Day 10 - Friday, May 7

In a real bed at the Silver Pines Lodge in Idyllwild, CA (left trail at mile 179.4). Walked 8.5 miles today.

After an exhausting day of climbing, I slept like a rock last night and awoke to a brilliant sunrise over the desert below.

Began about 6am and after a couple miles, I reached the rock slide that occurred in 2019.

The slide blocks the trail and it's passable, but tricky and there's a lot of exposure. Slowly made my way around it before beginning a steep climb and having to pass over many blown down trees.

Also got my first sight of poodle dog bush, a nasty plant that grows in recently burned areas and if touched, can produce symptoms similar, but worse than that of poison oak.

Tried my best to avoid it. It's pretty sad how much of San Jacinto and the surrounding peaks have burned in the last decade. So many burned trees.

Finally though, I made it to an unburned area with beautiful pines and spruces.

Passed through several small patches of snow.  There was quite a bit more off the trail that had collected in the little small valleys and in the shade on the north side of the mountain.

Got to Saddle Junction and began the steep 2.5 mile climb down the Devil's Slide Trail.

Got to the parking lot and we began road walking toward town, hoping somebody would give us a lift. After about a mile, a guy named Greg pulled over and gave us a ride.  Got to town and ran into a few other hikers, Desert Flower among them.  The rumor mill had been saying that he was getting off the trail, but his close friends were trying to convince him not to.  He confirmed that he was going to at least Big Bear, so we're all happy about that.  Emily went to a sushi place and Lost and Found, Popcorn, and I went to the Red Kettle where we scarfed down burgers. After lunch we hung out with some other hikers while Emily did a resupply (she's not planning on zeroing tomorrow like the rest of us).

When we were in Warner Springs, I realized we'd be in Idyllwild over a weekend, so I booked a room in town hoping to avoid the situation that we ran into in Julian when there were no rooms available. Luckily I was able to score a room at a semi-reasonable rate and Emily, Lost and Found, Popcorn, and I all split the room. We checked in to the Lodge and exploded our packs across the floor. We all took turns showering (and still not getting all the dirt off...).  It looks like my ankle has a tan line where my socks were, but it's actually just dirt.

I went out and got ice cream as I was craving it. Met Emily on her way back from the closed laundromat (why would it close at noon on a Friday?).  I felt bad for her so I brought her back a dairy-free ice cream.  We all ended up paying $5 to have the lodge do our laundry for us and they had some loaner clothes for us as well.  Hung out some more and called home to check in and sort out my next resupply box.

At 7, Lost and Found, Popcorn, and I went to dinner with Allie and Katie at a Mexican restaurant. Good food and again, I ate a ton. Came back to the room where we all went to bed pretty quickly, tired from the full day. Taking the day off tomorrow for our first zero day.