Everybody trickled out of the cabin at their own pace this morning. We all had a few last minute errands to run, so we agreed to meet outside the library at 11 to start hiking. During the road walk to the trail head, we came across a car that had gotten stuck in a ditch. We dropped our packs and got it out in no time. They offered us a ride for helping, but the trail was just a few hundred feet down the raod. The trail was straight up. It was our first real significant uphill climb we had encountered. As we ascended the temperature dropped quickly and we came across snow on the trail for the first time. We had a few snow drifts to walk over, but nothing too treacherous. Eventually we were hiking in a a cloud. The clouds block the view, but they give the forest a mysterious look. Soon enough though we got above the clouds and the view of the desert below us was spectacular. Near the top there was an emergency shelter that we decided would be a great place to spend the night. We dropped our packs, grabbed some snacks and went for the top. At the peak there were 360 degrees views. To the east was the desert, and to the west was the coast covered in a bkanket of clouds. We watched a spectacular sunset above the clouds and then retreated back to the warmth of the shelter for the night. Day 13 - alot of miles
The shelter was warm, but it was really loud anytime someone moved on the creaky bunk beds. "NTN" short for no trail name shared the cabin with us. He is such a cool dude. He is probably in his sixties hiking the trail solo. He moves at a pretty slow pace but we always seem to bump into him. He must wake up really early and just hike all day. We emerged from the shelter and caught the tail end of the sunrise and then started off on a 20 mile, 9600 ft waterless decent back into the desert. About 2 miles into the hike we came upon our last water source. We heard from people ahead of us that they carried 5 liters with them and it wasn't enoigh. I decided to camel up at the stream and only carry 4 liters since it would all be downhill. The decent was rough, especially with all the water and food I was carrying. I hate downhills, because they are usually where I get most of my blisters. After a few hours, the Sam Gabriel mountains to the north came into view, along with I 10 at at the bottom. It was weird to think that i got hop on that interstate and go all the way to my hometown in houston. The trail seemed to go on forever. I was doing fine on water, but my feet were starting to hurt. As I hiked, I 10 didn't seem to be getting any closer. I decided to just slow down and take it easy to save my feet. Sarah from our group caught up to me and we did the last 5 or so miles together. Usually when i hike with someone it goes by so much faster, but but today with all the downhill it just dragged on. We came across another hiker named danielle who appeared to be struggling down the trail. Turns out she had two broken bones in her foot. The doctor in idylwild told her to take 4-6 weeks off in a boot, but she was determined to keep going. However, after that long descent she realized she wasn't going to be able to continue. She looked absolutely crushed. It really put my my blister pain into perspective because because all my sores could heal in a day or two. I would be devasted if I had to cut my journey short due an injury. Luckily all my bones, ligaments and muscles are doing fine, just a little tired is all. We made it down about 4 miles from the water and found "pacer" from my group. I was so relieved because I thought he was going all the way down to the bottom, amd i dont think I vould have taken 10 more steps. The three of us cowboy camped in a great spot without any windand a great view of the stars. I felt the condensation starting to fall, but I was already warm in my sleeping bag, so I just decided to worry about it in the morning. My feet hurt but it was a pretty good feeling to see mt san jacinto way up behind us knowing were just at the top that morning.
Day 14 - alot more miles....all down hill