Day 12

Idyllwild Inn, Devil’s Slide, Saddle Junction 179.3 to camp at mile 193.1.

PCT miles today - 13.8 (14.8 miles if walking in circles counts)

4.5 miles to Saddle Junction. 2.5 Devil’s Slide+ 2 miles road walk. ~4000 ft elevation gain and snow fields ——————-

Gorgeous weather and spectacular view day! Breathtaking! We had hoped to leave Idyllwild as early as possible because of news of a Gulf of Alaska storm headed here Sunday night with snow forecast for this area. Hopefully we’ll be at much lower elevation when it hits tomorrow.

We scheduled a Lyft pickup at 6:00 AM to drive us to the trailhead, but no show. No driver wanted to get up at 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning? What??? Hmmm. We knew it was wishful thinking on our part. With no ride possible (no trail angel wanted an early rise either) we started walking up the hill out of Idyllwild toward the Devil’s Slide Parking lot. About half way there a pickup truck stopped and said he could take us to Suicide Rock (close to our destination). We jumped in the back of the pickup and enjoyed the mile ride up the hill. When he stopped he said he was installing climbing protection (replacing old bolts) for other climbers and had 40 more to complete. Nice guy. We thanked him and hiked the rest of the way to the Devil’s Slide trailhead. Found out later that Rick left his Rx sunglasses in truck bed. Bummer, but Chris had an extra pair. (Note from Rick: who carries extra sunglasses!?)

The hike today reminded us of our hikes at home in the Tahoe area - huge Red Firs, Jeffrey Pine, and spectacular granite boulders. We enjoyed views to the west toward Idyllwild and east looking down on hundreds of wind turbines and what we believe is Palm Springs.

When we reached a junction with the Deer Springs trail, we followed the PCT sign, but all the trails were covered with snow. We rounded a bend and saw ‘Stealth’, a guy we met a few days ago in Julian. He’s the guy who asked us to watch his pack in Julian while he went into a store. We got wrapped up in looking at pictures. When we turned back his pack was gone. So was he. Hence our name for him - which he seemed to accept when we told him. Who knows. He was headed to Idyllwild. After about 15 minutes (!) we realized we were on the wrong trail and heading back to town with Stealth. Really is sad how long it took us to realize we were walking south (and dropping elevation). We backtracked to where we saw Stealth and scrambled to find the correct trail in the snow. Guthook app was very helpful!

We stopped for water at the north fork of the San Jacinto river, which was flowing nicely with ice cold, clear water - a real treat. It sounds like an impressive moniker but at 9000 ft it’s just a big trickle. We filled 10 liters (Rick carried 6 and Chris 4) because there’s a 20 mile section with no water ahead - and we don’t want to repeat our previous mistake.

The trail meandered through huge granite boulders that looked like oversized glacial erratics - perhaps they are (?) or just erosion. The San Jacinto mountain is gorgeous rising out of the middle of the desert. We started the descent from about 9300 ft elevation on the east side and entered into the snow fields along the steep decline. Most of the way was easily navigated using the steps lefts by previous hikers. But, about 2/3rds of the way to our planned tent site, the slush and precarious long, steep drop off prompted Chris to use her micro spikes. Helped! This was the treacherous Fuller Ridge section.

We met a man named Gary (Broken Arrow - Oceanograher from Monterey) who entertained us as we walked with an interesting story about finding a journal in the wall of an old barn he tore down with some friends . The journal was written by the guy who was known to have eradicated the most gray wolves in the early 1900’s and detailed how much he was paid, govt sponsorships, nasty politics and how he eventually regretted his efforts that nearly wiped out the wolves. Gary is writing a book about it- ‘Broken Arrow’. So much more information from this man in the 10 minutes we hiked with him, but what upset Chris was that he said he saw us in Julian a few days ago and thought we were homeless! Chris was not happy to hear that! So - dirty, old people with backpacks look homeless, but 20-somethings look ‘outdoorsy’. Chris is still fretting.

Found a lovely tent site down at 6700 ft. tucked in by boulders that may provide wind protection tonight. Nothing like the wind we experienced a couple of days ago, but gusts 30+ mph, per the last weather report we saw.

Before Gary left he said to look down at the wind turbines because they are all lit up at night. If we are awake when sun sets, will take a look.
Headed to White Water River tomorrow.