Week 5: I HATE SNOW !
Day 22 ( April 25 ) - The 4 Mile Zero Day
Today was a small, "Comedy of Errors" skit. Yesterday, Lindsay said she would text me when she had my tent fixed. She thought she would be done by 11 today. 11 came and went without a text. I thought, that it might be taking longer than she thought, and didn't worry about. When she hadn't texted me by Noon, I went to the store she works at and asked her co-worker to text her. It turns out, the zipper was an easy fix and she had it done last night. The problem was, the number she was texting was not mine. Oops!
Oh well. No harm done. I got my tent, got a ride to the Devils Slide, and started hiking up the trail to the PCT. I was almost to the top of the Devils Slide trail, when I met a party hiking down the trail, led by a Forest Service Ranger.
He saw my pack and politely asked to see my permit. Uh..... Oops ! I thought that I didn't need one. Oh, Yes I do ! My bad. The Ranger was nice about it and didn't write me a ticket, but he suggested I return to town to get the proper permit, so I wouldn't get into trouble with other Rangers along the trail.
So, I turned around and hiked back down the trail to the trailhead. The Ranger was kind enough to give me a ride into town. I ended up spending my third night in Idyllwild.
Day 23 ( April 26 ) - Yet Another Zero
The day broke, windy and cloudy, with some light rain. I had heard that there was a chance of bad weather near where I was planning on camping tonight. I used my Garmin GPS unit to get a weather forecast for the Fuller Ridge area north of Idyllwild. Yikes !! 59 mph winds with gusts up to 72mph plus rain. My tent would probably get ripped to shreds by the wind. So another day in town..... Grr...
First things first. I made a reservation for a room. Then I went and got permits for both the San Jacinto State Park
and the San Bernadino National Forest.
By mid afternoon there were lots of hikers coming into town. I don't know how many of them just happened to arrive today and how many decided to avoid the weather. My understanding is that every motel room was sold out by 1 PM and the San Jacinto State Park campground was also full. I hope every hiker has a safe place tonight.
It started raining in Idyllwild around Noon, becoming heavy at times around 1 PM. By 3, the rain had subsided to a drizzle and fog rolled in. In the evening the rain and wind picked back up.
Day 24 ( April 27 ) - Finally back on Trail
Woke up at 6:30. Uploaded photos to Facebook, because one of my FB friends said he wasn't seeing enough photos. Ironically, I started my original blog, because one of my friends doesn't use FaceBook. I had some trouble getting photos uploaded, but I got it done.
I checked out of my room and hiked (1 mile) into town. I did some quick shopping and had my last ( ? ) Junkyerd Omelet at the Red Kettle.
I got a ride to the trail with Trail Angel Steven.
Darn, I wish I had known about him yesterday ! He is listed as a Trail Angel who gives rides. What the Trail Angel list doesn't say is that he hosts hikers too ! Darn ! He doesn't charge for anything. A true Trail Angel. He won't even except donations.
As I was getting ready to start hiking, I met a couple from Vancouver, British Columbia who are hiking with their 9 month old son. They asked that their photo not be posted. I started hiking up the Devils Silde Trail to the PCT at 11.
On my way up the Devils Slide Trail to the PCT, I met a true PCT legend coming the other way. San Jacinto Jon does daily scouting hikes in the San Jacinto mountains from Late February to mid May.
He then posts a report (sanjacjon.com) on the conditions he observed and what he recommends for each section of the trail. It turns out he is a professional Ornothologist, so when he heard my trail name, he was curious. Thanks for all you do Jon !!
The hike up was through cool, cloudy and misty weather.
The Idyllwild forest was warm and sunny. That's how much a 2,000 foot change in elevation can effect the weather. It took me 2 hours to climb the 2.5 mile Devils Slide Trail. As I rested, I was joined by Boris, who is doing dayhikes with his dogs. Boris was born in Moscow and moved to the US in 1989. His parents were originally uncertain about the move, but now think it was the best decision ever made.
I finally made it to Strawberry Camp about 6 and set up camp. The couple with the baby camped about 1 quarter mile back. All in all, it took me 7 hours to hike 6.5 miles, with at 2,600 foot elevation gain. In addition to the climb, the snow slowed me down.
Day 25 ( April 28 ) A Scary Snow Day
I woke up at 5:30 and it was cold. It took me 90 minutes to get packed and on the trail.
I took it slow and easy because some of the slopes were steep.
I will admit to certain amount of fear at times. When I reached the top slope of the North Fork of the San Jacinto river, it took me 5 - 10 minutes to work up the courage to slowly make my way down the 70 - 100 foot slope to the river.
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| It's actually steeper than it looks... |
Some people glissaded ( or as I call it Butt bogganed: i.e slide down the slope on the seat of their pants ) down. The couple with the baby went down like it was easy peasy. I on the other hand spent 15 minutes slowly, carefully, timidly working my way down the slope. I kid you not, it scared me more than the Hazard area near Apache Spring.
I caught up to the family when they stopped for water at a stream. They gave their son the trailname "Sleepwalker" because they can only hike when he's asleep.
I had hoped to make it to Fuller Ridge Campground at mile 190, but by 1:30 I was starting to slip and slide, even with Microspikes. When I finally reached a campsite 2.3 miles east of Fuller Ridge, I took it. I was surprised by the number of hikers still on the trail. 3 or 4 passed me and kept going. Chris joined me at 2:30. Around 4, we were joined by three more hikers, with another joining us later. What a difference 2 years make. When I hiked through in '22, I never used my Microspikes. This year. I practically lived in them for three days straight. In '22, there were plenty of spaces for tents. This year, there were 3 tents set up on or within 2 feet of the trail.
The first three were very pleased when I introduced myself. One young man said he had to get a photo of me, or nobody would ever believe he had ever met me. I still can't get over becoming a "Trail Celebrity" for doing something that anyone can do, and every hiker should do. Oh well. I admit it is nice, but I definately need to make sure I don't get a swelled head because of it.
Day 26 ( April 29 ) Am I out of the snow yet ?
I woke up around 5:30. Brrr !
It was cold ! Chris left around 6:30 and I didn't see him again.
I hiked out with 3 younger hikers and they quickly outdistanced me. The woman said she was "slow". If she's "slow" I'm a snail. Oh well. It took me almost 3 hours to hike the 2.3 miles to Fuller Ridge Campground through the snow.
Part of the slow speed was due to the snow melting and shifting. A major part of it was me very ( maybe over ) carefully picking my way along the edge of a steep ridge. Did I mention that I hate heights ? Well I do, and hiking on snow that could slide out from under me, didn't make me feel any more confident.
About 1 mile past Fuller Ridge Campground, I breathed a sigh of relief, said a prayer of Thanksgiving and took off my Microspikes.
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| Oh Yeah ! It's all downhill from here ! |
Then I was off to the races. You remember how it took me 3 hours to hike through the snow ?
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| Anyone want to bet on a Casino being here ? |
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| Scott (Australia) and Henning (Germany) |
I resumed my hike at 1:15. I hiked the 6+ miles to camp in a bit over 4 hours. Not bad !
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| Another Milestone |
The campsite I stopped at only has room for one big tent (already taken) and 2 or 3 small tents, so I will "Cowboy Camp".
There were a few mosquitos about at last light, but they went away when it got dark.
Day 27 ( April 30 ) - TOWN DAY
I woke up at 5:30 and started packing. I was just about done packing when I had to go " #2 ". I was thinking of digging a "Cat hole" ( it would have been my first for this hike ), but there wasn't a suitable spot for one, so I used my WagBag. Using a WagBag is simple. Open the package the bag comes in and take out the items inside ( the WagBag, Tiolet Paper, and a handy wipe ). Open the WagBag, mske your "deposit", wipe your rear end and drop the TP in the Wagbag. Close up the WagBag and shake well. To be honest, this is the way you should go #2 on trail. If you dig a cathole, your "stuff" doesn't decompose for years, if ever (especially in desert or alpine environments where the soil doesn't have many microbes for breaking down "stuff").
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| Didn't I pass this mikestone yesterday ? |
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| Badly overgrown trail. The rocks are the right edge of the trail. |
Yes, I could have gone to a motel, but it would have cost a lot more ( Uber to the motel, the cost of the room, dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow, the Uber back to the trail ) versus a $40 "donation".
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| Made it with 30 minutes to spare. |
She even picked us up at the trail.
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| Nitsy driving us to Banning |
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| From L - R: Some ugly dude, Nitsy, and Thomas |
Plus I get to hang out with other hikers. I like it so much, I think I will take a Zero here tomorrow. After dinner Nitsy let Thomas and I take her car to Walmart for resupply.
Day 28 ( May 1 ) - ZERO DAY !
I had originally planned on returning to the trail today, but I wasn't able to get everything done yesterday, so I decided to Zero today.
The major topic of discussion at the table was what to do about Mission Creek. There is a stretch of the trail from about mile 235 to mile 238 that was heavily damaged ( in some cases washed away ) by Hurricane Hillary last year. There was much discussion on whether to follow the curent creekbed, skip that stretch of trail all together, or take a new shortcut to bypass the damaged area.
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| Our "Personal Chefs": Spoons and Forks. Thanks for the great meals folks ! |
In the afternoon I mailed my Iceaxe and Microspikes to Wrightwood and shipped some unused gear home.
In the evening we were joined by 4 new hikers, including Natasha, who celebrated her birthday today.
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