Stats

Start: Tent site past Paradise Valley Cafe – Mile 155.9
End: Mountain tent site – Mile 176.4
Elevation Max: 8,305
Elevation Min: 5,253
Elevation Change: 6,053 up & 3,042 down
Average Heart Rate: 136
Walking Time: 9 hrs 23 minutes

The Walk

Another night cowboy camping. Another gentle wake up from sun rays peaking through the leaves. My sleeping bag was cozy. It was cool outside but not cold. Probably around 40 degrees. I laid on my back looking up at the sky. I wasn’t in a hurry this morning. I heard bustling in the camp, but didn’t mind.

Today I want to get a few miles from Idyllwild. The elevation change and altitude will make this the hardest day yet. I plan to stop after 14.6 or 20.5 miles, depending how I feel. 14.6 is the first stop for water.

I wasn’t worried about the climbs. I felt fresh after spending 6 hours yesterday posted up at the Paradise Valley Cafe. My body was fueled up on town food and I felt excited to see what’s next.

As I slowly moved around camp and changed into hiking clothes the crew filtered by. I chatted with them for a few minutes. Most planned to go to a camp spot between 19 and at 20.5 miles. It was nice to know what everyone else planned and I finished packing up my gear.

I was off at 7:30. The trail quickly climbed out of the forest and I paused to take in the vast mountain landscapes . The first climb wasn’t bad and after I entered my favorite surroundings – land of the pine forest. But these were HUGE pine cones. A girl I was hiking with even said her dad took one home. Ha.

The first 10 miles went by quickly. The weather was cool and I was in my element. Next up was one final 1.2k climb over 4 miles to the first water source. I took a shot of Energy GU and focused on flying up the trail. The plan was great until I slowed down enough to check my phone with about 400 feet of climbing left. I was off trail. Then I made a second mistake. Instead of checking my location and backtracking to the trail, I decide to climb up some rocks to the next ridge and see if I could find the trail.

I didn’t really want to go back down. I did this for 10 minutes. Then I faced the music. I wasn’t going to find the trail easily. So I checked my map and saw I was 100 yards off trail. This wasn’t too bad. I spent 5 minutes searching for a way back to trail but thick brush blocked th way. The closest I could get was 50 yards. So I bushwhacked in the final stretch. Lots of crawling through thick dead bushes. I’ll never do that again. It took at least 30 minutes. I would have saved a ton of time and energy backtracking to trail instead of making a new trail.

When I finally got to the water source a group of 10 hikers were there hanging out (Remember water attracts hikers). My stomach wanted lunch, but I needed to trek down to get water first. The water was about .7 miles and 500 feet down a steep trail. Getting there wasn’t bad, but coming back up was a different story. I filled up 3 liters and climbed back up. Also there was a nest of honeybees right by the source! Thankfully were friendly.

I took a 30 minute rest highlighted by a tuna wrap and pushed on. The spot, Apache springs, was windy with no cover for a tent or cowboy camping. With possible wind gusts of 40-50 tonight I kept moving. I walked through a few rolling miles with steep dropoffs from the narrow trail. I was thankful that the trail wasn’t icy and I didn’t need to use my microspikes. But I was glad to have them.

As evening closed in, I had a final climb to camp. 1.5k climb over 4 miles. I relaxed and climbed up. It felt like training for ninja warrior. The area burned a few years ago and there must have been 50 downed trees across the trail. The only options were over, under or around. I learned trees with no bark are slick!

The last mile of trail was snowy, but not too steep. My trail shoes worked fine. I was wiped when I rolled into camp. I chatted with a few hikers over dinner and went straight for my tent. It was a windy, chilly night. Around 20 degrees. I was thankful for my 10 degree bag.

I laid in bed listening to the wind howl through the mountain tops. It kept me up, but I wasn’t mad. I was sleeping over 8k feet on top of a mountain. How many times will I ever have this chance! I listened to an audiobook and was thankful for a short, 5 mile walk into Idyllwild tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be my first bed on trail. Then a zero the following day. Town food, rest, and relaxing!