Day 16: Mile 179.4 – 190.5

April 23rd, 2022 by Jon

We woke up today excited to get back to trail. Town has been fun, but we all miss the freedom of being on trail and the simplicity of making miles each day. We woke up and made eggs and pancakes again for breakfast and were excited to see our friends Jeff and Christa who are driving up from San Diego to hike with us for a little bit. We had mostly gotten everything ready the night before, so this morning we enjoyed a pretty long breakfast before heading out. Eventually, our friends arrived. Wilco and Seabiscuit had already left to hitch because the car we were in didn’t have enough space. We would learn later that they got a ride in about 5 minutes. Idyllwild really is great in that way.

We arrived back at the trailhead ready to climb the Devil’s Slide trail the 1400 feet back up to the PCT. Jeff was carrying Noa, their two-year-old, who I’m pretty sure weighed about the same as our packs. Maybe even a little more. Catching up while hiking made the time go by quickly, and eventually it came time for our friends to turn around so they could get back to their car. We talked with them as long as we could before continuing up the hill. It can be challenging to meet up on trail, but even though it was a quick visit, it was really good to see them. Support from family and friends means a lot to Ajia and me, and we are very grateful to have so many supporters.

The climb continued, becoming very steep. The snow was still pretty solid at this point, so the hiking wasn’t actually too bad! We ran into some volunteer rangers on the trail and they were out counting the number of people who would be out camping tonight. They didn’t say why they were counting, but they wished us well. We continued on and reached the top, arriving back at Saddle Junction, where we left the PCT. After a small breather, we hiked on towards the junction where you can take an alternate trail and add 2-3 miles and lots of elevation to go to the summit of San Jacinto. We chose not to do it, though, with these snowy conditions. While hiking up towards it, we saw a lot of day hikers who had come up to summit the mountain and were headed back to their warm houses with showers; it sounded awfully nice.

When we reached the summit junction, we found Seabiscuit waiting for us. She had just gotten there and was eating a snack. We all commented about the sliding around and thought we would give our microspikes a shot. Typically, they are used in icy conditions, but we were feeling pretty desperate for any extra grip we could get.

Ajia and Wilco arrived shortly thereafter, and Wilco decided he wasn’t going to summit. At this point, it was mostly a daylight issue. We still had nearly 10 miles to go, and it was already noon. We continued on the PCT, leaving the summit trail for another time. We had our microspikes on, and after about 200 yards, we could tell they weren’t doing anything. The snow was way too slushy by this point, and we weren’t getting any grip. The only thing they managed to do was make our feet feel tight.

We took the microspikes off and began a steep downhill section. We could tell we were working our way around the side of the mountain. We had reached the top of one ridge, needed to descend into the valley below, and then climb again to the next ridge so we could continue our journey. The valley we entered was really more of a canyon and the side walls we were climbing down were slow going given the amount of slush we were walking through. All three of us had completely soaked shoes in minutes. Thankfully, it was pretty warm, in the 50s, and there wasn’t any wind today. As long as we were moving, our feet didn’t feel cold at all.

Soon we reached the bottom of the valley and immediately began to climb the wall on the other side. Taking big step-ups is really hard when there is snow on the ground, and so the going continued to be slow. This climb was about a mile and a half long and went through thick forest with no views. The trail was very hard to follow because so many people were following other people’s footprints when they got off the trail. A number of times, I had to look at my map and basically bushwhack up a ledge to get back on trail. It was some of the hardest hiking I have ever done. Soon, we got to a flat part, and I could see the trail go around a corner. As I approached, I began to hear the sound of running water.

We had reached the north fork of the San Jacinto River. It was more of a raging creek at this point, with all the snow melt, and it ran across the trail and down the steep cliff off to the side of it. We had planned to stop here for a late lunch and rest break. It would also be the last reportedly running water source for nearly 20 miles until the bottom of the mountain at the desert floor. I’m sure there will be plenty of water running across the trail tomorrow, but without knowing how collectible it would be, we loaded up so we could dry camp tonight and then get all the way down with what we had tomorrow. It will be a solid 15 miles and about 7000 feet of elevation loss.

Filtering that water was pretty difficult, given how cold it was. Normally, we squeeze our collection bags, forcing water through the tube for filtration. Instead, we kinda let it trickle through via gravity so we didn’t have to squeeze a cold bag. With water collected, we steeled ourselves and prepared for another 4.5 miles to reach a primitive campground. Apparently, there are picnic tables, which is a pretty big deal when you are used to eating on the ground so often. The miles would be mostly downhill, with two medium-sized climbs interspersed throughout.

When we eventually got to camp, we would all agree that those 4 miles were some of the hardest so far. We had done a lot of elevation gain today, our shoes were soaking wet, and we were getting into camp a little later than we were used to, so we were hungry. The snow was very loose and I fell 3 times. It felt impossible to speed up even though we wanted to get to camp because you simply couldn’t keep your footing if you did. So slowly and methodically we made our way down, accepting every new slosh of melted snow as it slashed into our shoes every minute or so.

When we arrived, the ground was mercifully clear of snow in large areas revealing a sandy ground to place our tent on. In order to get food into our bodies as fast as possible, I did the tent and Ajia cooked. The ramen I had was hot and delicious. Ajia had instant mashed potatoes and they seemed to go down okay. We also had one packet of hot chocolate left and made that tonight as a reward for finishing the day.

We peeled off our socks and shoes and laid in bed after dinner. It was about 7:15 when we got into our tent, and as I write this paragraph, it’s 8:00. My legs and feet are just beginning to regain some feeling. It’s not super cold tonight, and without the wind, I hope we sleep really well. We have a big descent tomorrow back to the desert floor, and dare I say I am looking forward to being hot again.