Week 4: North from Idyllwild

 Day 17 ( April 20 ) - On the Trail Again

Today was a typical "Roy the Procrastinator" day crossed with a short, mellow hike. It started with my usual "Hurry up, I've got to get stuff done" frantic bustle. I got last weeks blog post uploaded, packed my pack (my shoulders are NOT happy with the amount of food in the bear can), took one last shower (why ? I'm going to be hot, sweaty and stinky in a few hours anyway.), and checked out of the Idyllwild Inn.

New items added. Green Ice Axe and Microspikes (inside a hipbelt pocket)

At 11:30, Paddles and Jess gave me and two other hikers a ride to Paradise Valley Cafe ( In my procrastinated rush, I didn't have time to eat ). 

I grabbed a seat at an outdoor table. I was soon joined by several other hikers: Jerky (from France), Snickers (from Oregon, this is her second attempt), a man from Michigan and Fabio (Italy). We had a good meal and lots of good conversation. I was rather surprised when Misty ( I met her on Day 5 in Mount Laguna ) hiked in. I thought she was at least a day or two ahead of me. It turns out, she spent three days visiting a friend in San Diego. She kindly took a group photo of all of us.

From Right to left around the table. Jerky, Snickers, the man from Michigan, Fabio (in the red shirt), me. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the woman sitting by Fabio.

After Lunch, Paddles and Jess gave me an an Israeli hiker a ride to the trailhead (mile 151.8). Jess said her foot is getting better, day by day. Since Thursday, they have given 51 hikers rides to and from the trail. Godspeed folks. Jess, I hope your foot heals quickly and completely. 

OK, here is where I make my one political rant, because I am sure that someone, at some point, is going to ask if I gave the Israeli grief over Gaza. No I did NOT ! Why, you ask ? Because, what difference would it make ? I seriously doubt that he would pull out his phone, call the Israeli Prime Minister, and get the IDF to stop all operations in Gaza, because I asked him to. Don't get me started on what the spoiled brats at Colombia University have been saying. Don't even go there. Just Don't.

I started hiking at 2 PM ( Yes, I know: "Mad dogs and through hikers go out in the mid day sun" ). I was only planning on going 5 miles or so, so I wasn't hiking hard. 

About 3 PM, I met Rick "Just Rick" near a shallow stream. He has 8,000 miles of hiking experience..... and Parkinsons. He is planning on hiking to Wrightwood to see if he is up for his big hike. He wants to hike the PCT through Washington.Washington is the only stretch of the PCT Rick has not hiked.

"Just Rick", a hiker with 8,000 miles of experience, and Parkinsons.

I hiked ahead to a campsite 5.4 miles from the Highway (mile 157.4). Rick joined me about 6:30, and we chatted for a bit. I feel like a jerk, because I ruined his dream by telling him how dangerous two stretches in Washington (the Knifes Edge and Adams Creek) are. He is now ( I just heard him talking on the phone with his wife ), thinking of leaving the trail early and not hiking Washington. Permission to throw myself off a cliff?  I will stick with him until we clear the snow on San Jacinto. Least, I can do.

Sunset at camp.

Day 18 ( April 21 ) - First day with Rick

Rick and I were up around 6. Rick asked me if I was a Trail Angel assigned to watch him. He thought it odd that I didn't hike past him yesterday. Evidently, the Trail Angels like to keep an eye on him when he's on trail. It turns out, he also has Sciatica and bleeds easily.

We started hiking around 7:15, with Rick in the lead. One thing I learned about myself, if I am in the lead, I tend to get impatient. 

We only saw two couples, one from New Zealand and one from North Carolina, in the first 5 miles. We stopped at Cedar Spring Junction (mile 162.7), dropped our packs, grabbed our water bottles and hiked the 1 mile to the spring. We ignored the "official" spring ( a pipe flowing into a casement. The water there looked and smelled nasty) and gathered water from the stream flowing next to it. Rick was of the opinion that we didn't need to filter the water, but we did anyway. Much to our surprise, we were joined at the spring by a pair of dayhikers and their dog. After getting our water. Rick and I hiked back up to the PCT. It was harder hiking back to the trail because we were carrying full waterbottles, the trail was uphill, and it was steep in places. All in all, it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to hike to the spring, collect our water and hike back to the PCT.

When we got back to the PCT, we had lunch and started hiking to Fobes Saddle, where we planned to camp for the night. It took us 3 hours to hike 3.9 miles. We encountered 10 "blowdowns" ( dead trees that had blown down across the trail ) that we either had to walk around, crawl under, or climb over. What really slowed us down was how densely overgrown parts of the trail were ( usually with dense thornbushes ). 

Looking up a rock wall

Rick was in a lot of pain today. When we reached Fobes Saddle (mile 166.6), he said he was thinking of hiking to the Devils Slide Trail, hiking down the "Slide" to Idyllwild and ending his hike. The couple from North Carolina were already at Fobes Saddle when we arrived. I decided to Cowboy Camp, because we were in an area that was somewhat protected from the wind.

Just before sunset, we were joined by 4 hikers that I call "The Jets" because they started on the 12th and are hiking 16 miles every day. I spent a delightful 10 - 15 minutes chatting with them before calling it a night.

Day 19 ( April 22 ) Clear the $%@! Trail !

I woke up a bit before 6 and photographed the sunrise over Palm Springs.

The couple from North Carolina were on trail before sunrise. We were on trail before 7. The Jets were just getting up as we left.

The Jets passed us before we had hiked half of the 1.8 mile, 1009' climb to the Spitler Peak Trail. Spitler Peak is a trail that leads down to Idyllwild, but Rick was adamant about going to Devils Slide. He wanted to do the snow one more time.

We reached the Apache Spring trail (mile 169.2) about 10:30. I gathered our water bottles and trudged down the 0.5 mile trail to the spring. Apache Spring isn't half as nice as Cedar Spring. The spring is half overgrown with thornbushes, and the casement is half full of dead leaves. Obviously, somebody hadn't been maintaining the spring lately. It took me 2 hours to collect the water and trudge back to the PCT. Rick started to get worried about me.

After I got back to the PCT, I rested for a bit and ate some lunch before hiking on.

Taking a break after the climb from Apache Spring

As I rested, Rick started hiking. I started hiking about 1PM. 0.3 miles past the trail to Apache Spring, I reached an area marked " Hazardous Trail Conditions" in the FarOut Ap. How hazardous is it? Trevor "Microsoft" Laher died here on March 27, 2020. Rest In Peace Microsoft. 

So yeah, it's hazardous. Proceed with caution. What makes it dangerous is that a lot of snow piles up here during the winter. In March and early April, the snow thaws during the day and freezes at night, becoming a snow/ice mixture. To make it more "interesting" the snow/ice surface is on a steep angle with a steep drop at the bottom. 

So what did this silly fool do his first time hiking through tricky snow ? Did he put on his microspikes and pull out his ice axe (both of which are highly recommended for traversing this area)? Of course not ! Silly (very lucky) fool ! I did take it slowly and carefully. I was very careful on where I placed my feet and held onto well anchored rocks and trees when possible. I made it, but it took me a while.

Whew ! Made it ! Looking back at the Hazard Zone.

After the hazard zone, I was able to hike the next mile or two fairly quickly.

Interesting patern in the rock.

I caught up with Rick and we hiked on. There were a few snow patches that we made to carefully navigate. Especially Rick, who didn't have microspikes.

Rick leads the way through another snowpatch.

Ironically, my closest call happened while I was wearing microspikes !
I had just made it to the end of a snowpatch, when the ground slid out from under me ! I slid 2 feet down the slope before stopping. Rick told me, he was scared I was going to slide all the way down the mountain. So was I !

Ready. I think...

It took us almost 4 hours to "hike" the final 2 miles to camp. There were blowdowns everywhere that we had to go over, under, or around. In some cases we had to crawl under one blowdown and then immediately climb over another. Our old friends the thornbushes also covered parts of the trail. 

Rick leads the way up and around one of the many blowdowns we encountered.

About 5:30, we passed a hiker who was camped directly on the trail. We thought that was odd, but the hiker in the tent seemed OK, so we pressed on.

The blowdowns were very annoying, especially once it got dark. There are very few flat places to camp, so we had to press on until we reached a campsite (mile 175.4). Rick had me lead the way through the last few blowdowns. He kept saying I have long legs. First time anyone ever said that. Needless to say, I was NOT a happy hiker. I signed up to hike a trail not a @$!&! obstacle course ! I am seriously considering writing the PCTA and demanding a refund of my donation. 

We finally reached a decent campsite about 9PM. It was very windy, and the Garmin forecast said the wind was only going to get stronger, but it would have to do.

Day 20 ( April 23 ) - Back to Idyllwild

I woke up about 6 with my tent rattling like a flag in a gale force wind. To make matters worse, the two zippers for one door of my tent came completely off. What the Heck ! I just paid the tent manufacturer $75 to fix the zippers 2 months ago ! Grrr!! I took a few photos of the sunrise, and started packing.

We spoke with some hikers that were camped nearby (we didn't see them last night). They asked if we had passed their friend (the hiker camped on the trail). The hiker we had passed camped there because he wasn't feeling well. Either he had some bug or altitude sickness. We were on trail by 7.

Within 30 minutes we lost the trail under all the overgrowth and blowdowns. We ended up bushwacking our way through the snow to the trail.

All in all, it took us 3 hours to "hike" the 1.8 miles to Tahquitz Creek (mile 177). At this point the snow cover is near 100%  so we had to watch our steps, especially on steep slopes.

Rick traverses a steep, snowy slope east of Tahquitz Creek.

There was a group of hikers at the creek when we got there. When I introduced myself as Killdeer, they all wanted to have a photo with me. WHAT ?? When did I become even remotely cool ?! It turns out, they like the fact that I give a report on every water source I pass. Not every hiker does, which is a shame.

I went to get water from the creek. All but a small portion of the creek is still buried under the snow, but there is a hole in the snow you can get water from. Mr "Not so Cool" slipped and fell in. No harm done (except to my pride which probably needed it), but one of the other hikers had to give me a hand to get out of the hole.

Killdeer's Folly.

From Tahquitz (pronounced Tah Keats) Creek, there are two routes to take to Saddle Junction, the official trail, and the Tahquitz Valley Trail. The other group took the PCT, while Rick and I took the Valley Trail. The other group are definitely faster hikers than us, because they made it to Saddle Junction (mile 179) before we did, even though the Valley Trail is shorter.

Rick talking with hikers at Saddle Junction.

The other hikers think Rick is totally Awesome for trying to hike while suffering from Parkinsons and Sciatica. 

An indicator of snow depth. The sign is 3 feet tall.

We started down the aptly named "Devils Slide Trail" about 12:00. The first half mile or so had significant snow patches, so I used my microspikes. There were other snow patches further down, but we were able to navigate those fairly easily in Trail Runners.

A Snowmelt waterfall on the Devils Slide Trail.

Rick was in a lot of pain, so we took it easy and took rest breaks when he needed them. We finally made it to the trailhead and were starting to worry about whether we would have to walk the two miles into town, when Steve and Jackie pulled up, and offered us a ride into town.

Our Trail Angels Steve and Jackie.

What's really cool, is that Steve helped build the PCT (he worked on the area around Apache Spring) back in the 70s and 80s. Steve and Jackie dropped us off by the Idyllwild Post Office so Rick could pick up a package. I went across the road to see about getting a room for the two of us at the Idyllwild Inn. The only thing they had was a house that was a 8 minute walk away. OK, whatever, I'll take it. I posted that I had room for more hikers, but no takers. Rick and I had Pizza at the Idyllwild Pizza Company.

Dinner ! Thanks Rick !

We were joined by two hikers, "Spittoon"from Australia ( you really don't want to know how he got his trailname ) and "Rubber Band" from New York ( he does morning stretches to stay flexible ).

Rubber Band

Spittoon

When they found out I was Killdeer, they wanted a photo with me, so we had a fellow hiler take several photos ( using everyones phones ) of Rick, myself (Spittoon and Rubber Band think Rick is awesome), Spittoon and Rubber Band. While we we chatting with Spittoon and Rubber Band, Paddles and Jess came in to get pizza. Jess wasn't wearing a walking cast ! Her foot is getting better ! They still plan on taking a few more days off to make sure her foot is healed. Rick and I walked to the house and called it a night.

Day 21 ( April 24 ) - A Much Needed Day Off

We both slept in. I ate the last slice of the pizza I didn't have last night, then walked into town to do a resupply, and to see if anyone can fix my tent. Turns out, there's a woman who specializes in mending. I took her my tent, and she said she would have it ready around 11 tomorrow.

Can someone please put these back on my tent ?