Daily Miles 17
Total miles 193
Oh what a day….
We got up early and started to walk back to the trail from our campsite. The way to the trail is a long, windy and uphill climb on the road. Luckily we were able to a get hitch up to the trailhead with a couple from LA who were going to the same area to rock climb.
We started up a side trail, called Devil’s Slide, which brought us back onto the PCT after two and a half miles of steady uphill. The PCT continued to climb as we hiked further up Mount San Jacinto. When we got to the junction for the peak (the PCT does not go to the peak), Lid and Beardoh decided they wanted to climb to the peak, but SweetPea decided she wanted to just hike the PCT. So, we decided to split up and meet four and a half miles down the PCT where their alternate trail reconnected with the PCT.
It seemed like a good enough idea (and as it turned out we each had a really nice hike on our different routes), but unfortunately, SweetPea got a bit confused with the map and waited for the guys at the wrong trail junction…she waited at a junction about a half mile too early. So, we didn’t have a smooth reconnection.
Instead, SweetPea waited for an hour and a half before realizing her mistake and going to the correct junction. Beardoh and Lid figured SweetPea had headed down the trail without them and Beardoh started hiking down quickly hoping to find her. Luckily Lid stayed behind for another minute and heard from passing hikers that SweetPea was at the junction a bit back on the trail. So Lid ran up to find SweetPea and we started our pursuit of Beardoh.
Unfortunately, in his haste to find SweetPea he left the water source without getting water (and we were headed into a 20 mile dry stretch). So SweetPea loaded up with six liters of water and hiked out quickly to find Beardoh.
After an hour and a half of worrying and anxiety, we finally got back together. Lid had sent Beardoh a text and finally Beardoh received it and waited for the other two to catch up.
Too much worrying for one day. To top things off for Beardoh, he banged his headed pretty hard into a tree hanging over the trail and got a good scrape and a sore head.
Once we had all met back up, we walked another three miles to camp. Our camp is really nice and has a great view of San Jacinto. We are camped with two other hikers we had met earlier in the day. Tomorrow is all downhill (about 16 miles of it) and then we need to get ourselves up to Big Bear Lake as the next stretch of trail is closed due to fire damage in a previous year.
We’re all snuggled in our sleeping bags and ready for a good night’s sleep. Here’s hoping for a smoother day tomorrow.
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