Total Miles 180 (Trail position)
Daily Miles about 7ish
Slept decently last night, even though we were cowboy camped on our backup foam pads. Had a nice sunrise to watch as we packed up our gear.
We walked for about 3 miles before coming to a road leading to the Paradise Valley Cafe. This is a pretty well known restaurant on the trail, and we had it planned into our itinerary. We enjoyed the meal and good hiker company at the cafe.
Today was our first detour on the PCT. There are a number of sections that are closed on the trail because of fire damage from previous years. There were a couple of ways to handle the detour. We chose a hybrid approach and hitched the blacktop busy road portion and then walked the mountain dirt road portion. There were nice views as the trail climbed and we could see both Paradise Valley as well as Idyllwild.
Once close to Idyllwild, we were back on the blacktop for a mile or so before getting a ride into town from a local realtor. She gave us a short briefing on the town which was entertaining and informative. She dropped us off at the state camp ground which is right in the middle of town. Very convenient.
We found a couple decent hammock spots and Lid found a good tent spot, and we all got showers and did laundry in the sink before grabbing big plates of Tex Mex food in the town center.
Despite arriving early and not doing very much walking, we were all still pretty beat. Yesterday’s walk took a lot out of us.
There are a lot of PCT hikers at the campsite (probably around 40 +) and we only know a couple. Most are significantly younger than us and have their crew that they are hanging with.
Early to bed for the big climb out of Idyllwild.
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