PCT #5: Down, down, down. Miles 1179.4-235.4 (Days 15-18)
All smiles as we hike down Mt. San Jacinto.
We go to bed cold, sleep cold and wake up cold. Overnight the socks I was trying to dry froze. For the first time, I press snooze on my alarm clock.
We did a nero yesterday, leaving the lovely town of Idyllwild and walking the 2.5 steep miles to the trail and then just 1.5 to find a flat camping spot. We wanted to return to trail, but left town late enough that we couldn’t fit many miles into the day. A nero is when you walk very few trail miles, opposed to a zero, when you walk zero trail miles. A nero is a nearly zero.
We freeze as we try to eat breakfast, wearing too many layers to count and clutching our warm food. We’re perched on the side of the mountain trying to get some morning sun on our frozen bodies. The desert is currently going through a cold snap and our elevation of over 8,900 feet is part of the problem. To put that in perspective, Whistler’s peak sits a bit over 7,000 feet, so we slept almost 2,000 feet higher. A quick note from my journal states:
We are sleeping very high up, 8,900 feet! Cold as f***. We are all bundled. Sleeping bag is awesome.
It’s true, my sleeping bag is awesome. When researching gear for thru hikes, I stumbled across this concept of quilt sleeping bags. These bags differ from your traditional bags as they don’t have a bottom. The idea is you are compressing the down with your body, essentially rendering the insulation underneath you useless, so you might as well get rid of that extra fabric and extra weight. Most quilts have a fully enclosed toe box and only the portion between your hips and head doesn’t have a bottom. My quilt comes with a zippered toe box, so I can unzip it to turn my sleeping bag into a duvet cover. I love this thing! (I will be doing an entire post about my gear, but if you are curious about which quilt I have, it is the Katabatic Flex 15 degree.)
Over the next 27 miles, we would have 9,600 feet of descent, yikes! Our bags are already heavy with a 6 day food resupply and this section requires two large, back-to-back 20 miles water caries. This means we will have an additional 10 pounds of water just a few miles into our first day. We decided to save our knees, so the plan was to drop 5,000 feet today and another 3,500 tomorrow, bringing us back to the desert floor.
(The clever ones in the bunch will notice that 5,000 + 3,500 does not equal 9,600. That’s because total descent does not equal total elevation loss! Total descent is how much walking down you do and total elevation loss is the elevation difference between your starting point and ending point. I was being tricky there, and wanted a bit more drama.)
Collecting icy water running off of Mt. San Jacinto. Notice the snow in the background.
There is no need for sunscreen today, as I’m wearing my fleece, rain jacket, pants and wool gloves. I’ve pulled the hoods up and cinched them tight so only a couple inches of my face remains uncovered. There’s ice on all the water sources and snow on the trail.
The wind has been our constant companion these past few days. It howls around the mountains and sometimes, if the direction is right, rattles the walls of the tent. I’m so sick of it. It keeps me up at night and now frozen today. I desperately want to feel warm. I never thought I’d be excited for the desert heat.
Look at all those trees! Soon they will be gone.
Part way through our day, we come across the trail junction for the Mt. San Jacinto peak trail. We can choose to climb higher to the peak or continue along the Pacific Crest Trail. Many hikers choose to ascent Mt. San Jacinto, but we are not most hikers! Neither of us cares enough to see the top, which requires extra miles and extra elevation. Even 6 months after the fact, I still don’t mind that we skipped it. It was the right decision for us.
We arrive at camp, walking close to 17 miles and set up at the last remaining decent spot. There are five other people camping and they arrived before us, snatching the spots sheltered from the wind. We set up tents, blow up mattresses and then the wind hits. It’s the worse it’s been all trip and my tent is shaken so much I’m afraid it will rip. I guess this is to be expected with a wind farm sitting below us in the valley. Clearly this is a windy area.
We know what must be done but just don’t want to do it. We dismantle tents, repack gear and begin the search for another spot. We decide to abandon tents all together and cowboy camp (sleep under the stars) between bushes. After setting up a second time, I begin to relax and am excited. Syd found us a sweet spot and this plan is much better.
The wind picks up even more so we decide to put Syds tent over us to become burritos. The tent will provide protection against the wind but it will also trap in moisture so we will wake with wet bags. It will be worth it for the warmth and we should have no issues drying our bags in the sun tomorrow.
Overnight the wind gets worse and it doesn’t calm in the morning. It’s too windy to cook, so we hike out and plan to eat at the first sheltered spot. Again, we are bundled when we leave to keep warm and protected against the wind. We are aiming to hike our longest day yet at over 22 miles (35km).
A view of the valley below.
We have a lot of descent today, and can see the wind farm in the distance that we will walk through. The first 10 miles are all downhill, which always makes me nervous as the majority of injuries happen on descents. We can feel the temperature rising and watch the landscape change back to desert. The trees are replaced by low lying shrubs, and the dirt with sand.
To our delight, part way through our day we hit a landmark - the 200 mile PCT marker! We stop to take the mandatory photos with the sign, excited by this concrete mark of progress.
We fill up for an 17 mile stretch at the bottom of the valley and take a short break before heading out. We’re crossing a valley between two mountains, with San Jacinto behind us and San Gorgonio in front of us. The PCT regularly crosses roads and major highways as we make our way north. Today, we will cross our biggest highway yet but go through an underpass. The heat I wanted so desperately a day ago is here and I am not feeling grateful for it, go figure.
Mt. San Jacinto. I’m looking back on where we were only a day and half earlier.
We can see the highway miles away, and no matter how much we walk it always seems the same distance. By late afternoon, we make it and decide to have our lunch and break in the underpass. Due to the consistent shade, underpasses are a common place for hikers to hang out. There are often a few run down chairs, water bottles and occasionally a hiker box.
An old, irrelevant sign. We did not see a single wind mill in this farm. Turns out, they were replacing them! They would go from 60 mini ones, to 15 giant ones.
I check the FarOut app to see what the rest of our day will look like and find a wonderful surprise. A wind farm has a break room a few miles away with ice cream and pop for sale, which means we now have a new goal. We don’t know the hours of this office, nor if anyone works there regularly, but with the idea of cold ice cream in our minds we set off. We’re heading back into the mountains but first have to walk more hot, dry, uphill miles. I’m constantly checking my phone to monitor our progress and estimate when we will arrive. I see a large warehouse structure ahead and try to determine where the entrance is. It’s a tad run down and there are fences surrounding the building. With luck, we walk up at the same time a truck arrives. Score! I nearly trample Syd trying to meet the man as he walks up to a nondescript door. He doesn’t say much but leads us to a garage with folding chairs. After we put our dirty packs down, he explains how we can purchase the ice cream and pop from their break room fridge. We chat and this wind farm is replacing their 60 windmills with only 15 which will provide the same power output. He explains that this is the windiest place in the entire US and now I feel better about how much the wind had been bugging me.
I scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM.
We still have many miles to our campsite tonight, the White Water Preserve. We had spent longer than we hoped at the wind farm and will complete the remaining miles as the sun sets. The walk is beautiful as the path goes up, over and around mountains. We descend into the preserve and pass a large river. The next day will be unique in that we will have easy access to water. We will be following the Whitewater river.
The White Water Reserve is pristine. It’s a nonprofit that has converted a portion of the valley into an oasis. There are many ponds, picnic tables, bathrooms and a visitor centre. They allow camping by donation and to avoid the wind, we cowboy camp on the Visitor Centre’s patio. The patio is lined with humming bird feeders and to our delight, the next morning we watch them buzz above us, eating their breakfast.
Today we will follow the Whitewater river. In 2019, there was a massive flood which caused much of the pct to be washed out. The river bed goes from clean sand, to swamp with grass so tall we can’t see. Countless times we loose the path and spend precious time searching for the mini stone statues that mark the path. These mini stone statues are called carins and have been created by other hikers. They’re typically three or four rocks stacked on top of each other, small but effective as they look out of place.
Syd trying to enjoy her lunch in the river, while I annoy her with a photo.
Although frustrated with the hiking, the river is a relief and we take our shoes off multiple times to soak our feet. I love the feeling of sand between my toes. It reminds me of vacation and the light exfoliation as I walk makes me feel like I’m at a spa. At lunch, we take a long break by the river. I submerge myself, hiking clothes on to give them a much needed bath. Syd eats her lunch in the river.
With all the time spent searching for the trail, we are exhausted by 6pm and decide to stop short of our goal. To our delight we are camping with many others we had spent the day leap frogging.
Section Stats
Day 15: 1.2 miles + 2.5 side trail miles (May 9th)
Day 16: 16.6 miles (May 10th)
Day 17: 21.3 miles (May 11th)
Day 18: 16.9 miles (May 12th)