The pct really threw it at us today. We woke up the next morning in a cloud again. The weather report said said it was supposed to thunder storm so we got going as early as we could. We decided to meet at the paradise cafe 5 miles as head to decide what to do about the upcoming fire closure on the trail. We stayed dry until we got to the cafe but we could see the weather was blowing inn. We had a great breakfast at the little diner and discussed our plans. Roman and Pacer decided to skip closure because of the bad weather coming up and some knee problems. Candyman, Milk Bag and I decided to hike to the closure and take the alternate into idylwild. The trail started of really pleasant. We were getting higher up so we seeing some subalpine forests for a change. There was a steady drizzle, but we were enjoying the misty weather shrouding the mountains. We were low on water so we had to hike off trail a little bit to a spring. We were foolish and brought our packs all the way down the poorly graded trail. We could have just left them at the top and carried our water bottles down. Turns out we wouldn't even need the water later on because we ended up so cold and wet we didn't even think about drinking water. At the top of Apache peak the rain got heavier and steadier. It even began snow a little bit. I was glad the three of us were together because had we been alone, we probably would have had a horrible time. It was just above freezing and the wind was driving and the rain was steady. My feet and legs were soaked, my hands and lips were numb, and we didn't have a definite plan of what to do. We got to the closure and looked at our options. We could either camp there or start hiking the alternate off the mountain. Roman sent us a text saying the snow we expected above 5000 feet. We were at 6500 feet and already cold an wet so we opted to take the alternate even though we had already hiked some pretty solid miles and it was getting late. We defended down into the valley. I was relieved to feel it getting warmer, and the rain start to ease. But with wet tired feet, I dreaded every step downhill. I wanted to avoid getting blisters with my wet feet so I just took it slow. The alternate led us to a road walk. Milk bag and I were pretty defeated, but Candyman want to keep pushing on. To be honest I could have set up camp right at the the parking lot ofthe trail head I was so tired. Fortunately a car came by and offered us a hitch into idylwild. It was bittersweet because I wanted to hike the entire alternate, but I was miserable and everything was wet. In the end I is glad we hitched, because seeing the road walk where we would have been hiking just seemed pointless, and also probably dangerous. We thanked our trail angel driver and set up camp in the state park right outside of idylwild. We all went into town to meet up with roman and Pacer at a local bar. Two other friends of ours were there as well andit was karaoke night as well! Being in a warm place with friends and hilariously bad entertainment lifted my spirits back up. We stayed at the bar as long as we could to stay warm and dry. However, we didn't even make it to 1030 because we were all so tired. We hurried back to our tents and got inside them as quickly as possible to avoid the rain. I was thankful to have warm dry clothes inside my tent, I looked forward to taking a zero the next town. Day 11 - 18 miles