Day 14: Into the Snow
Date: Tues 5/1
PCT Start Mile: 178
PCT End Mile: 190.5
PCT Mileage for Day: 12.5
Off-Trail Hike Mileage: 4.5 mile trail and road hike to access PCT
Total Mileage for Day: 17
Total PCT Mileage: 190.5*
Total Overall Mileage: 202.54
The Highlights:snow and cold and in-tent ramen dining.
*This is the actual mile we are at on the PCT, ignoring the fact that there was a 10 mile trail closure from mile 168 to 178. It will be way too confusing for me to keep track of closures like this, so Total PCT Mileage is just the actual PCT mile. The Total Overall Mileage does correctly add the actual number of PCT miles we’ve completed, plus other miles we have hiked. Just thought I’d clear this up in case anyone decided to check my maths. Probably better to ignore most the numbers as I’m sure I’ll mess up at some point. I’m very tired at the end of the day when I write these blogs.
The statement that the first 700 miles of the PCT is through the desert is a generalization. There are certain sections during the first 700 miles where you are not in the desert. We definitely weren’t in the desert today.
After some early morning planning texts, we met Jay, Angie, and Helen at the coffee shop just before 8am to head out for our hike. With weather including rain or snow likely to roll in today, Jay and Angie had decided they were going to “slack pack” just a section of the trail today and return to Idyllwild for the night, and then come back to the trail again tomorrow to continue forward. The logic behind this is that, assuming they got rained/snowed on during the day, they could return to Idyllwild to get dry and warm again and, because they would just bring a day pack along (“slack pack”) and leave the rest of their gear back in Idyllwild, it would all stay nice and dry as well. We were invited to do this as well if we wanted and stay at Jay’s place tonight.
This all sounded very logical; however we had a couple of qualms with this plan. First, it took a lot of effort to reach the PCT from Idyllwild. To meet the trail at the north end of the fire closure, we’d have a 4.5 mile ascent out of town. All this to only hike about 5 miles on the PCT itself, before descending another side trail to return to Idyllwild, which we’d have to turn around and hike back up again in the morning. The second issue is that it was also forecast to rain/snow in the area on Wednesday, so we’d still be risking climbing back to the trail in the rain. Our thought was that if we just stayed on the trail we could get further north, possibly getting far enough away to avoid some of the bad weather, at least on Wednesday.
In the end, we decided we would bring our full packs, take our chances with the weather, and stay on the PCT. Jay and Angie would stick to their plan to slack pack and return to Idyllwild for the evening. Helen was going to just stay in Idyllwild for another rest day since she didn’t care about hiking every inch of the trail. Since Jay and Angie would be returning to Idyllwild, she’d hit the trail with them tomorrow.
All this decided, we waved goodbye to Helen (aka Dead Zone), who was going to stay in the warm coffee shop and read all day, and the rest of us headed for the trail. Jay drove as far as his Jeep would make it, parking at the bottom of a 4WD road that we would walk up to access the South Ridge Trail, which would eventually take us to the PCT.
The walk up the road sucked. It was super steep and not at all how my freshly rested muscles wanted to warm up for the day. Luckily, the road walk was only a mile before we met the South Ridge Trailhead. The South Ridge Trail was another 3.5 miles with 2,890 ft elevation gain, though over much more manageable switchbacks. Many of the trees still had frost and icicles covering them from the previous night.
As we hiked up the trail, much of the gloomy fog began to burn off and blue skies greeted us. Maybe the weatherman was wrong. Angie was kicking herself for not bringing her full pack. We took a picture above the clouds.
Before reaching the junction with the PCT, we took a short side trail to the top of Tahquitz Peak. Mist was quickly rolling up the mountainsides, blue skies on their way out. Maybe the weatherman was right.
Hot Mess, LOL (Angie), me, Click (Jay)
The South Ridge Trail finally met the PCT at mile 178. Back home. The PCT went over a series of small peaks through the day, as the weather undulated from thick fog to blue skies. As mentioned earlier in the post, we were not in the desert today, but a forested alpine environment where Pines towered above us and pinecones littered the ground. The trail was a dark black-brown dirt, softened by crushed pine needles, much kinder on the feet than the yellow desert sands.
And so, we did what we do on this adventure: we hiked and then hiked some more. Eventually the misty fog began feeling more like a very light rain, and occasionally we’d see tiny tiny specks of snow swirling in the sky.
Around 3:15pm, we came to the north fork of the San Jacinto River, where water flowed in small waterfalls over boulders and across the trail. We stopped here to refill and filter our water. The icy cold river water stung my hands and even after donning warm gloves, it took a mile before my fingers were warmed again.
Our stop to fill water also coincided with heavier snowfall beginning. While we had seen small flakes in the sky earlier, the snowflakes were now much fatter and falling much faster. At first they mostly only stuck to the cobwebs along the trail, tiny webs of ice.
Eventually the snow began to stick and accumulate on the ground, the air growing colder. Hiking in the snow wasn’t that bad actually, it was really very beautiful. We left soft prints in the snow as we made our way down the trail.
Finally reaching our camping destination for the day, a small campground at mile 190.5, we quickly set up the tent and hurried inside to change into warm dry clothes.
We cooked our ramen dinner in the tent vestibules, eating it in the warmth of our toasty sleeping bags.
While the day certainly had its cold moments, we are snug as bugs in a rug all zipped into our warm sleeping bags. Hoping tomorrow’s weather will hold so we can stay dry as we hike down the mountain. By tomorrow afternoon we will be back in the desert, sweating and wishing for this cold weather again.
