Last night was cold, but I slept well. Rolled out of camp today at 0600. Forty-five minutes into today’s hike I had a little sit-down to have my cold-soaked overnight oats for breakfast. At 0800 I reached the dreaded fork. Would I summit Mt. San Jacinto, yes or no? Decisions, decisions, decisions…
I figured If I’d hike up to the summit, It would mean extra time off from hiking PCT-miles and increasing the distance between me and my buddies who are already ahead of me because they left Idyllwild a day earlier. However, it was the best part of the day to summit (early, with legs still fresh). Also it would be a good training for some higher altitude hiking, and just general climbing. And finally; I came out here for the mountains (I want to see mountains again, Mountains Gandalf!). So yeah, I went for it.
Almost 30 minutes in, I passed Blue-Beard and Bane (who we’ve been meeting everywhere along the trail), who were at the summit last night. They encouraged me to continue, saying the views were amazing. It took me exactly 2 hours to make the 550 meter climb. It was tough, but steadily keeping a good pace, I had the feeling I was making good time. And when reaching the summit at 3288m, all my earlier doubts disappeared. The views were magnificent, worth every step! Because I was the only one there, I had to fumble a bit to get a decent timed-photo, but hey, you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.
After a decent early-lunch break just below the summit, I cruised down again. I wanted to get back to the PCT as soon as possible. Just before getting back to the PCT-trailhead I bumped into Daniela. She and I met in Warner Springs when I was devouring my Huevos Rancheros. She was just making her way up to the summit.
At 1200 I was finally ready to start making some real progress for the day. Interesting thing about the profile of the PCT today; 20 miles, all downhill. We would come down off the San Jacinto mountains and would decent all the way onto the desert-floor again. During the earlier miles of rolling downhill I was enjoying myself. After the heavy climb of this morning, it was nice on the legs to just soar down. But 20 miles is very long way to decent continuously. Throughout the day I started getting more and more tired. A heavy pack (carrying maximum capacity water, because it would be 20 mile waterless stretch) is hard on the knees when only descending. But with some well-timed breaks and plenty of fuel-snacks I managed to keep a good pace for a long time. The trail peaked down either sides of the ridge, showing the completely different ecosystems (lush green pine-forests in the West, and the arid, beige grim desert in the East. The final stretch of the day showed off the last glimps of the mountains I’ve just come down from:
The last hours were a grind. Blank mind, power-hiking, no stopping. I wanted to camp as close to the next water source as possible, so that I’d need not worry about water for tomorrow. Around 1800 I walked onto the designated campground, tired but happy with my progress. I managed some 20 plus miles today, and now there’s only 8 miles tomorrow morning to the next water source, and I have plenty left. After making camp and lying in my tent, I felt the long decent had caused some strain on my hip-joints. Did not notice it during the hiking though. We’ll see what’s what tomorrow.
Seven years beyond 2000 years we’re just cruising
This is music that’s been traveling light-years to brace your beards.
We’re just cruising.
I’m just thinking to myself
You know there is no one here to help
I try thinking a plan up by my own
But I could never fix this all alone (We’re just cruising)
If you never do a thing (We’re just cruising)
There’s always something you can bring (We’re just cruising)
If you can’t look at the king still (We’re just cruising)
That’s right we’re just cruising through…
Cruising through – Goldfish
