Winter Fairyland in San Jacinto
The last few days have been a blur. Climbing into the mountains around San Jacinto, the delightful sound of ice tinkling down from the trees met my ears as I approached the higher elevations. It felt like I was walking through a winter fairy land! I did not make very good time through the mountains as I was stopping to marvel at the landscape around me and to take way too many pictures!
Fuller Ridge was the start of heading down out of the mountains, and I got to play around sliding through the snow on the dark side of the ridge, as I’m waiting until Kennedy Meadows to buy micro spikes. I made sure to get at least a little way down the mountain before the end of the day as it was going to get chilly. It was still in the 20’s where I stayed, but it was a good test of my cold weather sleeping gear. I am happy to say I stayed pretty toasty that night!
Down the Mountain and Through the Tunnel
All the way through midday the next day, I was walking switchbacks down the mountain. Not the most fun type of hiking, but every once in a while, I came around the the turn in switchback and had a view like this:
Once down the mountain, it was a slog across a hot dry riverbed to a famous trail magic under the I-10 underpass. I just missed out on fresh fruit being given to a few hikers in front of me, but I did get some water from a trail angle water cache.
Whitewater Preserve
After passing around the outskirts of a small town and past a wind farm, the next day I hiked into Whitewater Preserve. I did not take too many photos through the preserve, as I was concentrating on the trail…or lack thereof. Most of the day turned into a build your own adventure through here and Mission Creek. The first water crossing I built a makeshift bridge across the water with a piece of driftwood I caught as it floated by. The water was so silty, I could not see the bottom, although it was only about one foot deep. As I bent over to pick the piece of driftwood out of the water, my phone that I keep in the shoulder pocket of my pack fell in the water! I swiftly, blindly, but calculatedly reached in about a foot from where it fell in, and caught it as the flow brought it to my hand! The phone is fine as it is waterproof, but almost was lost for good. It now lives in my front pants pocket.
Mission Creek was up and over a small mountain from Whitewater, and I finished out the day hiking through the mostly dry riverbed. I never did get very lost here, but there are multiple paths up through the riverbed. All of them were either the PCT or places where hikers had to make new trails where the PCT has been washed sometime along years. It did not seem as if anyone had done any trail work in this portion for years, and the creek was slowly reclaiming the land.
Up Another Mountain
Ascending the crease of the mountain that formed Mission Creek was a task for the early morning the next day. A mostly uneventful day, but hiking back up into treeline was a nice break from the desert sun. I was able to cover over 20 miles before 4:30p.m., and it was the third 20+ mile day in a row.
I cowboy camped that night, as I have done almost every night on trail. A little after 4:30 in the morning, I was awoken by gusts of wind coming through camp. I lifted my torso up to make sure all my clothes beside me where held down, and as I did so, my pillow flew away! I watched it bounce about 20 feet away before it got caught by a log, and quickly got out of bed to chase it down.
Now that I was up, I packed up camp quickly and headed out. I knew a family in Big Bear that I had already arranged to meet with at the I-18 crossing about 10 miles further at 11a.m. I very slowly walked the first few miles, but the wind did not let up at all, so I finished up hiking out before 9:30. I passed the 265.3 mile mark on the way in, signifying 10% of the PCT completed! And yes, I still look like a crazy person when I am in full sun exposure:
After letting the family know I was early to arrive, but not in a hurry at all, they promptly picked me up within 20 minutes. They picked up three other hikers who were trying to hitch into town and brought us all into Big Bear and showed us around. After dropping off the hikers, they brought me to their beautiful home where I was able to rest, recuperate, and take a much needed zero day. I had twisted my ankle worse than the usual daily ankle twists that morning, and they provided all the necessary things to help get me back on my feet. The true magic of the trail is people like them. People that go out of there way to help weary wanderers as they find their way along this path.
As I sign off here, it may be a little while before my next post, as I do not plan on taking a zero day for a bit. Rest assured, though, I will be taking pictures and creating memories, and will be back here in the coming weeks to update you on my journey! Thanks for reading! -guru
A good story continues long after the final chapter is read.
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