April 17, 2016

Humber Park to bushcamp (mile 193.0)

Miles: 13.6 PCT miles + 2.5 miles on Devils Slide Trail (16.1 total miles)

We loved Idyllwild but it was time to hike once more. Two nights in a bed were relaxing and restorative. But alas, the trail beckoned.

We got up around 6, did a little yoga, finished packing our backpacks and had a breakfast of leftover kabob, hummus and cake. There is nothing like starting the day with yummy leftovers!

We got a ride to Humber Park, where we caught the Devils Slide Trail, 2.5 miles and 1,600 ft up to Saddle Junction, where we picked up the PCT once again at mile 179.4.

We started hiking around 8:30am. It was chilly and windy but beautiful!. Laurie was in her happy place and even offered to move to LA if she could have a 2nd home in Iddylwild.

We were back to hiking in a proper forest – big trees at high elevation. The northern facing hillsides were covered in snow providing a nice contrast with the blue sky.

We walked through the pine forest- savoring the deep piney smell and soft ground underfoot. This is more like it! This is what we’re used to!

The San Jacinto mountains are beautiful. And even more so when draped in snow.

This beauty came at a price. In the shady areas of the trail, the snow was covered in ice and was super slippery. Andy didn’t like this at all. He isn’t comfortable on snow and it’s a good thing Laurie hikes in front of him or else she’d be laughing at him all day.

Once past the icy stretch of trail, we came to a junction where some hikers chose to take an alternate trail to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto, but not us. It was really blustery and since we had summited before, we choose to bypass it.

Then the PCT turned into a rollercoaster. Up and down, up then down. Eventually we had to drop 8,000 ft back onto the desert so every uphill felt like a mean joke. Mentally we had prepared for an initial elevation gain and long long descent, not a 15 mile roller coaster. We just kept reminding ourselves that we are out here to hike, and that every step gets us closer to Canada.

At mile 186.2 we got water for the next 20 waterless miles. This made Andy slightly nervous because it meant we would be hiking heavy through Fuller Ridge – notorious for having lots of icy,  slippery snow in the early season.

At the watering hole we met up once again with Kashmir. We chit chatted about our experiences in Idyllwild and about the Lake Fire trail closure coming up.

We finished our leftovers from yesterday’s feast, got 7 liters of water to share and continued on.

Most of the afternoon we leap frogged with Bluejay, a woman from Tennessee who hiked the Appalachian Trail 2 years ago.

Around mile 188 we got to Fuller Ridge. Andy thought we had already hiked through it given all the snow we had already encountered, but we hadn’t seen anything yet.

Carefully we made our way across the snow covered trail. Our progress was slowed to a dismal 1 mile per hour,  mainly because Andy is slow on the white stuff. Huge thanks to Laurie for her encouragement and advice to help him through it.

In all honesty, Fuller Ridge wasn’t that bad. Perhaps that’s because we hiked through it around 4pm when the snow was soft and not as slippery. Had we hiked through it at 7am, things could have been very different.

At 6pm, we hiked over the remaining snow and reached Fuller Ridge Campground. We elected not to camp here and hiked on another 3 miles to lose some elevation today and make tomorrow easier.

We hiked on into the golden hour. The mountains basked in an orange and purple glow. It was beautiful. No photograph we took could capture the beauty of this breathtaking desert sunset.

We hiked 11 hours today, until 7:30pm – the latest we’ve reached camp, happy to be done for the day. We thought we had covered more miles because of how long we hiked, but the snow really does make for slow going. No matter though. We enjoyed our hike and are happy to be camped in a place with a great view of Mt. San Jacinto.

Tonight we are grateful for leftovers and high elevation mountains.

A “zero” in thru hiking language is a day when you do not hike.

A “nero” is a near zero – usually consisting of 10 miles or less and typically arriving into a town.

Yesterday was a nero day into Idyllwild.

Today we enjoyed a zero day in Idyllwild with Andy’s parents.

We went to bed last night with a plan of hiking out this afternoon after Andy’s patents left. Well, that didn’t happen.

We woke up and decided to rest a full day. Going slowly in the beginning of a thru hike includes rest days also, not only low mile days on the trail.

We blogged, caught up with emails, made phone calls and finished almost everything on our ‘Idyllwild to do list’ by 8:30am. It’s amazing what one can accomplish simply by waking up early!

Andy’s parents arrived at 10:30am and the feast began. Armenians know how to party, and they also know how to eat!

The picnic table was full (I mean FULL) of food. There was enough food to feed 10 thru hikers.

Since we are only a few weeks into our hike, we haven’t developed hiker hunger yet. We can’t eat monumental portions this early on – especially since we have been eating so well on the trail.

Side note – we realize we have mentioned how well we eat a few times now but don’t provide much detail. Hopefully when we zero in L.A. we will wrote a post about our food.

We ate out first lunch, played ping pong with Andy’s mom, and walked around a little.

Then we ate some more. And after that we stuffed ziplocks full of leftovers to have on the trail tomorrow. The feast continues! Lastly, we had birthday cake (it was Laurie’s birthday yesterday.) So good.

Andy’s parents left around 4:30pm. We tried to play some more ping pong but Laurie could barely move she was so full. All she wanted to do was lie down.

Tonight we are going to drink lots of water, maybe watch a movie and get our packs ready for tomorrow. The man who runs the Woodland Park Manor will drive us to the trail tomorrow morning. Thanks Laurie for asking him to do so!

We continue to challenge ourselves to ask for what we want or need. It’s something we want to be more comfortable with, both as individuals and as a couple. Practice makes better!

Tonight we are grateful for home cooked meals and cozy cabins.

April 15, 2016

From bushcamp (155.9) to trail closure (mile 162.6)

Miles: 9.2 (6.7 PCT miles + 2.5 miles on Cedar Springs trail to Morris Ranch Rd)

Today is Laurie’s birthday. She celebrated by drinking hot chocolate in her sleeping bag (our version of breakfast in bed) and eating cheese and crackers for breakfast. For those that know Laurie, cheese is what makes her happiest, well maybe that and riding her bicycle!

We had a mellow morning, opened a card from a friend and waited for the sun to come up before squirming out of our sleeping bags. 

Our campsite was awesome. The big oak trees protected us from the strong winds and leaves provided a soft place to lie (although with our Exped mats we could sleep on rocks and not feel it!)

We left camp around 8:30 and started climbing. In 2013, the Mountain Fire burned a large section of the PCT so today we had an adventure ahead of us. Our plan was to hike the remaining 6.7 miles from where we camped to the closure, take a side trail down to a road and walk alongside the highway. From there we were going to hitchhike or road walk 5 miles to a campground. 

That was our plan, but as we know and continue to learn, plans on the trail don’t last long!

As we gained elevation on the PCT, we saw the outskirts of Palm Springs to the east. Small town in view = possible reception!! We took a short break and tried to call Laurie’s mom for her birthday (Laurie and her mom share a birthday). We also called Andy’s parents to request more Sudafed since Laurie’s cold is persistent. 

As we were getting ready to hit the trail again, a speedy day hiker named Bart approached and chatted with us. He knows this area very well and was parked at the bottom of our trail. He offered us a ride to town. We thanked him, said we would see how we were feeling when we got down to the road and we all continued on.

The trail continued to gain elevation on the east side of the ridge. We could see little towns (probably not so little in real life!) sitting in the valley below. In a few days we will be walking through that dry, hot, dusty valley but right now we were on a ridge- enjoying the cool wind and fresh air of nearly 7,000 ft. 

We got to the junction and took a left to follow the Cedar Springs trail down to Morris Ranch Road. The trail switch backed down at least 1000 ft to a nice spring, then onto private property, a fire road and finally to the paved Morris Ranch Road. 

We walked almost 100 yards down the paved road and there was Bart, sitting in his camp chair by his truck, reading a book. We decided to take him up on his offer for a ride into town. We waited about 15 min for his friend Sue to join us and all 4 of us piled into the truck. We drove up a narrow mountain road into the town of Idyllwild and Bart treated us to Mexican food. Thanks Bart!

Since we were already in town, it didn’t make sense to get a ride back down to the campground to turn around and walk back the next day. Walking the highway on a Saturday would not be a good idea.

We made a few calls, canceled our room for Saturday night, booked a room for Friday night and called Andy’s parents to meet us on Saturday rather than Sunday. Day in the bank for us!!

We walked to the post office to pick up 2 packages and a letter from Laurie’s friends. Thank you so much- you made Laurie’s birthday so special!

On the way to the post office a lady yelled 

“Hey hikers”

“Hey hikers!”

It took a moment for both of us to realize she was talking to us! She handed us each a bag of cookies and said “Welcome to Idyllwild.” 

People are simply amazing.

At the post office people stopped to ask if we needed anything, another person offered to give us a ride and everyone was super friendly. 

We were dirty, smelly hikers and still people wanted to help us out! So great.

We got a ride to our room (a small cabin on the outskirts of town at a place called Woodland Park Manor) and Laurie immediately started doing laundry. We washed everything by hand and laid it out to dry on the deck.

We showered- it felt amazing – and crawled into bed. It was only 6 pm but we were both super content to sit in bed – savoring the feeling of cotton next to our skin.

Laurie was like a kid on Christmas morning. She excitedly opened each package and hugged the contents. We ate cookies and kale chips in bed- later to find crumbs of both in the sheets.

We called family and friends and tried to upload the previous day’s blog but the wifi wouldn’t work and 4G wasn’t cooperating. Funny how we had better service in the backcountry and somewhat sad that we get frustrated over such small things.

Today was a wonderful day. It was full of suprises and chance encounters on the trail and in town. We were touched by the generosity and kindness of strangers. For both of us (but maybe more so Laurie since she is the planner) it was a great example of what can happen if you live in the moment and allow yourself to deviate from the plan.

We want to thank everyone who has contributed to our town fund. Thank you all so, so much. We are grateful to all of you! 

Laurie is still fighting a cold- she has a deep, raspy and sexy sick voice- but after the morning gunk comes out- she is all smiles for most of the day (actually until 4pm-her witching hour, which can only be cured by candy).

We both feel so fortunate to be on this adventure- individually and together as a couple. Each day brings new views, new insights about ourselves and our relationship, and new friends.

Thank you all for your comments, your encouragement and your love. We can feel it and it helps us continue to put one foot in front of the other!

Today we are grateful for trail birthdays and chance encounters.