I went for a ride in the early morning fog, admiring the last phase of wildflowers in Superbloom 2019.

It has become a tradition at the Celebrate Anza event that, instead of a monetary donation, hikers “thank” me by sending their mother a Mother’s Day card using one of my oasis postcards: each hiker whose mother is still alive fills one out and I put a stamp on it and mail it for them, so that it reaches their mother in time for the big day. This year, I mailed 18 cards (7 international, 11 US) for hikers.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, EVERYONE!

The weather was just about perfect for the sixth annual Celebrate Anza event at my place on May 4.

In addition to 20+ hikers, there were several Trail Gorillas (PCT trail crew volunteers from SoCal) and a couple Southern Terminus shuttle volunteers.

A special thanks to Roberto and Martha for their invaluable help making the event a success.

With Easter occurring so late (basically, during the height of nobo thru hiker season) I opted not to do my usual fancy meal, but I still wanted to do something on Easter Sunday for the third year, so I decided to offer breakfast and a simple dinner. 41 hikers were fed between the two meals.

This winter’s record-setting rain- and snowfall have brought a second superbloom in three years to Southern California. While the flowers in the desert valleys wither, we are just getting flowers to open here at 4000 feet.

The seasonal water cache two miles south of my place is now set up for the 2019 nobo hiker season.

I just received word that the popular hiker stopover, Whitewater Preserve (Mile 219) will be closed for the entire 2019 nobo thru hiker season, so I placed this sign at my hiker oasis.

“It is with heavy hearts that we have decided that due to the severe damage to Whitewater Canyons roads and trails that Whitewater Preserve will not be able to accommodate day use or overnight PCT hikers this year. There would be no phones available (landline or otherwise), no restrooms, no wifi, and no road access to be picked up or dropped off. Also as of right now the trail from the PCT to Whitewater is non-existent and requires a wide water crossing with quickly flowing water. If there is any way you can help us pass along this information to the hikers we would be very appreciative.

Tori Stanton

Assistant Preserve Manager”

We’ve been having 15+ hikers per day for close to a week, so I decided to make the oasis ready for “the herd.” The outhouse (named ‘Muir John’) and shower, along with trash can and sunshade over the picnic tables are now in place. The shower got its first user just minutes from completion.

The Section Chief for this portion of the PCT posted an alert about snow conditions and highway closures on the trail north of my place, so I updated my sign to match the wording in the post.

With Mt. San Jacinto’s upper north face (especially Fuller Ridge) still with heavy snow cover and Highway 243 closed north of Idyllwild, I opted to warn the increasing number of thru hikers passing by my place about the dangers and options.