Day 15-17 (april 21-23), mi 161.9-211.7

 






















On day 15 the 5 of us (Ryan, Alashua, Ian, Angel, and I) started hiking at 5:00 am in order to have good snow conditions getting closer to Spitler peak. We entered some really beautiful alpine meadows as we got above 7000 feet. After a while there also was a lot of blowdowns of trees blocking the trail, which slows progress quite a bit.

Water was again scarce on the trail, and we stopped for a while to melt snow in order to get us to Spitler. 


About a mile before the alternate at mile 

168.5, snow began to cover the trail, requiring microspikes. I found the snow to be very manageable, but from what I heard it only gets worse after Spitler junction/ Apache Peak and continues for about 15 miles. Our group decided that because of our lack of snow experience, it would be best to leave at Spitler trail going back down toward Idyllwild. 


The trail down the mountain had more blowdowns, but they were pretty easy. Toward the bottom, (other) Ian and Angel decided to take a “side trail” to save about  1.5 miles. It turned out to be an extremely overgrown bushwhack and it ended up not saving any time. The rest of us ended up getting to the bottom before them. 


After a 2 mile long road-walk to get to the highway, we hitched back to Idyllwild where we stayed at the campground, met back up with Chris (who took a zero), and had delicious Mexican food.


Day 16 was the second leg of the alternate around the San Jacinto mountains. After doing another resupply in Idyllwild we hitched, joined again by Chris, to the Black Mountain Road, which is the access point to the pct on the north side of the range. Grumpy (the trail angel that took us to the trail on Thursday) happened to be going by, and he gave 3 of us a ride (the others got their own hitch). 


The black mountain road is only open to vehicle traffic in the summer. It is a 7 mile hike up to the pct, and snow started to cover the trail 4 miles in. It was later in the afternoon so the snow wasn’t super great to hike in. The soft, slushy snow is easy to posthole in, which is when you fall through the top layer making a deep hole in the snow. All this really slowed us down, but luckily we were soon treated to some of the best views of the trail looking over the valley at the San Bernardino mountains. After joining back up with the pct at mile 190.7,  the 7000 foot decent to I-10 began and we set up camp at mile 193.6.


Overall we skipped 22.2 miles of the pct through the San Jacintos, and we walked 13.7 miles of alternate trails.


On day 17 we descended the rest of the way to Interstate 10. Water was abundant as were the wildflowers and the views. The San Bernardino mountains now stand in front of us, and the San Jacintos behind us. We had been seeing “beaver tail cactus” since the beginning of trail, but now they were erupting into beautiful pink flowers. Bushed with yellow flowers also covered the mountainside. 


7 miles into the day we hit 200 miles! Small stones arranged into numbers marked the milestone. 


We had originally planned on camping at a water faucet at mile 205.7, but, being disappointed with the sites, we pushed on pass I-10. Under the interstate the local trail angels leave “trail magic” consisting of cold sodas, water, cookies, oranges, and other snacks. It is known as the I-10 oasis.


We set up camp at mile 211.7, an 18.0 mile day. 

Comments

  1. LuciaApril 23, 2023 at 9:41 PM

    Beautiful photos! I really like the pink flowering cactus.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 23, 2023 at 10:21 PM

    Loving reading your comments Ian. Lynda

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 23, 2023 at 11:08 PM

    Looks like you also encountered remnants of a previous wildfire. I was surprised at the ecological diversity in this update. I look forward to the next update! If you get a chance to check out the beginning of today's sermon, I hope you won't mind my name-dropping. Blessings to ya! ~~ Pr. Tim

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 24, 2023 at 1:10 AM

    Such great photos. Thanks for sharing your journey. -Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 24, 2023 at 7:45 AM

    I love your photos a d your description of the terrain. I feel like I am right there. Keep on trekking

    ReplyDelete
  6. jmbartonfamApril 25, 2023 at 6:38 PM

    So glad that you are posting so many photos. Will be sharing with the kids at Garfield. Miss you. - Jonathan

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 26, 2023 at 12:02 PM

    Your pictures and narration really take us with you! What a treat reading your trail descriptions!
    You and your hiking friends seem to have an easy time making wise decisions on your journey!
    Have a great weekend! GLK

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15-18 (aug 21-24) mile 2395.8-2466.8

Image
  On day 15 I left Snoqualmie Pass, heading back out into smoky air. I felt the air was just fine to breathe and I didn’t notice any irritation all day. It was a 5 mile climb out of the pass gaining almost 3000 feet. Halfway through the climb a man named Karel Sabbe passed me running up the mountain, and I’ve been following his entire hike online. He is attempting the fastest known time on the pct and he left the Mexican border 42 days ago averaging almost 60 miles a day.     The record is 51 days so he’s well on pace. At the top of the climb the trail went across a narrow ledge called the Kendall Catwalk. People make it sound like it’s super scary but I didn’t think it was much worse than a lot of other places on trail. The next 10 miles were through the beautiful Alpine Lakes wilderness, but I didn’t take many pictures because it was hard to see the scenery through the smoke. I set up camp at mile 2414.8 for a 20.7 mile day By the morning of day 16, the smoke had fully ...
Read more

Day 20-24 (Aug 26-30) mile 2466.9-2554.5 (+11 hike to Holden Village)

Image
  On day 20 I got back on trail at Stevens Pass loaded with five days of food. I started late and got 12.8 miles in setting up camp at mile 2479.6.   On day 21 I went through some incredible alpine scenery, with the colors just starting to turn to the fall reds and oranges. I stopped for a while at the spectacular Pear Lake and had it all to myself. I passed a very significant milestone of 1000 miles hiked on the pct combined with the desert section. I began to see a big cloud of smoke billowing from one of the fires that is burning just a few miles off the trail. I ran into a forest service ranger who was telling hikers about the upcoming fire closure and to be cautious of the nearby airplane lake fire that is steadily growing. So far that fire hasn’t closed the pct but it might if it grows any further. I set up camp back in the smoke at mile 2502.9 for a 23.3 miles day. On day 22 I awoke to a strong campfire smell- the wind had blown even more thick smoke into my direction f...
Read more

Day 2-3, miles 11.4-36.1

Image
Day 2-3, miles 11.4-36.1 Day 2 (april 8) was when the nerves of starting the trail started to recede, letting me focus on the experience of hiking the trail. The day started with hiking down into Hauser canyon, then immediately hiking back out of it. It is the first decent climb of the trail, and it actually felt pretty good! It was nice not having to carry a ton of water from Hauser creek, because there was a stream at the top of the climb.  By noon I arrived in Lake Morena, the first town on the trail. I ate Lunch at the Oak shores malt shop with Chris, Alashua, and Elizabeth from the camp the night before. The three hours I spent at Lake Morena was really chill and relaxing, and a group us were resting in the shade at the campground there.  I set up camp at mile 23.0, eventually joined by 5 other thru hikers: Chris and Elizabeth from the night before; Jinx and two-tone, 2 experienced Appalachian Trail thru hikers; and two-tone’s friend Jamie from new york. On day three (apr...
Read more