Day 13 – 16 | Mt. San Jacinto

Day 13 | Mile 151.8 – 166.5

After much deliberation, we hitchhiked out of Idyllwild back to Paradise Valley Cafe (PVC) . We had been hearing the trail between PVC and Idyllwild was rough due to tree blowdowns obstructing the trail but that those miles were really worth it for the views. Oh boy… We would find out what was in store.

At PVC, we both had their breakfast special, huevos rancheros, which was probably a poor choice before heading back onto trail. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious but it was also very spicy… From PVC, we got a ride with a trail angel named Grumpy who is a very interesting character. His trail name is Grumpy for a reason. Nonetheless, it saved us a 1 mile road hike back to trail and we were very appreciative!

Down at PVC elevation, we were in a desert climate. Over the day and our ascent, we moved through an older fire burn area with sparse, new vegetation and finally came to a more forested area with meadows. It was a beautiful sunset with the blowing grasses and big pines.

Water in this area was more available but typically required a 1 mile, one-way trip down off trail. Lando took the first water catch, bringing our water bladders down to fill and then back up. Next grab would be my turn.

At the end of the day, it took us a while to find a tent site that we was semi-flat. Where we finally ended had really pretty views but was ridiculously windy. My first pitch collapsed in the wind and I had to reorient my tent. The second pitch felt much sturdier so crossed my fingers it would hold. The other 4 people there were cowboy camping.

We climbed over 1000m this day and it was not evenly distributed (ie. steep). Our camp site ended up being at roughly 1830m and we peaked at 2160m today. To acclimate to the altitude, it’s recommended you sleep slightly lower than your peak elevation of the day. So this worked out well for us. Our stay in Idyllwild at elevation worked in our favour as well.

Day 14 | Mile 166.5 – 175.6

Well… Both Lando and I did not sleep last night. My pitch was sturdy but it was no competition for the 70-80 km/h gusts. Both of our tents collapsed multiple times resulting in us packing up in the night and waiting for sunrise. Chatting with the others who cowboy camped around us, no one slept. Rough night.

I ended up watching the sunrise over Palm Springs which was the silver lining of not sleeping. At the time, I didn’t know that Lando had also packed up and decided to try cowboy camping. Once it was light out, I noticed his tent was gone and figured he must have continued up to the next water source we’d agreed on. I sent him a satellite message saying I’d meet him there before setting out at 5:30am. It wasn’t until later in the morning I received his message back saying his was still at camp and that he’d injured his knee in the night moving around. He was moving slowly.

This day greeted us with some of the steepest climbing we’d seen which did not bode well for Lando’s knee. The miles came very slowly with major elevation gain. We were walking along cliffsides and navigating fallen trees crossing the trail. It was a challenging day that resulted in only 9 miles.

There are good days and bad days on trail and this day was definitely a demoralizing one for everyone. Most people we talked to admitted they hadn’t considered quitting until this day on trail.

We hiked on and off with a lot of the guys we’d been with the past few days. Met back up with Riley who we’ve been on pace with since the border and caught the shuttle from San Diego with. One new character, Dirty Fedora, hiked with us most of the day. He lost the trail a couple of times traversing the blowdowns. At one point when he lost the trail, we came across him scrambling down this really sketchy section down the side of the mountain to us. After that, he stuck with us. We all thought he was mid-30’s but it turned out he was 50. Took a lot of “safety breaks” throughout the day but he was fun to have around. Additionally, he is legally blind. He carried on after we stopped for camp.

Found a nice camp site among the pines and sheltered from the wind. This is also where we saw our first snow! Just some small patches but it was a very welcome sight. Riley ate a handful and I rubbed some all over my face and neck; so refreshing!

Passed out around 7pm and slept like a log.

Day 15 | 175.6 – 190.5 | Mt. San Jacinto

Today, I tried cold soaking oatmeal to avoid having to boil water and clean my pot; it was just as satisfying (oatmeal has not been very satisfying) and did the job. We decided to take an alternate trail route around Tahquitz Peak through Skunk Cabbage Meadow. Am I ever glad we took this alternate, it was gorgeous and peaceful. Not to mention it cut out a climb that none of us wanted to do.

We made it to Saddle Junction around 9:30am and decided to summit San Jacinto. It was a 3.7 mile, 1800 ft. climb to the summit. It took us just under 2 hours to reach the summit, taking breaks to catch our breath. We’ve been slowly gaining altitude over the past couple weeks and it hasn’t been too much of an issue. However, during this ascent at the highest elevation so far, we were all feeling the effects; mainly being difficult to catch your breath. We would stop and breath deeply through our noses until our heart rates started to drop.

The summit is around 10800 ft. (3300m). The views from the top were well worth the trek. Full 360°. We could see two other snow capped mountains, Mt. San Gorgonio (where we’d be in a couple days) and Mt. San Antonio. At the summit, there were these birds flying around at such speed they were hard to track and made a satisfying whizzing sound as they went by. There was an old stone emergency shelter at the top that had hiker names carved into it; oldest name I could find was ’73.

Getting off the summit, we butt-slid on the snow (don’t worry, Ma, it was 100% safe) which was very fun. The north trail down was more of a “create your own adventure” path with most of the trail being covered in snow. You could just see glimpses of the trail exposed every so often which again, I thought was pretty fun (and totally safe, again).

The rest of the day was descending and trying to follow the trail as much as possible. We did lose it in a few locations but quickly found it again. We all had microspikes with us but ended up not using them as they didn’t seem to improve traction in the soft snow. We came to a beautiful waterfall with these granite steps in the flow to cross the creek. We all grabbed more water here since it was ice cold and crystal clear. We did end up with wet feet though but they quickly dried out.

Before camp, there were a lot of snow scrambles and downed trees to get through. Camping area was sheltered from the wind and had a picnic table! Who knew a picnic table would be such a treat.

Day 16 | Mile 190.5 – 209.6 | Whitewater

The wind was howling all night over the ridge which made it difficult to sleep. It wasn’t impacting the tent at ground level but it made for some noisy moments overhead. We had a massive descent, over 8000′ (2400m) to get down off San Jacinto. This brought us down to the desert floor. We lost our pine forests in the morning and were back in desert shrubbery.

In the morning, we were above the clouds which made for incredible views. The clouds were blowing from west to east from a more temperate environment, through the valley between the mountains, and into the desert. As they moved east, they would hit an invisible wall and evaporate. There was this invisible line the clouds couldn’t moved beyond. We had fair water access all day. Our longest carry was about 12 miles.

During this descent, we hit mile 200!

When we reached the desert floor for the final 4 miles of the day, it was absurdly windy. Our feet and ankles were feeling wrecked from the long descent. Lando’s knee started aching again during this portion of the day. Everyone was exhausted. From the summit of San Jacinto, we were looking at a large wind farm in the area and iit was clear to see (and feel) why there was a wind farm here. In this stretch, we had our first trail magic encounter. I came across a cooler behind a bush full of ice cold Gatorade! We all lost our minds at the sight and downed the Gatorade.

Towards the end of the day, we made it to the “I-10 Oasis” which is an underpass below the highway with a place to sign your name, some fruit up for grabs, and a break from sun/wind. We ended up staying with a trail angel who lives near the Oasis and slept in her garage. There were about 8 other hikers here besides Riley, Lando, and I which made for nice community and conversation. It was the best sleep I’ve had since being out here. Felt just like a good ol’ sleepover in the garage haha.