After yesterday’s hike over Throop Peak to Mt. Hawkins and back, we were looking Sunday for something a little lower impact on our sore muscles – Cynthia hadn’t yet been to the Grassy Hollow visitor center, so we dropped into the facility at about 10am before heading west on the PCT. We’ve hiked this section of the trail what seems like dozens of times now, and we decided to simply walk westward for about two miles before turning around, getting Cynthia to Mile 50 in the round trip process. The views over the desert were even clearer than the day before with near zero haze to hinder the grand vistas northward. We climbed up to the trail’s high point near Jackson Flat campground, descending gently past the facility and passing the enormous sugar pine that stands in a vale below to the north. Surprisingly, a quarter mile later we passed a new track dropping steeply into the PCT from the campground above, and its arcing form suggested it was made by mountain bikes, which are not allowed on the PCT – shortly past this intersection, several cyclists came up quickly behind us on a blind curve, only one of whom had a bell on his bike. Collisions were luckily avoided, and the riders disappeared in a cloud of dust to the west. Shortly before the junction with the Jackson Lake trail, we reached our two-mile mark, Jane deciding to continue on westward 1-1/2 miles to Vincent Gap on her own while Chris and Cynthia retraced their steps to Grassy Hollow. The return trip was uneventful, save noticing bicycle tracks on the trail continuously to the first road junction west of the visitor center (incidentally, there are small signs at all the road junctions noting no cyclists allowed – maybe more prominent signs are in order). As Chris and Cynthia were ascending the final knoll near Grassy Hollow, they spied a helicopter hovering high on the north slope of Mt. Baden-Powell. Chris switched to his long lens and was able to capture the aircraft moving in close to the hillside and presumably airlifting someone out – the whole process took just a few minutes, and the chopper quickly zoomed off to the south down the San Gabriel River gorge. Jane, who by this time had arrived at Vincent Gap, got the story from other hikers there – a woman had fallen on the trail, badly cut her knee, and was unable to walk out on her own. Pretty amazing that search and rescue was able to respond so quickly and transport her out for treatment. Cynthia indeed completed Mile 50 at the Grassy Hollow trailhead, and we picked up Jane a few minutes’ drive west on Hwy 2. Lunch at the Wrightwood Brewing Company followed, making a nice relaxing finish to the weekend.