First Major Mountain Pass

Hi everybody. I thought I published a post when I was in Big Bear Lake last week, but their computer was old and not working properly. Somehow it got deleted and permanently lost, so I am not very happy right now. I am currently in Wrightwood, approximately mile 369 along the PCT, and only have just over an hour to update this blog, so apologies if it is a little rushed.

The night after my previous post, I was invited to stay on the sofa at a rented cabin with a load of hikers, including 2 hikers called No Trace and Unbreakable. They are seasoned hikers who have done the triple crown (the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the PCT among others). Very kindly, they gave me another shakedown. Most of the people out here have a pack baseweight (the weight of all your stuff minus food and water) of around 15 pounds. I started the trail with a baseweight of over 30. I got rid of a few more items I wasn’t using, but one of the main issued is that my pack weighed 4.5 pounds on its own. The Untraceables (their couple name) actually had a spare pack that they had bought for a friend but was not right for him. Incredibly generously, they gave me the pack to use as it was a lot lighter than mine, along with No Trace’s old sleeping mat, as he just got a new one, and his old one was also lighter than mine. After 3 shakedowns, my baseweight is finally just under 20 pounds!

It was definitely the right decision to sit out the storm at Idyllwild. The section after Idyllwild was the first major mountain pass- Mount San Jacinto, at 10,800 feet. Many hikers turned around and came back down off the mountain due to the weather. One hiker Whole Roll (so called because he usually has a whole roll of toilet paper with him) had to hunker down in his tent after leaving about midday to escape the cold and precipitation. After a short nap, he woke to find the whole outside of his tent covered in ice, so hiked back down into town. Two search and rescue teams were also called to try to rescue people off the mountain who had been caught in the storms and were not equipped for it. A couple of girls who were hiking together called 911 after getting in their sleeping bags with wet clothes to try to stay warm, but were unable to as down sleeping bags do not work at all if they are wet. Nails, High Water and another hiker called Boyce hiked through the storm, but were incredible miserable. Nails only has a bivvy bag instead of a tent, which is far from ideal in any sort of precipitation. She had to snuggle up to High Water in his tent in order to keep warm.

Hiking up San Jacinto mountain the next day

Devin and High Water on San Jacinto

Frozen trees and shrubbery

After 3 weeks of hiking and taking 2 days off, I felt like a machine hiking up San Jacinto mountain. I breezed past all the day hikers with tiny little packs on their backs as they stopped for breaks. The view from the top was incredible.

The hike down the mountain was pretty treacherous as well. All the frozen ice on the trees was starting to fall off. Chunks the size of footballs would fall down and crash, making the trail into a deadly gauntlet. I could only run through the areas with a lot of trees and hope my was was good that day.

The hike down off the mountain was even harder. 20 miles of downhill, back down to an elevation of about 3000 feet and the scorching heat. Although you use more energy going uphill, the downhills are more strenuous on your joints- especially the knees. Within a day of hiking, we went from freezing conditions, to unbearable heat. Back to night hiking it was.

The end of the hike off San Jacinto

A few night hikes later, we arrived at a place called Big Bear where I tried to blog last time. There are 3 possible ways to get to big bear from the PCT. One at mile 250, one at 266, and one at 279. Burgundy and I decided to get off the trail at 250, stay the night in the hostel, and “slackpack” from 279 to 250. Slackpacking is where you leave most of your stuff in one location, hitch a ride ahead or back along the trail, and hike back to your stuff. It is usually for a day hike, so all you need to bring with you is some water, a few snacks and a couple of other essentials like your water filter and pocket knife. The idea is you drop most of your weight and so can hike a lot further in one day. Previously I had not managed to hike more than 20 miles in a day, so hiking 29 miles was the most miles I had done so far by a long way. Foxtrot joined us for a part of it, to the mile 266 exit.

Burgundy, me and Foxtrot on the Slackpacking day hiking around Big Bear Lake

Burgundy and I near the end of our slackpack

I have run out of time for now, but I will try to blog about the last week as soon as I can!