It's been another short section - only 35 miles from Idyllwild to Big Bear. It's supposed to be more like 100, but a 2015 fire devastated the San Bernadino National Forest, and the area is still recovering. So another PCT closure is in place. But the 35 miles were exceptional ones! We hiked to the top of San Jacinto peak, southern California's second tallest mountain at 10,834 feet.
We'd planned to stay in Idyllwild for an extra recovery day, as we've got some lingering IT band and Achilles tightness. However, the weather report indicated otherwise. Sunny/brisk on Thursday, high winds/SNOW on Friday. So on Thursday morning, we hopped in a pickup with our emerging "hiker family" and headed to the trail!!
You'll notice there aren't any ladies in the hiker family. It's my destiny to be surrounded by brothers?
The ascent was 5,000 feet up, but remarkably pretty chill. We got into a great pace and just steadily chipped away at the miles. We saw our first snow of the trail at maybe 8,000 feet. An omen of what's to come in the Sierra... In 2014, we didn't see snow until more like 12,000 feet. The last half mile or so was a fun rock scramble and we totally lost the trail, but fortunately knew the general direction: UP.
First snow!
The view from the top was incredible. A local woman on a day hike reported that she does this hike all the time, and today was the coolest view she'd ever seen. Score. We were high above the clouds that completely filled the valleys on one side. On the other side, we could see straight down into the Coachella Valley and all the way to the Salton Sea again.
Looking down on the clouds like we're in an airplane. But better, because we walked here.
We also had an epic picnic at the top. We were up there with Thirteen, Grumbles, and Goodwill, all of whom we'd started with at the Mexican Border, as well as Amber and Adam (of Antarctic fame) and a few new folks. Goodwill, on some kind of dare, hiked an entire watermelon up, so we had fresh cut watermelon. Thirteen brought a PBR Tall Boy that we all split. Total bliss.
Amber enjoys the essentials - Pringles and PBR.
Goodwill with the watermelon.
Amazeballs picnic.
I'm the second-highest person in Southern California right now!
Note Grumbles in the back taking his turn with the Tall Boy.
Side note: you'll notice some folks have trail names already, others do not. We're almost universally called "The Js," but no individual names yet. We'll keep you posted.
As amazing as the summit picnic was, we wanted to head down chop-chop. With the snow expected to come in that night, we wanted to get as far down the mountain as we could. The trail does a ... wait for it ... NINE THOUSAND FOOT descent over ~20 miles in this section, and we were eager to conquer as many of them as possible before the weather blew in. We made it about 4k feet down that evening, which we'll call a success. By 5 or so, it was super windy with occasional rain splatters and an extremely ominous sky, so we had some good pep in our step (we'd descended into those dope clouds we'd been above earlier). At one point, we think we even hit a 4 mph pace, a new J+J record. We were both jamming out to music, which always helps. Well, I was jamming out to music. Justin was listening to political podcasts, which are equally motivating these days.
The view of Fuller's Ridge from one of our PCT apps. 9k feet = BRUTAL.
Uh oh. Those clouds are looking a little less mellow.
Oh yeah, way less mellow
Way, way less mellow.
Got up early the next morning and it was actually sunny for a minute! Left camp by 7:30 (also a J+ J record, though you can probably imagine which J for whom that was more challenging...) and continued our never-ending descent down Fuller Ridge. As we looked up though, we could see huge storm clouds swirling around the top of the peak. So glad we were motivated to get over and down the summit the previous day.
Rising dehydrated kiwi over San Jacinto.
Scary clouds coming in...
...And taking over!
We saw our first rattlesnake. It was a chill dude and just slithered into his home in the rock cracks.
What up, Mr. Snake?
Our goal that day was to get across highway 10 and to Ziggy and the Bear's house, a trail angel family that put up hikers through April and May. We continued the knee-crushing descent for what felt like an eternity. Highway 10 was always in view, always seemed close, and yet ever distant. We finally got to the desert floor and it turns out we still had FIVE MILES to hike!! These were five of the least pleasant miles to date. We were staring at Hwy 10, which seemed to never get closer, while sinking in deep sand and hurrying from the rain clouds menacing above us (no longer were they just swirling around the peak). There was all kinds of random garbage around because we were so close to the freeway. It stunk. Oh, and the windmills were back. Windmills haunted us through the bleakest days of our 2014 hike, so it was only fitting that they loomed above us as we trudged unhappily.
See the 10 in the distance? For like 2 hours of walking, it always felt that far.
Mother-trucking windmills, haunting us again.
Thankfully we had Ira Glass to keep us company.
Finally we got to the 10 and were greeted by two great surprises!!
1. A train went overhead!! I am secretly a 5 year old boy on the inside and love watching trains.
2. Once we got under the underpass, a woman came running up to us, introduced herself as Mama Bear, and offered us beer, fruit, and hot dogs. Trail magic! She and her husband were incredibly happy, upbeat, and full of hugs. Just the energy boost we needed to make it the final 1.5 miles to Ziggy's.
Train!
Train going over the PCT!
Underpass Trail Magic. That's Mama Bear (unrelated to Ziggy and the Bear) in the blue.
Ziggy and the Bear are awesome. They are an 80-something-year old couple that has been hosting hikers in their home for 20 years. It's getting to be a bit much for them, so now a hiker from the previous year typically moves in with them for 1-2 months to help run with place. This year, the volunteer was DangerMuffin, who managed the place with grace. Ziggy had placed signs all over the place, reminding us dirty hikers of important things ("Wash your hands!" / "Your family is worried about you - call them!" / "Sunday is Mothers Day!"). It just felt like a home. By the end of the night, there were 40 of us there - a record for the season. We ordered 28 pizzas, set up our sleeping bags right next to each other under their covered porch, and were snoozing like a big happy family by 9 pm.
Ziggy and the Bear's House! Windmills still taunting us in the distance.
Ziggy and the Bear also run the most thorough record keeping of each class of thru-hikers. They have an intake form which documents name, age, hometown, and occupation (everyone else wrote "hiker," so we did too!) and then they take your picture with your number. Justin and I were the 844th and 845th hikers to pass through their house so far this year - and they'll have twice as many before the year is up. No wonder they're called Angels.
#844
#845. My shirt is looking sparklin' clean.
Hosting dozens of hikers a night for 2 months is no small undertaking. Here are the portapotties Ziggy orders each Spring. Also, don't they look downright artistic against the stormy desert sky?
The front of their house. Heaven!
Thanks for the reminder, Ziggy!
Justin slept with our leftover pizza as his headboard.
Because of the PCT closure, that was the end of that section for us. DangerMuffin and another volunteer run a shuttle to nearby San Bernadino, where we caught a public bus to Big Bear, where we are now and where we'll resume the hike at the other side of the closure tomorrow. The shuttle + bus took about a half day and we only got here thanks to the amazing instincts of fellow hiker Beast of Bourbon. Bourbon works on a shipyard in Portland, is probably in his 40s/50s, and is generally awesome. When another passenger on the bus started violently threatening the bus driver, Bourbon deftly de-escalated the situation. When a passenger got quite ill on the windy roads, Bourbon dealt with the aftermath. Bourbon for president!
In DangerMuffin's shuttle with Thirteen.
Justin got an iced coffee while we waited for the bus in San Bernadino. That is why he looks vaguely awake.
Speaking of bus antics, we took a local bus home from the grocery store in Big Bear because we didn't feel like walking the mile with our groceries. We got on the wrong bus and the journey ended up taking over 90 minutes. Should have walked the mile! Then we went to the local sports store to buy fuel and had to wait in line forever because the family with young kids in front of us was buying their mom a gun for Mother's Day and had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Mom/Carol, sorry we didn't get you guns for Mother's Day. Next year?
Tonight, we're going to do the special yoga class that Lauren recorded for us to stretch out our Achilles and IT bands. We asked her about stretches and she responds by recording us a tailored class. Lauren, you're amazing!
Back on the trail tomorrow for a 110-mile section. We're thrilled to be doing a longer section with no closures, as the last week has felt choppy. Onward!!
My favorite picture from this section!
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