Day: June 6, 2016

The San Jacinto mountains jump up to 9,000 ft with great views and cool weather.

6-05-2016

I was still tired when I awoke in the morning at 5 but my feet felt a million times better.  I ate the breakfast I bought at the market the night before and took one last shower for a while.  I was out the door at 6:30.

One of the alternate routes around the fire closure left town right in front of the inn.  I took the roads they indicated for just over a mile then took a 2.5 mile trail that led to a parking area and another 2.5 mile trail to the actual PCT.  This parking area was full and swarming with people.  It also had a ranger at the trail head… who wanted to see my permit… which i did not get a chance to print yet.  I tried to show her the PDF, but there was no cell service, so we couldn’t read it from the email.  Then I checked downloads and voila, there it was.  But unfortunately I had only downloaded the cover letter and not the permit itself.  Grrrrr.  She was about to make me go back to town to print or download it when at the last minute I guess she felt sorry for me since it was obvious that I had one, I just couldn’t show it to her.  So instead she made me attend her impromptu leave no trace course right then and there.  Five minutes later I was headed up the mountain… With 50 other hikers… And another 50 coming down.

Honest to goodness trees on honest to goodness rock strewn trails.

These roots could give the AT in Maine a run for their money.

It was quite crowded up there but after about five miles I guess we passed the interesting stuff and the crowd died down.  I had flashbacks of Yosemite and the crowded trails.  The trail was steep, but the breeze was cool.  This was a textbook high mountain trail. and I could feel the effects of the higher altitude.  It did not help that I now had a fully resupplied pack from town.

I probably saw only ten other people the rest of the day.  One person I did see again was Robin, from Switzerland.

We hiked together a little and stopped for lunch and to fill up on water at the last source for the next 20 miles.  I loaded up 5 liters and drank as much as I could before setting out.  I wanted to make about another ten miles so I could be within striking distance of I-10 tomorrow.

I caught up with Robin by lunch time and we hiked the rest of the day together.

The best part of the day it that it was not hot.  I did not even use the umbrella once all day.  There were tons of huge ponderosa pines, too.  We topped out at about 9000 ft and I could tell the air was thinner.  Most of the morning and afternoon was climbing and it felt like I had no juice all day long.  In the late afternoon is was nearly all downhill and fairly easy.  The trees have given way to desert again, but there are still a few trees for shade.

Hikers have placed pine cones in these interesting erosion pockets in this large boulder. It looks like a Christmas display or something.

A wind farm far off into the distance.

Being this high up there was an abundance of cool breezes and plenty of shade to go along with the great views.

We have another fire closure coming up and thus is a big one.  I think we will miss close to sixty miles or trail just because there are no alternative trails in the area.  We will end up having to take buses to get to Big Bear Lake as best we can.  It’s too far to road walk.

I am hoping to make the 17 miles to I-10 in one shot in the morning to avoid the heat.  It’s then a 5 mile road walk to catch the first bus from the Morongo Casino.  I hope I can finish this all before the buses quit running, otherwise it we will be scrambling to find a hotel in Sacramento.  I better get an early pre-dawn start to make sure I have enough time.

Tasting a beer at the Idyllwild beer festival.

6-04-2016

I finally got to sleep in today.  Boy did it feel good.  The Inn does your laundry for you, so I dropped it off at 9 and went to breakfast.  After breakfast I found a whole clan of other PCT hikers eating breakfast at a different place so I sat with them.  Everyone talked about going to the beer festival.  I had bought my ticket the night before.  I was on a mission.

I went and picked up my laundry at 11 and headed out to the festival.  The local Subaru dealer was shuttling people to the nature center where it was being held.  Only two of the crew showed up.  We had a good time.  They gave you 10 tickets that you could use at various local breweries tents for a small pour.

There was a Coachella Valley Brewing Company there that had an I-10 IPA that was not as good as Intuitions brew of the same name, but they had a mango IPA that was fantastic.  It was by far the highlight of the festival.

They only brought a 5 gallon keg of the mango IPA, so it was gone in under an hour.  Most of the other breweries were not impressive.  Samuel Adams was there and giving away lib balm, so I grabbed some for the rest of the desert.  [Post hike:  that is the best lip balm I have ever had – I used it the entire trail and still have it.]

The local Subaru dealer shuttles festival patrons from the bear statue next to the hotel.

After the festival it was out to dinner with a different crew of PCT hikers then a quick pass at the grocery store and off to bed.  I packed up a little bit, but left most for the morning.  It goes pretty quick when you do exactly the same thing every morning.