Mile 169 – 190.5 plus 7.5 non-PCT miles (Devil’s Slide and San Jacinto Summit trails)

Today was going to be a big day and I was trepidatious since it would be coming off the heels of a rest day in town. B&B, Carla, and I planned to climb out of Idyllwild via the Devil’s Slide Trail, which someone has already fallen down and died earlier this year, and link up with the PCT at mile 169.

We woke at 5:00 and were out the door by 5:36. We scored a hitch to the trailhead and began the steep climb up. Luckily, the trail was snow free and we made is up to the junction with the PCT with no problems. I was a ball of energy after not doing anything active the previous day and bounded up the trail. There were great views of Taquixto Peak as we climbed.
We followed the trail to the first junction with the San Jacinto Summit Trail and decided to bypass it for the PCT which would wrap around the peak. Instead of doing an up and over, we would do an up and back of San Jacinto from the summit trail’s second junction with the PCT. This would allow us to still do the PCT miles and summit the mountain from the side that gets more sun and thus has less snow cover.

We were up around 9,000 feet on the PCT and Burnout was feel the effects of the altitude and perhaps little bit of a hangover so he offered to watch our stuff while we went for the summit. We dumped our food and excess water and slack packed it.

The summit trail is 5 miles round trip and gains and then loses about 1,883 feet of elevation. As we started going up, we began encountering intermittent snow fields after 1/4 mile. As we climbed higher, the fields became larger and navigation became difficult because the trail was under a couple feet of snow. Luckily we could follow boot prints and the occasional almost completely buried sign.

We climbed for about 2 hours and finally saw the summit hut come into view! After a quick look, we moved on to complete the of summit of San Jacinto. By now, everything was completely under snow and we were walking and climbing on snowpack.

Being the tallest mountain around at 10,883 feet, San Jacinto commands a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. The views were stellar and we all took pictures, ate some snacks, and relaxed.

We still had more miles to cover and started back down after about 20 minutes. Navigation back down actually turned out to be harder and we got off trail, but thanks the the Hikerbot app, I was able to get us back on trail.

The snow had begun to soften in the afternoon sun and we were sinking and sliding as we descended. At one point, I stepped near a rock and post holed up to my knee, fell over and ended up with my head pointed down hill with my knee in an awkward position, but there didn’t seem to be any damage. If you don’t know, post holing is when you suddenly break through the top crust of snow and sink downward. You can post hole all the way up to your waste, maybe even more. Scary stuff.

We made it back to Burnout four hours after leaving him. We filtered water and started on the last 4 miles until our campsite. We were all dragging, especially because we hadn’t had lunch. I checked my watch every 3 mintues wishing that we would be there, but never seeming to make any progress.

We crossed over Fuller Ridge, another famous section of trail that has interesting rocks and drop offs on either side. It would have been nicer to experience if I had energy and wasn’t exhausted,  but perhaps another time.

We finally rolled into camp at mile 190.5 and I threw down my pack and began eating immediately and began to feel better. This was the hardest day yet, but I am glad I got to summit.

Carla’s first day hiking with us was pretty intense, but she said she would hike with us tomorrow too so that is good. We tried to give her trail names like ripstein, lost and found, and frankenpack, but she declined them all. We pack is too small for all her stuff and she has already ripped it and stuff keeps falling out so one of us walks behind her and picks it up and gives it back to her whence the above trail names.

Wildlife: Stellar’s Jay