April 22nd, 2022 by Jon
Today we slept in until 8:00 and it felt great. When we woke up, there was a nice dusting of snow all over the ground, and apparently, the summit of San Jacinto had about 5 inches. With this new development, it’s unlikely we will make a summit attempt. We will stay on the PCT instead of the summit alternate, which will still take us up to 9,000 feet. There will be snow on the ground for most of the day tomorrow until we begin our descent back to the desert floor, where I-10 cuts through.
Today was a day for resting and preparation. We made a light breakfast at our Airbnb of eggs and pancakes before heading into town to meet our friends Zander and Kate (now Sparkle) for some donuts. The lady who makes them only makes a few dozen and closes when they are gone. They were absolutely excellent. After that, we hit up the gear shop and got a new sleeping pad for Ajia because hers was delaminating on the inside, causing the air baffles to form a tumor-looking lump under her knees. We picked up some snacks, some gaiters for me to keep sand and dirt out of my shoes, and we each got a new pair of insoles for our shoes.
After that, we wandered down to the laundromat to wash our nasty hiking clothes. Ajia stayed there to watch the clothes and move them to the dryer while Nicole and I went to the grocery store to buy food for the next section. We also stopped at the small pharmacy in town to get a brace for Ajia’s knee. It’s been bothering her on the downhill, so hopefully the brace will help.
Chores basically completed, we headed over to the Red Kettle for some lunch. We all got tons of food and I downed an entire milkshake on top of my food. Feeling very full, we hauled all our food and new gear out and began the trudge back up the hill to our Airbnb. We lucked out, and after our 3rd or 4th attempt, we got a hitch from a guy who stopped his car and moved his groceries so we could ride. He told us he gives rides to hikers all the time and enjoys meeting everyone. We were very grateful. Once again, the town of Idyllwild has been awesome to all hikers. We spent the rest of the afternoon organizing food, packing bags, and then watching TV and lying around doing nothing.
At 6:30, we headed over to La Casita for dinner and met Wilco, who plans to stay with us tonight because Friday night housing has been booked for days. We ate and enjoyed some good conversation before heading back to our place and watching the last half of Fellowship of the Ring. Jenna also came and spent the night for similar reasons.
Tomorrow we will make the long climb back to the PCT and we will have company! Our friends from college, Jeff and Christa, will be joining us for a bit of hiking. We’re excited to see them and get to spend a bit of time together.
One other thing I wanted to mention: Ajia, Nicole, and I have received trail names!
I have become Galileo because, like the astronomer who no one believed at first when he introduced his theory that the sun was at the center of the universe, I do a lot of mapping and distance calculations that don’t make sense until I explain them in more depth. But I am right in the end.
Ajia has become Singsong because she is always singing under her breath as she hikes, either singing actual songs or replacing song lyrics to add context from our hike. She is also extremely good at getting songs stuck in Nicole’s and my heads…
Nicole has become Seabiscuit because in the morning, she is always off to the races when she starts hiking. I think she put off taking on any sort of name that had to do with her hiking speed, but by now, enough people have told her that she is fast, and I think she is finally believing it.
