Hiking madness

May 31

So as nice as the spot was the previous night and how much we enjoyed the short day, I sure wished we had pushed on through Fuller Ridge b/c the warnings of hazardous patches of steep snow were no longed valid - they were pretty much a non-issue. Also wished that I had paid more attention to where we were last night and taken the extra time from the short day to make the side trip up to San Jacinto (sp?) Peak which I'm sure would've been beautiful and worth the extra effort. Oh well :)

But uggggggghhhhh.... The descent from Fuller Ridge... If I ever end up in some sort of purgatory, that decent just may be how I'd have to spend my days there :P Unbelievable switch-backing... We could see I-10 as we began the hot dry descent... And we spent nearly the entire day going NOWHERE. It seemed like every switchback went for a mile in opposite directions for no reason. Saw two more rattlers, this time closer and both of the desert variety (all light brown). The first simply gave one shake of its rattle and went silent. I stopped and looked to find it draped in the branches of a nearby bush. The second was a nice big one and gave a few more rattles than the first but still not nearly as many as the timber I'd encountered a few days earlier - each snake has given different warnings so far..

So given the unnerving trail that went nowhere (I swear we were the same distance away from the road when we got to the valley floor), the hot dry shadeless conditions (ran out of water a little bit before getting to the bottom b/c I passed up water sources thinking we were almost there), and the presence of the rattlers in conjunction with overgrown trail conditions nearly the whole way (another reason to love the trekking poles), it was a long, tiring, and agrevating day of hiking. There hasn't been a whole lot of trail that I've experienced and loathed hiking... but that section.. I probably wouldn't choose to do again.. And if the PCT is like that very often... psshhh... It'll be a test of my sanity ;P

Anyway.. Treated and chugged down a liter of water at the bottom, then hit up a house (documented as hiker friendly) in a nearby residential area for some water from their hose and ended up finding they'd left out oranges and delicious dates for hikers passing through :)

Traversed the sandy and windy valley floor in the fading light with views of huge wind turbines all around.

Found some more trail magic under I-10, enjoyed a root beer and apple as it got dark. .... Always weird seeing all those people flying by in their cars, soon to be somewhere comfortable, warm, and secure...'as you hike out of and back into the wilderness..

Put on the headlamp and kept on truckin for a couple more miles, finally finding a suitable patch of sand right next to the trail to camp for the night. After cooking, eating, and crawling into my bivy and sleeping bag, it wasn't long before my eyes shut for the night after just managing to glimpse a sky full of stars.


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Location:Between I-10 and ascent to wind farm