After a couple of days I’m reunited with the PCT. Feels good. This morning I didn’t rush out. I still had to find a decent plug to charge my power-bank some more, and had decided to get a coffee in town before heading back to the trail again. The specific place I had in mind opens at 0600, but I didn’t make that. I was there at 7, carrying my resupplied pack plus water. It was hauntingly heavy. As I was chilling out, one of my hiking buddies, Blue-Beard came walking into the coffee-place, to chill-out also. He started the trail on the 8th of May, the day before I did. He was planning on hiking up to the trail somewhere in the afternoon.
At 0800 I thought my battery sufficiently charged to hike out.The approximately 6 miles back to the trail-head would be steep. Very steep. Ascending the ridge on the Western slopes, I soon realized that the beautiful weather (sunny, cloudless) we’ve had in Idyllwild would come to an end today. The valley was now covered in a thick blanket of fluffy clouds. Good timing for me though, because by climbing high I managed to rise above them and stay nice and warm in the sun.
The trail today weaved mostly through a pine-forest and consisted of many switch-backs. It took me several hours to get back to the top of the ridge, and the first hours of hiking were very enjoyable. I found a steady pace, and my legs carried me quite far without having to rest.
At the top of the ridge I ran into the park ranger, who asked me what stove I was using. When I told him I was hiking stove-less, he told me that’s good – no risk for forest fires. I agreed with him. We chatted a little bit more about the trail in the area, and then I spurred away. I reached the point where I could trace the PCT back up to the other end of the fire-closure. When I was deciding if I wanted to do this (or simply skip a small section of the trail) the ranger passed me again. I asked him how long it would take to get to the trail closure and back again. Approximately 2 hours. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this, but I did want to hike as many PCT-miles I actually could. So at 1330 I rushed down to the other end of the closure. The closure was next to a creek, which solved my water-supply problems for the rest of the day, so that was good. Either I hiked fast, or the ranger was wrong, because I was back at 1435.
The remainder of the day I hiked mainly along the ridge. I met a couple of day-hikers with whom I had a little chat, and a couple from California, who started hiking the PCT on March 31st. They had to get off trail around mile 260 due to injury, and were back now to make the climb up to San Jacinto (the highest peak in this area, at 3288 meters). There is a side trail leading up to it from the PCT, and tomorrow when I’m there I make the decision to summit or not. Today I was not really keen on doing so, because it would mean I would progress more slowly again (I did not manage as many miles on the actual PCT). Guess we’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
After tackling the final climb of the day I was tired but happy. It would downhill the rest of the day until I decided on a decent campsite. 
I did not see any other thru-hikers hiking the same route as I took today. The group I’ve been hiking with left yesterday afternoon, so they are probably a day ahead. Also there are several other side trails that rejoin the PCT further North, so people who hiked out today too but took any of those trails, will be ahead of me as well. I hiked alone all of the day, and though it was fine. I do like to have some more social interaction during the day though. Hopefully I will catch up with somebody tomorrow. Camp is in a nice pine-forest flat, and I got there around 1800. I made a nice mashed potato with pepper-salami dinner, and dates and figs for desert. Today I’ve done a decent effort to shed some pack-weight (i.e. eat a lot of food, just as I intended). Now I get to sleep early, aiming for an early start tomorrow. 
California
Can leave the money on the table
And the silver in the halos of the angels in her sky
I adore you
So I’m getting on this train home
And I’m letting al these stars go
I’m sleeping through the night
Since I told you that I love you
And you said it might be true
But you treat love like a firework
Just to keep the sky amused
And you might find that over time
And once the fire burns the fuse
You still stand too close…
Firework – Canyon City
