I walked this section in small segments over the course of many years. Hikes varied in length from a few hours to four days. On various hikes, I was accompanied by Scouts from BSA Troop 107 in Santa Monica, by my wife Francia, or by one or both of my friends Paul and Gerry; much of it was hiked solo. Probably the most photogenic is the most northerly/westerly segment that goes by Vasquez Rocks. Unfortunately I did not have a camera with me when I walked that segment. Most of the rest of the trail is not terribly dramatic, although there can be extremely impressive views from the top of Mt. Baden-Powell when the weather is clear. My most dramatic photos were taken during a day on the easternmost part of this section that started out calmly and turned out to be rather exciting, especially in retrospect.On October 1, 2003, I walked the section from Wrightwood to I-15 in Cajon Pass (a 23 mile walk). This was the day of the Lytle Fire, which was covered on the news that evening and the next morning. (Much larger fires occurred in the area several weeks later, and these lasted longer, covered more area, and garnered much more widespread publicity.) I managed to grab some interesting photos and I think there is a lesson to be learned by all of us. Except for the two miles out of Wrightwood to the PCT, the walk was gently downhill and level at the end. A while after lunch, I began to see large billows of smoke in the distance, coming over a ridge and blowing cross-wise in front of me. It was not clear to me where it was originating from or whether I would be walking near it, but it was of mild concern. I was pretty much walking SE just below a ridge, on the northeast side of it. The smoke was blowing from SW to NE. After a while, the canyon on my left started getting very smoky and hazy a few miles ahead of me where smoke was blowing through gaps in the ridge line. At this time, I began to think I might get close to the fire, but I knew there was a dirt road along the ridge top, and optimistically thought that it might provide a natural break or that firefighters would establish a line there. (None of this happened.) I kept thinking about turning around, but I was well past halfway and going back would all be uphill. I kept telling myself that I would walk a little further and see what developed. By now I could smell the smoke and it looked like the fire was just the other side of the ridge but still well ahead of me. Just as I was getting serious about either turning around or looking for a way down off the ridge into the valley on my left, the haze in the valley ahead began to clear and the rising smoke ahead of me on the right disappeared. I thought all was OK and decided to continue. After some time I began to see more smoke coming over the ridge, but it was only a small column, and I thought I had nothing to worry about. Eventually, I could see two small columns blowing over the ridge. By late afternoon, I got to the first one and walked along the trail with the smoke a ways above my head. I thought: one down and one to go and I am home free. I could tell people I saw the smoke, smelled the fire, but saw no flames. Then I turned around, was surprised to see the flames along the ridge line above the trail where I had been a few minutes earlier, grabbed a photo and began to walk faster.
Now I was approaching the second column of smoke which was blowing crosswise above the trail through another gap. As I turned a bend, I saw:
If you look carefully you can see small flames on the hillside above the trail. (Note that because of the zoom feature on the camera, distance is hard to judge and apparent distance is inconsistent between the posted photos.) At this point, I could see the trail about 50 yards straight in front of me separated by a deep canyon which went up to a gap in the ridge line on my right. The trail turned right from where I was to just below the gap and then went out on the other side of the canyon to the spot across from me. I would need to go about 150 yards, some of it just below the fire, to get to the point ahead of me. A few more steps revealed the flames above the trail on the right side of the gap.
You can see the gap in the lower left hand corner. At this point I realized that I probably could no longer turn around and that the hillside to my left and below me was very steep and very overgrown. The fire was quiet and not moving at the moment. I could safely pass along the trail, but if a wind picked up a little, the fire would reach the trail. Now I began to run because I felt my time window was likely limited. As I went along just below the fire, I did feel some warmth. I got slightly past the point that had been opposite me, stopped running, breathed a sigh of relief and looked back toward the gap.
The flames had picked up. It looked like the flames on the two hillsides either side of the gap might have joined and might have reached down to the trail. I could not tell for sure, and I did not stick around to find out. I realized that the fire would not necessarily remain static and for the next twenty minutes, I alternated between a fast walk and a jog. By then I felt pretty safe and just walked steadily along the trail which by now was rapidly dropping into the valley (Swarthout Canyon). The next photo was taken as I walked down.
The final two photos were taken from near the road at the bottom of the canyon less than one hour after I first saw flames. Although it does not show clearly in the photos, it was apparent to me that the fire had covered the PCT where I had been walking. It was no longer moving downhill toward the canyon but was moving parallel to the ridge top.
Forest service fire maps a few days later confirmed that a good portion of the PCT was burned over. The winds died down that night and the fire remained fairly static and was contained two days later. I was never frightened, but afterwards I realized that I was very lucky not to have come along a few minutes later! I need to be more concerned and cautious --- Where there's smoke....