Two pictures one facing out one way and the other facing out 180 degrees the other way.

I got down from San Jacinto mountain at 7:30 PM to find no nearby campsites. I found on the maps I’m carrying that there are trail angels, Ziggy and the Bear, five trail miles away. I phoned and they said they’d drive over and pick me up. A few other hikers were there too. One said she had tent repair tape. So this morning I fixed my tent. Such luck… Yea!

After staying overnight at the Idyllwild Inn they provided me a ride to the Devil’s Slide trailhead at 8:30 AM. Then it was up up up. Here is a picture of the Devil’s Slide.

After climbing for I while I could look down on it.

There was one other thing: the weather report said WINTER STORM ADVISORY and HIGH WINDS ADVISORY for that evening. So I wanted to get up and to a relatively safe spot at Fuller Ridge. Well I arrived at 4 PM and hunkered down with my tent. Next the wind started to blow, then it started to snow heavily. I felt fine. I was warm, I had shelter, food and water. As it snowed I would tap the tent to have it slide off, but I didn’t realize that it was building up on all the edges. At 2:15 AM I heard a loud pop, and a 8 inch hole was in my tent. Nothing could seal it – not even duct tape. So for an hour or more I held a plastic bag over it with my hand from the inside while I nodded off and on. Finally the snowing stopped so I tried to sleep a little. At dawn it was still awful out. Finally some sun appeared and I decided to pack up and hike on at 11:30 AM. Luckily two other hikers had found the snow covered trail and I followed their tracks down to lower elevation where there was no snow.

I encountered these signs today. The trail legally is blocked off by the Forest Service at mile 162 and resumes at 178. If you get caught in the blocked-off area you could get a $2500 fine, and rumor on the trail is that two hikers did – ouch! Each hiker is choosing what to do. I am being somewhat pure (anal) about hiking all the trail. So today I hiked to the blockage, and then I took a detour and went off trail and hiked down Cedar Springs trail. Then I road walked highway 74 for 8 miles until I was completely exhausted where highway 243 breaks off for Idyllwild. Walking highway 74 was a bit sketchy since it didn’t have shoulders and was a curvy mountain road. There I hitched into Idyllwild high high back up into the mountains. I never would have had the energy to road walk highway 243. Now I’m in the Idyllwild Inn for the night and back on the trail tomorrow.

From Justin’s Blog: Following Dad on the PCT

As I walk along through the desert I see so many flowering plants and wild flowers. Today I decided to take their pictures. They start around Thule Spring and continue on over the miles I hiked. Here is just a few that I saw.

I love rocks. I love all their various colors, shapes, and sizes. As I hike the trail I get to see lots of rocks. Not only that, but I get to step on thousands and thousands of them. I love to step up on big embedded ones until my thighs ache. I love to step over, around and between middle size ones causing me to lose my concentration. However I especially love the little inch ones. Stepping on one with the ball of my foot as I climb causes me to stumble forward. To regain my balance I have to very quickly compensate with my absolutely-required hiking poles. But that’s not as bad as stepping on one of those rounded ones as I descend. Then my foot flies foreword and I stumble even faster backwards. Again my poles need to rapidly come to my rescue. It’s amazing that I haven’t yet fallen off the trail and over a cliff. Other than the shock to my emotions I don’t feel anything in either case. Yet if I unknowingly step upon a rock with the outside of my right or left heel, then the resulting stumble can be like one of the above along with a piercing pain as the new blisters I have recently developed are squeezed to the extreme. Yes. I love rocks. I love them here. I love them there. I just don’t love them anywhere under my feet.

UPDATE:

Here are some more lovely trail pictures. I especially loved the real chunky sections. My poles would stick deep into the holes. My ankles would twist and turn as I nimbly skipped across the rock pile.

There are things along the way that you have to see. I’m not a big sightseer, but this was just a hundred yards off the trail. A group of us all heading to Warner Springs stopped and took pictures. I had skipped breakfast when I broke camp so I let the rest go on as I sat in the shade and ate my cobbled together breakfast of cold water, hot chocolate mix, powdered milk, and pecans – yummy. After a few minutes rest and now in solitude I hiked into Warners Spring for a shower, laundry, and real food.

Got to and beyond 100 miles.