Day 15: Mile 178- A Well Deserved Break

Walking takes longer than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed.

-Edward Abbey

We're back, hope you didn't miss us too much.

I first just wanted to thank you all. It seems like a lot of people are getting behind us here. It seems like every time I talk to family or friends from home, they tell me about someone else they know who are reading the blog and getting excited about what we're doing. We've been getting a lot of positive feedback and it's nice to know that we have so many people backing us. So thank you all! Keep checking back and we'll try to always have something for you to read about. You guys are sweet.

Let's catch back up where we left off, which I believe was Warner Springs. Warner springs was a nice little stop off. The make shift hiker/ refugee camp that was set up for us was a great place to take a load off, reevaluate gear and catch up with friends who we fell behind on the trail. We had planned on leaving the next day and making some decent miles, but as we were about to leave we got a call from Bobby, a local section hiker we met at the kick off, who said we was on his way to Warner Springs. It was Cinco de Mayo, and the night of supermoon, the brightest moon of the year. Even if you don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo, you don't not celebrate supermoon. So our plans of making progress on the trail turned to driving back into town for Mexican food and beer and stocking up for the night to come. We ended up only 5 miles or so up on the trail, in a nice sandy clearing in the woods, where our roaring fire and our make-shift stream beer cooler caught the attention of fellow hikers and before we knew it we had a crew of about 12, bathing in the radiant glow of supermoon... And endless shots of whiskey and tequila. I definitely didn't think we'd be partying on the trail like we partied at home, but supermoon is capable of great things.

The next day, after a slow start, we parted ways with Bobby and made for the San Jacinto mountains. We hiked up ridges and back down, going through phases of chaparral shrubland and oak and pine forests, which is really one of the coolest parts of this section. Every time we change elevation the environment around us changes, seeing the different communities of plants and animals is really neat. It definitely keeps things interesting.

This wouldn't be a PCT story without trail magic, and about 18 miles past Warner Springs a gracious Trail Angel opened his house to us and put out a great spread of food and enough beers to get everyone on the trail feeling loose. Then we hiked up. Up and up and up. The beginning of the San Jacinto mountains are some of the steepest parts of the PCT and at times it really took a toll on us. I definitely cursed the trail a few times when we were hiking uphill for hours, going up hundreds of feet in elevation, getting dehydrated and tired. But rehydrating wasn't as simple as just stopping to fill up at a stream. There was just a few springs on the mountain and they were all 1/4 to a full mile off the trail and at least 500 feet lower in elevation... A royal pain in the ass. Eventually we made it to the top where all the hardships paid off. It was gorgeous up there. Huge granite peaks and patches of snow amid the giant hardwoods gave us some of the best scenery of the trail so far, a nice preview of what the Sierras have in store for us and a surprisingly breathtaking nighttime view of Palm Springs lit up like a Christmas tree. It was also here where we discovered trundling, the act of rolling large stones down mountainsides... Yes there is actually a word for it, I couldn't believe it either. But being able to throw a rock down the slope and hear it roll for 30 seconds before getting out of earshot was a really. Oil experience and gave us a sense of how high up we were.

Now we are in Idyllwild. A great little mountain town. We've spent the last day and a half relaxing in a nice little cabin we rented, watching movies, eating pizza and enjoying chairs again... Never underestimate a comfortable back rest. You'll miss it when it's gone.

Well I think that pretty much sums up our last few days. I know it's a little long-winded, but we won't have Internet again for another 6 days or so, so you'll have plenty of time to read it before our next post.

See you in Big Bear,

Happy Trails,
Mike



... Here are a few pictures from this last section. Im writing this from my phone and can't figure out how to format them or add captions. I'll learn. But at least this is better than nothing!