Tales from the Trail - The Locked Door By Hawkeye Johnson

Tales from the Trail (2x Triple crown)

PCT 2000 - The Locked Door

By Hawkeye Johnson

This was my first thru-hike over 500 miles. I had completed the Appalachian Trail in 1998 by sections over an 18 year period, then I hiked the Colorado Trail in 1999. I began the PCT on April 28, 2000 with the intent to thru-hike to Canada and camped at Hauser Creek the first night. The next day I hiked into the PCT Kickoff at Lake Moreno with Tripod, Dawn, Monte and Luke. On the way I found a soccer shirt printed with “Yo Soy amigo de Lucas” which is a grocery store in Mexico. I washed and dried it and presented to Luke and gave him the trail name “Amigo”. The Kickoff was a big event hosted by Meadow Ed and friends and past hikers of the trail and trail angles.  I met lots of starting pct hikers including SMD founder Ron Moak and even entered my homemade tent in the gear contest. There was lots of food and drink, Ed’s famous talk on water sources, and a great night around the campfire. The next day I hiked with many new friends and we camped in Fred Canyon thinking there was safety  in numbers from any illegal aliens.

 

It was May 1 and I hiked most of the day with Amigo. We saw our first rattlesnake and made it to the post office at Mount Laguna where we hung out at the store and grabbed a shower. We decided to camp somewhere down the trail and stopped at the Desert View Picnic Grounds to rest and get some water. We were at a picnic table and I went up to the flush bathroom to get some water. I went inside to fill my container as the door closed behind me. When I turned to leave the door would not open. It was locked and wouldn’t open from the inside. I started to panic and kicked on the door but it was no use. I started banging on the door and yelling hoping to get Amigo’s attention but was he even still there? The bathroom was a concrete fortress with high thick plexiglass windows that I wasn’t going to break with a plastic water bottle.

I kept banging and yelling and luckily Amigo, who was preparing to leave, heard me and came up and tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open from the outside either.. We were at a loss of how to get me out and there was nobody in the picnic grounds or the parking lot. I asked Amigo if there was any way to jimmy the lock? He replied that the base plate around the lock was loose. I told him where there was a piece of wire in my backpack. It was about 6 inches long and flexible.

Amigo returned with the wire and began probing behind the base plate. He was able to pry it open a little with his knife and kept pushing and probing with the wire. There was nothing I could do from inside except twist the door knob and encourage him to keep going. After more than a half hour of frustrating effort, the door finally opened! What a relief and I was going to continue on my third day to Canada. We found an old wire hanger in the picnic area and wired the lock and door knobs so it couldn’t be used. We didn’t want this to happen to anyone else!

What a frightening experience! What if Amigo wasn’t there? The picnic grounds didn’t look very popular. How long until another hiker or somebody came around?  What if this was the end of my PCT adventure? Thank goodness my friend Amigo has the skills to “McGuyver” it open!

 

To this day and many trail miles later, I still carry a piece of wire in my backpack and I will always owe Amigo a beer!

From Amigo’s trail journal:

May 5, 20 9:19 AM Warner Springs hitchhike Road with 110 miles hiked. Wow! What a day. What an adventure. Almost 7 days exactly since I left the border and I’m feeling wonderful both mentally and physically. I’ve passed the 100 mile mark and I’m ready to do 1600 more! Very few complaints. So well, I sit here in the shade, killing time, I figured I may as well catch you up. From Fred Canyon, we mosey North ( Hawkeye and I ), at a very leisurely pace. It soon became hot in the desert climb, and we took many, many breaks in the shade. We caught up with old Willy Color for a rest just a few minutes past four and rolled into the town of Mount Laguna just a few minutes after that. I resupplied and got a meal at the little, little town and took a shower in Peacefrog and Time to Fly’s room. Then I mosey on out and up the trail with Hawkeye again. At our water break, Hawkeye decided to use the bathroom and got stuck in it. I thought he was trying to vandalize the place with all the kicks and wiggling I heard coming from the bathroom 50 yards away until I heard “Amigo! Help!” 45 minutes later, after dental floss, quarters, knives, credit cards and coat hangers. I got him out. He was relieved! To make it even more frustrating/humorous, the door worked just fine after the 6000 jiggles I did to try to make it open.