Idyllwild, CA | Mileage: 0.0 + 4.2 (Around town)

I think this is the first real vacation I’ve ever taken. A whole day with nothing (mostly) to do, no expectations about maximizing the number of activities, no pressure to see and do everything … wild.

This is how I felt when I woke up.

And then I made a list of to-do items.

It was long.

Here it is, copied over into this entry:

• Sink wash clothes
• Sink wash dishes
• Grocery store to resupply
• Ranger station to get local permit
• Outdoor store for microspikes and toe socks
• Check weather for storm update
• Check FarOut for miles / plan days
• Catch up on journal
• Instagram post NYC
• Call Fidelity to rollover Maddies’s 401k
• Call Optum to rollover Maddie’s HSA
• Invest Schwab monies
• Call family members and friends
• Decide if stay another night or not
• Catch up venmo requests
• Send packing list to Andrew + Lily for when they come
• Check on the town
• Stretch to fix achy calf

So we stayed in our very comfy hotel room til 11:00 check out doing sink washing and organizing (usually Maddie is sussed by hotel rooms because she worries they didn’t clean well enough and they feel a bit grimy but either because we were so excited to have a warm, homey room or because it really was a cute, eclectic, old fashioned themed winter room with old skates hanging from the wall and a fireplace and a old telephone that was pretty clean, we felt very happy spending time in the room). Then we took a break to eat breakfast at the local diner which was exactly the sort of awesome classic diner vibe / appearance with a lot of local people and tourists and free refills on coffee and fire egg plates (two men paid for us bc they guessed we were PCT hikers, why is everyone so nice!). Then of course we ran errands to the various stores which included the ranger station for a local permit (the lady told us Mission Creek was totally washed out and we should skip it which is obviously not what PCT people are doing and also seemed to have outdated info on snow conditions, but otherwise was very friendly and nice) and the PCT gear store (tiny place with ALL the gear including the microspikes we needed, toe socks for Maddie and some NUUN electrolyte tablets). Next we hit the town campsite where to our devastation the ranger told us the PCT group site was already full so we wondered what to do for a few seconds until he acknowledged that people had bought a normal site and were letting PCT hikers stay on it so we zoomed over to them and set up our tent on a slopey bit of ground next to a fence that was definitely not really a site but oh well. And then we ate lunch (burger + veggie sandwich + shake all phenomenal) and posted up on a bench outside journaling and phone calling. And finally we sped over to the library for more to-dos, tried and failed to get our IG post to load without glitches 5 times, went to dinner at the Mexican place up the road, and got back to the campsite after dark having accomplished ~50% of the to-do list. Honestly, not bad.

And I should mention that Idyllwild is a really cute town that made the day feel like a vacation after all despite the to-do list. It’s organized around a central triangle, with little streets spoking out of the corners so everything is super walkable, and despite its tiny size it has so many cute cafes, tea shops, restaurants, boutiques, trees, etc. IT IS ALSO A CLIMBING TOWN. I think it’s only like a 2hr drive from LA, would definitely come back. It’s exactly the sort of place we would’ve detoured to if we were doing our own trip.

And I should also mention that our friends are doing wild things now and are spread all over the place which is sad. Madi texted us yesterday that she decided not to zero so she is back on trail from PVC and is probably going to be a day ahead of us at least, once we get back on trail. Mick texted us that he is headed to Palm Springs to fly to Toronto to watch the Stanley Cup but he’ll be back sometime, and who knows where Wayne is now. Julia passed us when we were headed to the campsite, she was hitching to the trail so she could summit San Jacinto tomorrow before the storm, so she’ll also be a day ahead of us. And Sweet Pea, well, when we got to the campsite we thought the two tents there were the couple that reserved it, but then he popped his head out of the one tent. So we seem to be on the same schedule as him I think! Maybe he will stay our hiking buddy, that would be nice especially now that all our other friends are gone for now it seems.