Skip to main content

Back to the grind? (D-10)


Guess I had to leave the comfort of the lodge in Idyllwild and head back to the wilderness. Yeah…it was a bit difficult to leave the luxuries of civilization, but not that bad 🙂. As you can imagine, one starts really appreciating the basic things of life like running water, flush toilets, a bed, electricity, good food & drink options and of course, WiFi/4G service when you don't have them for days.

Before heading out, I picked up the resupply box from the PO that I had mailed to myself long ago. Supposedly there was 4-days of food in that, but looking at it, I think I grossly overestimated how hungry I would be on the trail. Anyway, put everything in the pack and alas, the pack weight went back to 35 lbs (17-28 kg) or so. The lodge offered ride service to the trailhead and headed back up 2.6 miles (and it was only up & up all of those 2.6) to Saddle Junction where I was back on PCT. 

The plan was for a short hike today - only about 11 miles and I hoped to reach the campground in good time. But, hiker proposes and the trail disposes. Till lunch, the trail was clear and easy. However, after that, I entered the Mt. San Jacinto wilderness area and more & more of the trail was covered in snow.

The problem was the snow & ice combined to make it treacherous for hiking. Especially going even small down slopes, as it was difficult to get a grip on the surface. I did not have microspikes, as I had mailed them to Kennedy Meadows (much further north), which would have helped. It was not that it was terribly dangerous (no, there was no risk of gaining off the mountain like in the movies), but extremely slow going. Never wanted so much for the downhill to get over 😀. Reached the campsite only around 5:30 pm after a couple of slips and falls. Later came to know that other hikers also had a similarly tough time.

Above is an example of downhill switchback with no grip on the snowy surface.

Another example of uphill "climbing" on snow.

To continue the misery of the day, as I was setting up the tent, the main tent pole cracked 🤦🏽‍♂️. A bit of duct tape fixed that but I have to think of getting it replaced/fixed. Additionally, the end of the top support pole also came out of it's mooring. If I was a superstitious guy, I would have said today was a bad day. Of course, it is just a few random occurrences 🙂. 

Btw, the front mesh pocket of the backpack fell against a small dead tree branch and got a hole this morning. Fixed that too with tape.

Cracked pole

Attachment out of it's mooring

Among other things, today I finally saw what I was expecting/hoping for a long time. I have mentioned how windy it has been all these days (so much so that the wind was roaring constantly the whole night of D-8 and it was exactly like sleeping next to a electric generator) and I had wondered why this was not been harnessed.

Windmill farm in the distance

A close-up look. Btw, the trail goes towards those windmills in the next couple of days.

Below: first time I saw steps in the PCT. Guess somebody did a good job of trail building!

Finally, data:



Comments

Vipul said…
Ravi, there too you are fixing things ha 🙂. Nice pics, thanks for sharing. Hope you remember the mobile has selfie camera as well 😉
[v] said…
That's quite a lot of elevation. Pls mark the segment. We can use if for future training runs. BLR doesn't have such trails 😭

Popular posts from this blog

My gear and my tramily (D-97 @ 2148 - Zero day)

Some of you have asked about what gear I am using. Since today is a Zero day (the last Zero day was on D-57) and there is nothing much to report other than the fact that I shipped the last set of resupply boxes to different places in Washington state and ate substantial amounts of food today, I figured I might as well talk about my gear, and also a bit about the other most essential component on the hike - my "tramily" (trail-family).   Tent : 1-person Rainbow Li from Tarptent (bought new). This has worked very well for me and as you know from my earlier posts, Tarptent has given very good customer service too. I haven't had the chance to use the tent in heavy rain or snow (luckily) though and can't comment on it. I use a Tyvek ground sheet (already owned), also from Tarptent. Backpack : Catalyst from ULA (already owned).  I started with Zpack Arc Air Robic 60L (bought new) and used it for 700 miles, but it was not comfortable at...

Monthly Data Update (M-4; Day 91 to 118)

  All data below in italics is for M-1, M-2 & M-3 respectively, for comparison. M-4 is 28 days (all other months were 30 days) Distance traveled on PCT: 702 mi / 1130 km   ( 631 mi / 1015 km; 554 mi / 892 km; 798 mi /1284 km ) Total time: 281 ( 280; 280; 320 ) hours Total ascent:  126,923 ft / 38,686 m ( 117,830 ft/35,915 m; 99,040 ft/30,190 m; 123,951 ft/37,780 m )  Total descent: 128,161 ft / 39,063 m  ( 115,912 ft/35,330 m; 99,730 ft/30,400 m; 123,921 ft/37,771 m ) Highest point: 7174 ft / 2187 m ( 9407 ft/2867 m; 13,120 ft/4000 m; 7580 ft/2310 m ) Average distance/day: 25 mi / 40 km ( 21 mi/34 km; 18.7 mi/30.1 km; 26.6 mi/42.8 km )  Average distance/hiking day: 26 mi / 42 km ( 21.8 mi/35.1 km; 21.3 mi/34.3 km; 26.6 mi/42.8 km ) Average time hiking/day: 10.0 ( 9.3; 9.3;  10.7) hours (incl Nero days) Average pace: 2.6 mph/4.2 kmph ( 2.3 mph/3.6 kmph; 2.0 mph/3.2 kmph; 2.5 mph/4.0 kmph ) Number of Zero days:...

Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

Heading out from the cowboy camping experience last night, I was looking forward to Deer Creek Hot Springs that is apparently very popular among the locals too & tended to get crowded during the weekends, even though one has to hike in a mile or so from the trailhead parking (or hike 308 miles on PCT 🙂). Reached it early enough, but still it was chock full of people - locals & thru-hikers both - most of whom had camped there overnight in spite of it being a No Camping zone. People were lazing around in some of the pools in various states of undress, as it was a clothing optional area. It was way too crowded for me and I decided to head out. But, as I was heading out, I saw a small pool of water with nobody in it and the water was pleasantly hot (not just warm). Pool I "discovered" away from the crowds Close-up of the pool Me in the pool 😋 What a lovely feeling to be in a hot pool, especially after not having had a hot ...