after climbing about 90 minutes. The day was warming up, so this was a nice place to cool off.

By 9:30 a.m. the trail reached an elevation high enough to provide a full view of one of the area’s most famous geologic features, the San Andreas Fault. This is a 750-mile line through California formed by two tectonic plates striking each other in sometimes violent fashion.

We had good views of the Mojave Desert yesterday before descending to Vincent Gap, and after returning to a higher elevation we began to see it again off in the distance.

The higher we went the more exposed the trail became. The sunny sky made our continuous climb much hotter than we had been used to lately.

The weather had been cool for the last week. This was not a welcome day for the heat to return.

I was surprised to see some day hikers on this section of trail. They were unexpected because the area was remote.

The trail was taking us through Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness Area, which encompasses 26,839 acres and has no roads. The day hikers must have come from the campground or another part of Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area.

By mid-afternoon, snow could be seen up ahead, not on the trail, but clinging to the upper-most sides of a ridge.

The trail was going up 2,300 feet in 3.7 miles. Between the elevation change and the heat, I was beginning to feel worn out.

An opportunity to take a short break came when the memory card in my camera filled to its capacity. My backup card was smaller, so I wanted to buy a new one as soon as possible.

By luck, I discovered I was receiving a wireless signal from where I was standing, so I placed a quick Amazon order for a couple more memory cards. I had them shipped to Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce, where I knew we would arrive in about four days.

When I reached the top of the long climb I found all of the tramily members stretched out to cool down and recover.

That climb had been more difficult than nearly all of what we had walked so far on the PCT, mainly because of the heat.

After our break, the trail made a descent, which included another eroded section of trail. In fact, this section was so eroded that it was as sketchy as some of the snowy sections we crossed in the San Jacinto Mountains.

I walked across this section slowly to make sure I had firm footing. Climbing back to the trail after a long slide on the gravel would have been just as difficult as it would have been on snow.

The final climb up the Burkhart Trail came to an end at 6 p.m. when I reached PCT.

There was still more climbing to come, however. There were another 600 feet of elevation to gain in the next 1.4 miles, but before beginning that I stopped to collect and filter some water.

I finally arrived at Cooper Canyon Campground at 7 p.m.

It wasn’t a luxurious spot, but with bear boxes, tables, and a privy it was certainly nicer than most PCT campsites.