PCT Section Hiking — Days 12–14
PCT 2023
Maybe the thing I like most about the PCT, beyond the opportunity to see new places and scenery and meet people, is that no matter how many times you hiked the PCT, there’s always a new experience. There’s always a new learning. My 2023 hiking of the PCT was not different in this aspect. Every day, every hike brought new surprises.
I planned to hike for 5 days this time, covering the 100km of the PCT from Hwy 74/PCT (where I stopped last time), all the way to Hwy 10 (LA to Palm Springs). It didn’t happen. Instead, while I still hiked about 80km in these days, only about 30km of them were on the PCT. Explanations below.
Day 1
From: Hwy74/PCT, mile 151.8, elevation 4920ft
To: Cedar Springs trail, mile 162.7, elevation 6775ft
Stats: 29km (18km on the PCT), 12:20 hours, 1855ft (565m) elevation gain
Stephanie, a trail angel, dropped me at the Hwy 74/PCT at 10:30 in the morning. This late start, caused by flight cancellation issues, was already a bad omen, and was part of the reasons for the problems later in the day. I started hiking from Hwy 74 at elevation of about 5000 feet, and initially the grade was reasonable. It was getting hot towards noon, but not very hot, reaching about 26 degrees Celsius. Over time the grade became steeper, and at 15km I came to realize two things:
- I will likely be able to complete the 21km/1800 feet elevation gain hike that I planned for that day, but with the 15kg of my backpack, it will be super hard to achieve a harder feat the second day (25km, including stepping out of the PCT to Idyllwild), and a 2000 feet elevation gain)
- Because of the heat and starting late, I was already at half my water allocation in the afternoon of the first day.
So I decided to do the responsible thing, and get off the trail to get water and rest. That didn’t go too well, though. Looking at the map I found an exit point 3km farther on the PCT, at 18km at the Cedar Springs trail, leading down to what seemed like a place where I can find people and a ride at Lake Promise where the maps showed houses, recreation are and even a museum. One hour and 4 downhill kilometers later, I got there to find the place utterly deserted, possibly because it was already late (19:30) and almost dark. I had two more options in my arsenal: Call an Uber which is available in the area, but not plenty, or call one of the trail angels to come pick me up. Both of these options disappeared when I found out that my cell service provider doesn’t have coverage in this area. The new situation presented two new options: pitch a tent and spend the night there, or try to hike 7 more kilometers to the main road and see if I can hitch hike from there or find cell coverage. I selected to walk the 7km, bringing my total walk for the day to 29km. Frankly, I didn’t think I am able to walk such a distance in one day. But I didn’t and the only thing that worked for me that day was a full moon which allowed me to walk without using precious power of my flashlight. Getting to the main road around 21:00, I found out that there is still no cell coverage, and after trying to hitch hike for half an hour or so, I gave up on that too. Because of the PCT, people do stop for hitchhikers in the area, but at night it’s hopeless. So I walked away from the main road, found a place for a tent, and pitched my tent, which took some time in the dark, and went to sleep. It was a cold night, but I was relatively ok with my sleeping bag and a Uniqlo coat. Plus I was dead tired. I woke up at 5:30am, made coffee, packed the tent and everything else, and walked back to the main road. The second car stopped and picked me up to Idyllwild. A very nice old guy who sells and repairs refrigerators for living, and was called at 3:30am to fix a refrigerators in a campground. By 6:30 I was at Idyllwild and at my car.
Rest Day
After the adventures of the first day, the second day was a rest day. I took an hour nap in the car, and then went to get breakfast at the local Alpaca Café. Then I wandered around Idyllwild, and stopped at the awesome Black Mountain Café which I remembered from my previous visit at Idyllwild a couple of years ago. By the time I was done, my room at the Idyllwild Inn was ready for check-in (My plan all along was to spend that night and the next one there), and I crashed for an afternoon nap. Dinner the a local pizza place, and went to sleep early to close a day of rehabilitation and calorie restoration.
Day 2
From: Idyllwild/Humber Park (6700ft)
To: Idyllwild (5600ft)
Stats: 20.3km, 8:20 hours, 2300ft (700m) elevation gain
On the PCT: 4.1 miles (6.6km)
From: Saddle Junction on the PCT mile 179.4, elevation 8114ft
To: Deer Springs Trail junction, mile 183.5, elevation 8054ft
Fresh after a day of rest, I decided to get back up to the PCT and hike it for a day, returning back to the hotel in the evening. This time I didn’t want to take any risk at the end of the day, so I planned it so that the end of the walk will be in Idyllwild, where I was staying.
The word “crest” in the Pacific Crest Trail is important. It means that the PCT usually ventures in the highest elevation in a given area, or close to it. So getting back to the PCT in the San Jacinto mountains means climbing. A lot. Just to get from Idyllwild back to the PCT is about 3000 feet elevation gain, but if you get a ride to Humber Park, you can cut it down to about 1700 feet. Still a lot, but manageable. So I had Sandy, another trail angel, drop me off at Humber Park around 8:30 in the morning and I started climbing the trail that is called Devil’s Slide, a 4km, 600m elevation gain trail that connects Humber Park above Idyllwild to Saddle Junction on the PCT. The ascent from Humber Park has a moderate grade, and it’s a good trail, so the 4km took one hour and forty minutes, and was definitely reasonable. I only met a couple of people on the way up.
At Saddle Junction, at the top of the Devil’s Slide, I stopped for a short rest plus coffee and breakfast, pretty much all by myself up there.
Next, I move on to the second ascent of the day, this time another 800 feet elevation gain to 9000 feet, which is the highest the PCT gets in this area. This was definitely harder, mainly after the first climb of the day, but the real trouble started when I got to the higher elevation: snow. Initially it’s nice to see some snow in a somewhat hot day, and it’s even not that bad when some of it is on the trail and you have to walk on it.
But then it became snow all over, which made it impossible to see the trail. After few minutes of trying to follow footsteps on the snow to find the trail, I started to consider turning back. After consulting the map and seeing that the trail started to descend in about half a kilometer, and realizing the I am walking in a reasonably graded area (i.e. can’t really slide and fall off a cliff), I decided to continue carefully, following footsteps on the snow, and every few minutes correcting back to the trail using the map/GPS. The hiking poles helped a lot. Not sure I could have done it without them. And then after half a kilometer which took over an hour to go thru, the trail started to descend and the snow disappeared.
The next obstacle on the section from the San Jacinto peak trail junction to the Deer Spring trail junction was trees. Some tree completely block the trail and you must find a way around them. As the trail runs on a steep side of the mountain, finding a way around these trees is not easy and sometimes scary. Again, the hiking poles help a lot in keeping balance. An hour later I made it to the Deer Springs junction, and left the trail to go down back to the main road (4km) and another 1km walk on the main road to Idyllwild. Later I read that because of the record fall of anow in California last winter, the PCT trail from the Deer Springs junction to the Fuller Ridge trail junction is covered with snow and not passable.
Rest Day
Idyllwild Nature Center, 5.5km
Day 4 was a semi-rest day. I didn’t go up again to the PCT, but rather did a short 5.5km hike in the Idyllwild Nature Reserve. A nice trail with an uphill climb, but nothing at the scale of the PCT.
Day 3
From: South Ridge Trailhead (5745ft)
To: Idyllwild/Humber Park (6700ft)
Stats: 16km, 6:40 hours, 3100ft (950m) elevation gain
On the PCT: 1.5 miles (2.5km)
To: Tahquitz Peak Trail junction, mile 178, elevation 8619ft
To: Saddle Junction on the PCT mile 179.4, elevation 8114ft
Last day on the PCT for this round, and it wasn’t a simple day. It started with the start point of the trail. I was hoping that my ride can take me to the actual beginning of the South Ridge trailhead that leads to the Tahquitz peak, but the road was closed (and also very rough anyway), which meant adding just one mile to the hike, but also 1000ft elevation gain on that mile. The trail up to the Tahquitz peak is a good trail that goes up an up forever, thru multiple switchbacks, but it’s not too steep. It took almost 3 hours to get the Tahquitz peak, with amazing views to the west of Idyllwild and the area.
And although I just completed an elevation gain of an almost 1km, I wasn’t too tired, probably due to the conditioning of the previous days. All that was left is another 1km or so to connect to the PCT, in what seemed like a level and easy trail. But just like my previous day at the PCT, the surprises and the challenges lay ahead. About 100 meters into the trail from the Tahquitz peak to the PCT junction, at an elevation lower than 8500 feet, snow started to cover the trail. It happened at a lower elevation than on day 3, but the real challenge was that now the trail traversed a steep side of the mountain. Making the wrong step here, or slipping on the snow could be dangerous. Initially the snow covered only small sections of the trail, but then there was that long stretch of snow on the trail, which seemed unpassable. I definitely entertained the thought of turning back and taking the long route down back to Idyllwild. But then I noticed a small tree in the middle of that stretch which could be a point of support in the middle of crossing the stretch. I decided to go for it, tracked the steps on the snow of previous hikers and made it to the tree that indeed provided support, and confidence, in the middle of the stretch. Then ~20 meters from there to the end of the stretch and back on the trail.
I was hoping to not encounter more stretches of snow, mainly not such that will force me to turn back. Luckily the snow on the trail was intermittent from there on to the PCT and also on the PCT itself, so within less than an hour I was at Saddle Junction, ready to make coffee, eat something and walk down Devil’s Slide to Humber Park and Idyllwild, not expecting what came next. This time the challenge was human: three park rangers approached me and asked to see my hiking permit. Now, the permits issue in the area is complicated. If you plan to talk the entire PCT, you have to get a permit for that. I don’t, as I hike sections. But then you have to get an area permit. In the San Jacinto mountains, the permits are even more complicated. The area is split into two areas: the San Jacinto State Park, and the San Jacinto Wilderness, each with its own ranger station and permit system. The permits are very cheap or are free. I applied for a permit to the San Jacinto state park, and asked that it will be sent to Tal’s address in Oakland. It never arrived. So basically I didn’t have any permit to show them. I explained the situation expecting to get a fine, but they were very nice and just asked that I go to the ranger station at Idyllwild and get a permit (which I did later, but it was closed). We even took a selfie together.
The last event of the day happened as I descended Devil’s Slide. Maybe half a kilometer before reaching the end of the trail, a snake crossed the path. With the experience of two snake encounters in my first PCT hike 4 years ago, I was alert, and noticed the snake at least 15 meters before reaching it. So I waited patiently for it to cross the trail and then continued, reaching Humber Park where I caught a ride back to Idyllwild.
Rest Day
In the last day I did not hike the PCT, but rather drove to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram, and took it up the mountain to elevation 8560 feet. Great views of the Palm Springs area and the San Jacinto mountains. Many hiking trails start from the tram upper station, including such that go to the PCT, just 4km away, to Saddle junction on the PCT. Being there already a couple of times I didn’t need to go there again, and instead took a short 3km hike near the tram station.
Then I drove 50km to the remote town of Pioneertown, CA, to see Metric in concert. I follow Metric for many years, they are awesome, and the selection of Pioneertown to perform there seemed odd to me. But I was in the area and it was a great opportunity to see them. Pioneertown is what the name suggests, a town built like one of these towns you see in westerns, with dirt streets, bars, etc. One of them is Pappy & Harriet, a restaurant bar. I was utterly shocked when I got there. I expected few people will get there to see the show, but 2 hours before the show they were already directing people to distance parking lots. There was a one hour queue to get a table, so I ate on the bar. Then I found out there is no cell coverage in Pioneertown and the restaurant doesn’t have wifi. No idea how to get my electronic tickets and activate them. Luckily there was one bar on the other side of town with wifi, so I walked (hiked?) there and was able to get my ticket. The concert was outdoors, and I sat in a table with the Metric crew, so I was able to ask them some questions.
