14 — San Jacinto Wilderness

Miles 159.7–176.4 San Jacinto Wilderness (18.7 miles)

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Rose: the views Thorn: poor planning causing long days, miserable water retrievals Bud: Mt San Jacinto summit tomorrow!

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4:45am wake up. Left camp little after 6. The night had been a warm one; I’m glad that I’m switching to a lighter quilt at Big Bear.

Only theee miles to the next water source. Both water sources today are slogs to get to: 1 mile and 500’ each way. In order not to devote too much time and energy into getting water, you needed to pick either Cedar Spring (3 miles, +400’ from camp to the junction) or Apache Spring (10 miles, +2500’, -1800’). I didn’t have enough water to get to Apache Spring (Rebekah made a run for it on 1 liter ?), so I carried 4 liters of water up the elevation changes to the top of Apache Peak.

Since Lucy is gone, I’m now the anchor of my group. Before, Lucy was the slowest, so I just had to stay in front of Lucy. Usually, we would end up hiking together by the end of the day. Semi, Rebekah, Angel, and Mitch are all much faster, so we often don’t see them from the morning to siesta, and then they sometimes slowed down for us from siesta to camp. With Lucy gone, I am now the slowest by a mile. I figured I wouldn’t see my family members until camp (if I made it that far; I had doubts), but I did find Semi, Angel, and Mitch (Rebekah was long gone) on the side of the trail going up Apache at around 2pm. They looped me in, waiting at switchbacks for the rest of the day.

The trail was tough today. After Cedar Spring, the trail snakes along the ridge line toward San Jacinto. It climbed up 500’, down 1000’, up 1500’ to Apache Peak, and then down 1200’ and up 2100’ over the next 7 miles to camp. The route was fairly routine to the top of Apache Peak: switchbacks up and down through burn area over a wide ridge line. I took a 45 min break before the climb to the top of Apache; my feet were aching after already covering 9 miles and +1800’ -2100’ that morning. That meant I started up Apache in the heat of the day: 12pm. A cool breeze and higher elevation made the climb tolerable.

After Apache Peak, the ridge line narrowed to a knifes edge and the trail cut a cunning path on the eastern aspect, slicing through the steep slope. This is the section that has had consequential falls in the early season when there’s frequentially ice. Thankfully it was completely dry due to the drought. I thankfully, this section also has blowdowns from the fire that ripped through 5–6 years ago.

We tackled this last daunting 7 miles in the shade of the afternoon. Additionally, most of the morning the wind had come from the east, but in the afternoon, it came from the west, meaning the narrow trail was on the leeward side of the mountain and protected from the brunt of the wind. The trail would dip to the east for a mile, then come up to an incredibly windy saddle for a breath. I thanked the wind my saddles for drying my sweat, but I did almost lose my hat several times. I learned to sinch done my sunny hoody to keep my hat on.

I was thankful for my family through this section, as the steepness and blowdowns heightened the nerves, and the elevation jellies the legs. Mitch’s knees were killing him. My feet feel flattened. Eventually, we made it to camp where Rebekah was waiting.

It’s incredibly windy at camp. My tent is holding up so far, but it’s suspect. Im glad I bought earplugs in Idylwild to cut out my tent flapping; it’s a very loud wind through the pines in which we’re camped. It’s an early night for all of us; we’re utterly exhausted.

I’m hoping the wind dies down with the night, but I’m fearful that the strong winds are an indication of incoming weather, which could hamper our plans to summit tomorrow morning. So far we haven’t witnessed any thunder and lightning in the afternoon in the desert. Hopefully tomorrow doesn’t reverse that trend.