Woke about 5 am to a line of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites going overhead (Tad saw that they were launched yesterday).
One we confirmed that we weren't under nuclear attack or something like that, we packed up and raced down to the road where a 1-mile road walk took me to the Paradise Valley Cafe. Tad, Emily, and I were the only ones coming this morning (boo on the rest of them...) and we arrived before they opened at 8 am, so we got some water, charged our devices, and chatted some while we waited. About 8, we sat down and ordered. They didn't have a lot of options for Emily, but she got a plate of hash browns and veggies while Tad and I got breakfast burritos. They were massive and delicious. We all left the Cafe separately and as I was beginning the road walk back, a car pulled over and asked if I needed a ride to the trail. I gladly accepted and found myself in the company of local Idyllwild trail angel, Grumpy. He took me the quick mile back to the trail and I started walking up the long climb right at 9am.
It was pretty quick walking at first, but my pace slowed over time as the views kept getting better and better and the terrain kept getting steeper and steeper.
Kept walking and made only a few quick stops.
At one trail junction, I saw Popcorn (who spent the night with our group last night and is from the Czech Republic) and Lost and Found. I thought they would have been miles ahead of me but apparently not. I was determined to catch them so I hiked hard and had caught them within half a mile. All of us continued on, stopping for brief breaks on the very steep terrain.
The terrain in this section is more akin to that of the Appalachian Trail than the gentleness of the PCT so far. We took a steep trail half a mile down to a spring to get water since we were all running out and Emily caught us here.
Pushed on the final 1.7 miles to camp, walking along narrow ledges. This is the area where Trevor Laher lost his life last year in icy conditions when he slipped off the ledge. I can easily see how it could happen.
We all set up and ate dinner before hitting the sack after a really long day. Expecting very cold conditions as we're camped at nearly 7,000 feet tonight. Idyllwild tomorrow where we can have hot showers, town food, and do laundry.
Amazing views! Relieved the steep trail wasn’t icy...
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how Emily would be able to find good town food - hopefully other places have more options! And I just love those mountain views.
ReplyDeleteIn some late night browsing sessions of Reddit, both Lost and Found and I saw that there was a new vegan place opening in Idyllwild. When we got there, Emily hit it up big time.
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