Day 17 - Mesa Wind Farm 5/3

By Hedgehog

Starting Mileage: 210.8
Ending Mileage: 232

After a breakfast of cold cereal and coffee provided by Ziggy and The Bear we set out.
Conditions were similar to the day before, high 90s and sunny with few water sources.
The first few miles were a climb back out of the valley which took us by the Mesa Wind Farm. This is an impressive collection of wind turbines, the first of many I understand. They also offer water to hikers, but as it was a short way into our trip we didn't need any yet.
We trekked up and down, in and out of dry washes until we came to Whitewater Creek.  Upon setting my pack down promptly sat in the river to cool down. It felt fantastic. We ate, refilled our water, then sat in the diminishing shade provided by a boulder. Once the shade became too small to provide relief we ventured forth aiming for our next water source, Mission Creek.

You've probably noticed a theme, hiking from water source to water source. You're right. Water is heavy and you can carry only so much.  The heat and elevation exasperate the situation. Being high desert there are few dependable places you can get water. Doubly so in a low snow year. So water takes a central role in everything you do.

Mission Creek parallels the PCT for several miles once you arrive at it. There are also numerous crossings of the two.  So the afternoon/evening was plentiful water. We hiked until about 6 pm then found a campsite near where Chief and Allen had setup. 
We were in the tent by 8pm and asleep shortly after. It doesn't take your body long to get in the habit of waking with the sun rise and going to bed when the sun sets.

Day 16 - Ziggy and The Bear, An Oasis 5/2

By Hedgehog

Starting Mileage: 191.3
Ending Mileage: 210.8

The fire appeared much more contained as we started our hike. We later found out it was about 75% contained.

Forewarned about the hours of hiking back and forth as we wind our way down to the valley floor I was determined to not let it bother me. This would be sorely tested. 

The decent held a few bright spots including the 200 Mile mark and running across a few other hikers.
That's about it.
Sometimes you just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

At the bottom of the decent was the first water since the river we had lunch at the day before, it is a fountain kindly provided by the local water utility. 

Once on the valley floor it was a 5 mile walk across sand, under a blazing sun to I-10 and a bridge that would provide some shade.
Along the way we came across a sign from the power company that they were working on the high tension lines overhead. Furthermore if helicopter operations were underway we couldn't proceed. Luckily no flight operations were underway and we didn't need to wait.

Under the bridge we found our first non-Magic Man trail magic.  This was 2 foam coolers full of soda and water courtesy of a previous PCT hiker, DNA.

After a brief respite we continued on and debated if we'd stay at the hostel just ahead or if we stop in and wait for it to cool down before doing some more miles in the evening.
The hostel is just off trail and is run by Ziggy and the Bear. It isn't a traditional hostel, it's their home and they offer camping in their backyard that's what we knew and then we got there.

When we arrived we were immediately greeted by Ziggy with orders to sit and take off our shoes as foot baths would be drawn up once Bear was done sorting the inbound packages for hikers. We also signed into the guest register, I was hiker  #180 and BooBoo was #181.
The chairs were under a large permanent awning that had just been installed this last year expressly to provide shade for hikers.
Most of the backyard had carpet laid over it to prevent too much dust. Two temporary awnings were also stretched over the carpet to provide more shade with a third about to be erected. These temporary awnings covered the area hikers could sleep for free.
There was also free fresh fruit, water, power charging station, port a potty, and separate shower building for the hikers to use.
The shower was 1 at a time, we were informed by a mischievous The Bear, when he brought out the water for our foot baths.
We decided to stay the night. 
Ziggy later remarked The Bear did not seem to be his 81 years of age, I would have guessed a decade or two younger for both them.
A sign board with relevant hiker info (water/forecasts/temperature/etc) was displayed prominently cand showed a temperature of 105°.
They were a fun, lively couple as they greeted incoming hikers and prepared fresh communal salad for dinner for everyone there.  By dinner there was 18 of us hikers. After dinner they offered ice cream to all of us.
Amazingly they do all of this out of kindness and donations from hikers. 
I rambled a bit there but that kindness deserves notice. It was much needed and greatly appreciated.

Day 15 - Fuller Ridge & the Banning Fire 5/1

By Hedgehog

Starting Mileage: 181
Ending Mileage: 191.3

We awoke after a night of howling winds and decided to take our time and enjoy the San Jancintos.
For several reasons; their beauty, their coolness (It was a lovely 70° day in the mountains and it was in the 90s on the valley floor), once we started the decent it would be 14 miles of switchbacks to go 4.5 miles as the crow flies (frustrating), and my feet hurt.

So we hiked mostly along a ridge line but with bouts of elevation change.
We also encountered several patches of snow. They were traversable in a few steps and not particularly hazardous.  In a typical year the snow would have been a much bigger factor,  but snowfall was about 50% of normal in this area.

As we hiked during the morning we were offered several views of Palm Springs. In fact, via a side trail there is a tram that you can take from the mountain right into the city. Neither of us have been there but we decided we'd visit another time. 

About midway through our day we came to the N Fork of the San Jancinto River. We refilled our water supply and then decided to take a leisurely lunch along its banks.  While we were enjoying lunch and sunshine we rinsed out some of our clothes. 

Several of our fellow hikers came by as we relaxed (Double Sprainbow, Roid Trip, Iceman, Catywampus and Allen)
In my hiker brain the "weird" name there is Allen. Not to worry though he's a good guy.

After lunch we continued on and came to Fuller Ridge. Fuller Ridge is generally viewed with some apprehension as it is narrow and winding but with no appreciable snow cover thus year it was just dramatic. 

About that time BooBoo pointed out that the clouds weren't looking right. She thought it looked like smoke.  I didn't think it looked like smoke. From the post title I'm guessing you know who was right.

A few miles later, as we reached the edge of the ridge and our campsite (right before the long decent) we could clearly make out the fire below. Thankfully for us the wind was blowing it away from the PCT.
BooBoo had cell signal and found out that the fire had started shortly before she noticed the smoke earlier in the day and that due to temperature & winds it was 0% contained.

A few more hikers came by after we setup camp, all of them with a wary eye toward the fire.

That night the smoke and soot made for a colorful sunset.

Day 14 - Magic Man Departs 4/30

By Hedgehog

Starting Mileage: 166.5
Ending Mileage: 181

We started our last day with Magic Man with coffee and breakfast at The Red Kettle.
Then he dropped us at the side trail we had come down from the night before on his way to the airport and home.

With full packs and 5 days worth of food we climbed back up to the PCT. I mentioned my lack of altitude adjustment in the previous post.

It raised its head fairly quickly on this hike. Once we were back on the PCT we continued climbing about another 4000' so that we ended up around 8000'

Don't misunderstand me, while the hike was grueling at times it provided the best scenery yet. There was strange fluorescent moss, giant pines, views of the surrounding landscape for miles, and the mountains themselves were picturesque.

It was sad to see Magic Man leave but it was also the beginning of our hike without the safety net / awesomeness of having him around.

That night we planned for the next few days by headlamps in the tent before going to sleep.

Day 13 - Entering the San Jancintos 4/29

By Hedgehog

Startting Mileage: 151.9
Ending Mileage: 166.5

The decision was made to keep our mileage down as it was my birthday and the last full day Magic Man would be around.

We set off for Hwy 74 fairly early. When we started hiking north of the Hwy, BooBoo and I passed several tents of hikers not yet up for the day. Shortly there after we started climbing into the San Jancinto Mountains,  the first real elevation as we've come north. 

It was a bit cooler and there was a breeze. A great day for hiking. 

The mountains lived up to their promise and shortly I was huffing and puffing as we climbed constantly higher.
I've been going around telling other hikers that WI is flat and its highest point is Timms Hill at 1800 ft. Thanks to the Internet I know now that it is actually 1951'. 
Still hiking around at 4000' is one thing,  continually gainig altitude for 14 miles is another. But I digress.

The day was full of good views and once we reached Fobes Saddle we took a side trail down to a road where Magic Man was waiting with my Birthday Pizza and some drinks. And they were good.

Back in Idyllwild BooBoo and Magic Msn ran some final errands while I soaked my feet in an Epson salt bath. My blisters had returned. A hazard of the job so to speak.

We had made arrangements to meet with Mark and Gumby at a Mexican restaurant for my birthday dinner. They had arrived in town the night before and we wanted catch up with them.
They had lots of fun stories since we had last seen them.

Soon after dinner it was hiker midnight and the celebration broke up quickly as we all looked for our beds.

Day 12 - Pines to Palms 4/28

By Hedgehog

Start Mileage: 127.3
End Mileage: 151.9

Magic Man dropped us off at the dirt road he'd picked us up on a couple of days before then headed out to drop Purple and Carnivore (2 hikers ahead of us that needed a way to and from Kick Off - Magic Man provided them transport) back on the trail.

BooBoo and I were looking to do a 24 mile stretch to the next road - Hwy 74 also known as Pines to Palms Hwy.
It was going to be another hot day (90s) so we started early.

This was another stretch that had very little water. Thankfully a group of kind souls provides a water cache. BooBoo and I both took a liter of water to top off our capacity when we past it.

The terrain and the heat was definitely getting to me near the end of our hike. And then we ran out of water about 4 miles from Hwy 74. Luckily we knew Magic Man would be there to greet us.

About 2 miles from the end we were stopped by the first (live) rattlesnake we had come a across. It was lying about 6 inches off the trail with its head facing the trail. After pausing to  evaluate the situation (and take a picture) we ran around it wide right.

This deadly peril avoided we headed to the road. We found Magic Man giving hikers soda, providing a little about trail magic ehile he waited.  He took us and one of the other hikers to Paradise Cafe. A famous establishment on the trail. The milkshakes were delicious.

We headed back to our base in Idyllwild for the night. On our way we checked out were we would finish the next day.

Day 11 - Kick Off Day 2 4/27

By Hedgehog

We returned to Kick Off mid-morning for the second day to attend a couple of more lectures, talk to some more friends and most importantly be in the PCT Class of 2013 picture.
Onecof the lectures that we attended was called One Pan Wonders (yes we went to one about food surprised?) which was put on by a friend of BooBoo's named Dicentra.  I failed to get a photo, instead I've attached a photo of the lecture on the history of the PCT, which was very well attended.
We ran into The Chocolate Bandito a north bound AT hiker from '07 who wss at Kick Off hanging out with like mined people.  It was fun to compare memories of the AT with someone who had hiked it the same year.
It was hot out so mostly we hung out talking with friends in the shade. Although at one point another BooBoo came over and got a photo with our BooBoo.
At 4 it was time for the class photo. If  you're thinking that organizing 500ish hikers for a photo sounds like herding cats, you're not incorrect.  But in the end it came together pretty smoothly.  
Afterwards it was time to head out. Thankfully we finally remembered to get a picture of Pinhead.
We returned to our hotel in Pine Valley to ready for our next day of hiking.