PCT 2022: Warner Springs to Idyllwild

Here is the 4th installation of my 2022 nobo PCT trail journal (a few weeks off the present timeline as a safety precaution).

We came out of the chilly, windy mountains to our first zero days in the cute little hiker friendly town of Idyllwild.

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Day 17: Tuesday April 12. Mile 179.4 + 3mi in town + 4mi hitch to Trail Angel Laura’s home, Zero Day #2 in Idyllwild (3 mi)

The morning was spent packing up the Airbnb and prepping it for check out. Keeper baked eggs in a massive amount of butter for everyone, and we all attempted to eat everything that was left in the fridge. Project, Twinkle Toes and I decided to stay in town another night since we weren’t prepared for the freezing cold temps in the mountain (20’s at night, 30 high during the day).

I went back to the library for a few hours to get some more things done and then joined Twinkle at the Lumber Mill for lunch with Morgan, Sleuth, Buried Treasure, a woman who’s name I can’t remember, Jonah, Courtney and Project.

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Then we piled into Morgan’s big red van to head to a trail angel’s house, while Project attempted to not projectile vomit from car sickness.

There were 4 women at Laura’s house: Laura, Carol, Alyssa, and Emelina. Plus project, Morgan and I, that made 7 women. We all decided that not many men can be so comfortable around so much estrogen, and at the same time make the women feel comfortable; Twinkle Toes is a rare breed.

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Morgan helped all the hikers with various knee, foot and calf problems while Project and Twinkle Toes took foot ice baths. I attempted to put my feet in but it was so brutally cold and the ambient air was chilly so I gave up after a few minutes of playing my toes against the surface.

Laura refused all attempts at helping her with dinner, so the rest of us massaged sore muscles for each other and helped do a shake down of Carol’s pack. Alyssa plopped down between Twinkle’s legs and said “massage time!” And we all laughed but it was clear that Twinkle didn’t have a choice in the matter.

We sat down to a delicious vegetarian stirfry that we shoved into left over burrito makings.

Laura handed us a bowl full of cut out words and definitions. I got “Delight,” which everyone agreed fit me really well. Project got “Forgiveness,” which we agreed meant she had to forgive herself. And Twinkle got something that spoke to him enough that he kept it and didn’t share with the peanut gallery.

When the time came, the three of us piled into a little cabin Laura set aside for us with a bed and a heater. We decided to share the bed since it was cold and I was squished into the wall corner all night while Project commandeered the middle with both elbows sticking out to get the most space possible.

Day 16: Monday April 11. Mile 179.4 + 3mi in town, Zero Day #1 in Idyllwild (3 mi)

I woke up a few times to the sound of someone breathing nearby, so either the place was haunted or the acoustics of a dome house cause noises to appear much closer than they actually were. Noodle had a similar experience on his end of the dome. Keeper made a delish breakfast of eggs with veggies and bagels. I was still in a towel for most of the morning because my clothes were the last to go through the laundry. I did some of my hiker chores like cleaning my gear, deciding what I needed for my resupply and checking the weather for the next section.

I went to the post office to get the warmer gear my mom had sent from home, including my Thermarest Xtherm Neoair, Patagonia R2 midlayer, Patagonia Capilene air baselayer hoody, smartwool 250 baselayer bottoms, Outdoor Research melody sensor gloves and warmer coal beanie. It took me three rounds in the post office to get what I needed and send home the rest (I got a free box from the market next door), and I had the chance to meet Puke and Rally, who, based on our similar names, decided we’d be good friends.

I then spent the rest of the day at the library prepping and scheduling blog posts to finally wrap up PCT 2021 and to begin PCT 2022 so that people could follow my journey again this year. Twinkle Toes and Project came in and out of the library to keep me company and to bug me because they were bored, but for the most part I was very productive, especially with their help of bringing me snacks and caffeine.

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I stumbled out of the library, starving and shivering in the foggy evening, to go start my resupply. The first store I went to was shitty for resupply so I made my way towards the other market and gave Twinkle a call asking what the plan for dinner was. Unfortunately, I was so hungry since I hadn’t really eaten since breakfast that I was shaking in the parking lot and I decided I should just eat and then finish resupply.

I grabbed a one pound burger at the Lumber Mill and listened as some other hikers talked about a rattler that had struck at them when they surprised it behind a rock. One of them was Atari, and he asked me in his very strong accent “Where is your short friend?”, gesturing at waist height, “You know, Spaghetti. I call her Spaghetti.” It took me a few tries to realize he was asking about Keeper. Then I went to the market for the rest of my fairly expensive resupply; at least I got some good variety with things I had never tried before.

I walked back in the cold and wet with my layers wrapped tightly around me, and almost burst into flame when I walked through the door to the Airbnb, it was so hot from the wood stove. Back at the house, everyone was quiet and more chill than the night before. I spent a few hours in the hot tub, alone until the very end when Project and Twinkle Toes joined me. The night was cold and foggy, with a slight drizzle to sting our skin.

Day 15: Sunday April 10. Mile 169.2 to 179.4 (1.4 Tahquitz Trail alternate instead of 2.1) + 2.5 Devil’s Slide to Humber Park Trailhead + 1 in Idyllwild + 5mi hitch to Idyllwild (13.0mi)

I could barely enjoy the sunrise because my eyes were full of sand from the wind the night before that had lasted until almost 3am. I used my eyedrops and even washed my eyes out with the sports cap on my bottle. Eventually they stopped burning and I was happy they hadn’t gotten scratched by the rough sand.

We grabbed water from the cold spring only after letting it settle down a little bit when Project unthinkingly stirred up all the gross rotting leaves; the water retained an unpleasant sulfuryness that nobody but me really noticed.

The steep hike out from the spring was pretty brutal on the calves, and was only the beginning of a long day. We got our first taste of what the Sierra will be like, with stunning vistas, granite strewn mountains and steep drop offs. The spine of the mountain range reached out behind us, with our trail following the crest all the way until we couldn’t see it any more in the distance.

We also saw our first Poodle Dog Bushes, which is one of the 3 species of plants that pose a danger to our skin on trail, causing poison oak-like rashes and blisters.

We saw some really sweet lizards of all sorts of shapes and colors sunning on rocks and running around. We walked on our first snow of the trail, a pretty easy little tromp over a few short sections of snow.

Project was still struggling with altitude related nausea, but she’s a trooper and knew that once we got through the tallest parts, we’d be getting back down low enough to feel better. When we stopped for lunch struggled to eat and I snuck up on Twinkle Toes to nail him with two snow balls.

Boy were we glad to take the alternate route here so that we didn’t have to climb back up towards Tahquitz in the snow.

We took the exit via Devil’s Slide Trail towards Humber Park Trailhead, which was not nearly as bad as the name suggests, even considering that it was 2.5mi downhill all the way. We got a good view of Tahquitz, a peak I’d mountaineered a few weeks ago with full crampons, harness and ice axe.

We met a man and his two daughters and right as we were chatting and I was walking by them on the trail, my feet slid out from under me and I landed perfectly on my pack, nose skyward; surprisingly I was none the worse for wear and we all got a good laugh. Yet again Twinkle was told how “lucky” he was to be hiking with two beautiful women.

Poor Proj had to go poop the whole way down but there were no good spots on the steep hill, so she basically ran to the pit toilets at the parking lot. Near the parking lot, we met two different couples that both offered us a ride into town, so we had to awkwardly accept one of them and say no thank you to the other.

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Our first stop was the Mexican restaurant La Casita on the edge of town; we got tacos and a pitcher of Margaritas to celebrate the beginning of our first zero. I scrubbed dirt off my face in the bathroom, some of it coming off and some of it revealing itself as tan lines from my hat.

Then we walked into town to head to the grocery and liquor stores for food to cook for the evening and following day. A family of 5 started talking with us and ended up giving us 6 coronas. We managed to catch a hitch to the Airbnb we had paid for the day before (apparently just in time because a bunch of other hikers were struggling to find places to stay during the really cold next few nights) for the 3 of us, Keeper and Starboy, and the Krusty Krew.

The evening was spent with load after load of laundry getting put through double rinse cycles and naked hikers going from the shower to the hot tub and back into the shower. Keeper made everyone a huge dinner of marinated chicken, broccoli and sweet potatoes. I passed out dead asleep on the couch while the party raged on for a few more hours, all around me.

Day 14: Saturday April 9. Mile 157.4 to 169.2 + 0.5 to Apache Spring + 0.6 to Tunnel Spring (12.9mi)

This morning I started hiking a little before the other two because the morning was already warm and the sun on the hills was really lovely. Our first water was down a steep but short trail to a trough full of algae with a very slow flow from a pipe. They arrived at the turn off to the spring right as I was about to leave, so we decided we see each other later and I kept hiking.

We hit high enough altitude to start seeing phlox and some other higher altitude plants, which was cool.

I took an hour to call my sister (excited about her senior water polo game and her hobby that she’s intending to monetize), my mom (taxes that I have to refile) and David while I had service at the top of a hill. I started attempting to learn the words to Saturday Sun by Vance Joy as I walked, struggling with the parts that were more like spoken word than song.

We walked through our first major burn zone in this section, with impressively strong winds starting after mid day and our first blow downs to climb over and under. Twinkle and I caught Proj stuck on top of a log, ineffectually trying to remove a bee from her sleeve for several minutes.

A massive group of 25+ hikers, all 50+ and female, stopped on their way down to their cars to shower us in snacks and questions, taking pictures of us as well.

We did a very short siesta in the sun since the wind was really rough, holding onto our foam pads so they wouldn’t blow away. Twinkle put his underwear over his face to block the sun, something that I found pretty disgusting, especially after he said “Whew that’s a little spicy.”

We tried to figure out which peaks we were looking at by looking at Far Out and doing a little wayfinding, and were sort of successful. We saw Brujita on our way up, obviously in a lot of pain and struggling to keep herself moving with her knee taped six ways to Sunday.

There was a pretty steep downhill, then a steeper uphill that had our calves aching as we approached the turn off for Apache Spring. I have zero drop shoes, and they have 3 and 5 mm drop shoes, so uphills are brutal because we have a harder time making our heels touch the ground, making our calves hold all of our weight. Poor Project started feeling altitude sickness, with aching stomach and head somewhere as we ascended.

We were positively exhausted by the time we got to the spring, trying not to get blown off the mountain. There were a bunch of other hikers cowboying on a flat slope with a gorgeous view of the valley and Palm Springs down below. We heard that Keeper had had to take a bail-out exit before the top of Apache peak because she was dry heaving from altitude sickness. The wind was howling and there was no way we’d be able to set up a shelter without losing or ripping it, so we laid out our gear and joined the Krusty Krew for dinner.

I had to head to bed early because the sand flying in my eyes was excruciating and I was starting to get really cold. I slid my emergency blanket into my quilt with me and covered my eyes with my beanie and buff, eyes watering as I tried to fall asleep to the wailing of the wind.

Day 13: Friday April 8. Mile 144.0 to 157.4 + Mary’s Oasis + 2mi hitch to/from Paradise Valley Cafe (13.4 mi)

Our first stop of the day was Mary’s Oasis, which was this adorable little stop with a hand filled water tank, a registered Little Free Library, poems, life sized cut outs of famous writers, and the two cutest little puppies Bingo and Bonga. Mary herself walked up and told us about herself a little before taking the foster puppies back home. Took my biggest poop so far, right above Mary’s oasis; let’s be honest I thought about snapping a pic but thought better of it.

Something we discussed as we walked is how dirty we are. I’d noticed last year that nobos seemed a lot more covered in dirt than sobos, and that’s probably partially because nobos have been moving a lot longer and just don’t care about cleanliness any more by the time they get to Oregon, but I think a good part of it is because the desert is such a dusty, sweaty place and there’s no water too rinse off with.

We arrived at the road and decided to hitch in a mile for lunch at Paradise Valley Cafe (PVC). Taser joined us (the rest the Krusty Krew deciding to hike all the way in) and her and Project did the hard work of sticking their thumbs out for literally 3 minutes until some nice Swiss-Canadian day hikers walked up and told us they’d give us a ride to town.

At PVC we immediately flopped down for the biggest burger ever. I also got a hard rootbeer (literally tastes just like rootbeer) and everyone else got a beer.

Keeper had stayed the night and was there all day, so it was really good to see her again. She gave me literally the best head massage of my entire life. Out on the porch, more than a dozen hikers ate, drank and made merry.

We sat down with various groups, and I had a short talk with Morgan, the Physical Therapist with the golden retriever Honey whom we had met at the CLEEF hostel on day 2. She gave me a tape wrap for my knee to hopefully help on downhills, saying it supported the fat cushion around my patella. The tape had to come off though, so that I could bend my leg, and I essentially waxed a bunch of hair off my leg.

We grabbed a few things from the hiker box and another beer or two and just enjoyed the shade for about 7 hours as hikers came and went for food, resupply boxes and microspikes that they’d sent to PVC.

“David, when we make big life decisions we’re supposed to tell each other”

Slowly Dying

I called David and learned that he’d decided to take a job and move to Montana the next day; I had literally no idea until then haha and said very sassily: “David, when we make big life decisions we’re supposed to tell each other.” To which he responded, “I thought I already told you.”

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We did sink showers in the hiker bathroom, washing our clothes and feet as best we could. We hung out with Michael, Butterscotch and Adam until the end since they’d decided to stay the night.

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Morgan offered us a ride back to the trail and we all crowded into her red van, full of cool trinkets, her bed and a stove. I sat facing backwards in Honey’s bed/chair and Twinkle and Proj crouched in the back with our packs, all of us trying not to vomit from car sickness.

We hiked into the deepening night after watching the sun set at the trail head. Twinkle and I had a long talk about Star Trek, which he hadn’t realized was such a vast universe (pun unintended) of series and movies that are very well integrated. This was a really long night, with Twinkle and I talking about everything under the sun while poor Project was just trudging silently in our wake, our little duckling, listening to music to keep her going. They were so exhausted that I just called it and chose the nearest campsite instead of making it all the way to next water.

Day 12: Thursday April 7. Mile 126.9 to 144.0 + 0.2 from Mike’s Place (17.3mi)

I’m writing this entry 8 days after because I’ve been really lazy with my journaling.

We got moving at exactly the same time as Noodle, Andy, Brujita and Taser because we ran into them at the intersection from Mike’s place and the trail. They had backtracked a short ways instead of sleeping at Mike’s and had cuddle puddled in a flat area barely big enough for 2 cowboys.

We hiked for about 9 miles with super wonky cell service, attempting to call our loved ones but not being able to hold a call for the full term. Keeper was long gone, having done a 22 mile day the day before, and 20 miles by noon today.

The three of us dragged our feet through the hot morning until we finally decided it was late enough to take a siesta. We all took off in different directions to try to find some shade, and we settled in the shade of some rocks and bushes, with Project doing an impressive feet-in-the-air trick to fit into a tiny little spot of shade–something only a former dancer could do comfortably. I passed out under a bush, waking to find that I had pentapox from pressing my skin into the foam pad. I am literally becoming Twinkle Toes, flinging puns and witty comebacks with the best of them.

After chilling in the shade for 5 or 6 hours, we decided to night hike for a ways. We grabbed water at our first cistern, which was a concrete hole in the ground that collects rain water. I had to do all the collection because Twinkle was too heavy to kneel on the broken cistern and Project’s arm was too short to reach the water. We met this older dude, Harold, who had some uncouth, mildly sexist comments to say to us, but as we were leaving he told us that meeting us was the most fun he’d had since getting on trail.

Twinkle Toes rigged his gaiters to work on his shoes without velcro, using some floss and a safety pin that Keeper had lost and that we were bringing back to her. Unfortunately for him, that pin was clearly what she used to pop blisters (dried blood on it) and he accidentally stabbed himself with it, causing him to go down the hypochondriac rabbit hole of all the blood born pathogens that exist.

We played Contact as quietly as we could while we walked in the dark, Twinkle and I better able to read each other’s minds than either of us with Project. We learned about Project’s obsession with all things rodent when we saw a huge mouse in the rocks. She bragged about how many rats and gerbils she’d had growing up, and how much she loved them even though she is exceptionally allergic.

Day 11: Wednesday April 6. Mile 109.3 to 126.9 + 0.3 to Mike’s Place (18mi)

I woke up at 5:30 to work on my trail journals from the last few days, and I also made a plan for the coming days. I’ll probably get to Idyllwild in 4.6 days going 15mi/day. That would get me there on Sunday afternoon and I’d need a place to stay for 2 nights. I’ll zero on Monday and spend the whole day at the library to work on my blog, since I haven’t posted anything yet. I also looked up snow conditions as we approach Idyllwild, which some years has enough snow in the San Jacinto Mountains to warrant microspikes, but from what I could tell on Postholer.com, there is no snow to speak of on trail.

Since we had already spent a night apart, and Keeper is planning on getting to town before the end of the 4th day, I think our little group is splitting up, at least for now.

I headed off into the fields that were similar to yesterday, but glistening with dew. There was a funky little private campground with an overgrown high and low rope challenge course, which was a little eerie. I met King, a guy with a nice face and smile, packing up his stuff. He told me that access to the water was too steep and sketchy and to just hike the 3 miles to the next one. Unfortunately, I think he didn’t realize that the trail crossed the path barely 0.1 ahead 🙁

I ended up getting water at the third to last (and best) source before Mike’s Place which was about 12 uphill from where I stopped. I washed my face in the river, which was amazing, and then rested in the shade for a bit, slightly dreading the heat and the climb.

I passed Imrin on my way up, and she caught up with me when I stopped for lunch around 11:30 in the best shade ever: 4’x12′ of solid boulder shade, that was still cool from the evening and with no sunny patches. She’s a character, with her strong Boston accent and her wild stories and physical pain from health problems. As she walked away, leaving me to the shade for a few hours, she made the very deep comment that “This too shall pass,” in reference to our shared hiking pains.

I finally caught up to Twinkle and Project (Keeper was long gone at that point, testing how fast her legs could take her) as they were wrapping up their own siesta because the sun had encroached on their shade. As always, Project greeted me as though it had been months instead of hours since we’d last seen each other, huge smiles and big hugs and outflow of endearments and love. This girl 💜 Poor Twinkle’s back-of-his-knees were super burnt between is calf and thigh compression braces.

We bumped into the Krusty Krew (aka Taser, Ms. Pixar, Noodle. and Bruja) during their siesta.

We walked through some impressive boulder fields with pink tinged rocks as far as the eye could see.

We had planned to dry camp at mile 15, but I was easily convinced to do 18 to join them at Mike’s Place where there was a water tank for hikers. When we pulled up there were a multitude of hikers gathered around the tank, all exclaiming over how strange and creepy Mike’s place was, saying they’d rather keep hiking than camp on his property.

We took a gander, and although it was a little eerie with lots of random things, like a large zoo-sized cage, 23 car batteries and a life sized model skeleton, we decided to stay to charge our stuff and camp in the big open area out back. It was set up for hikers, with a donation box, grill and horseshoe pit, but since Mike wasn’t around we really only used the power strip.

We spent the night with Patrick and Greg who were also ok with the slight creepiness factor, and watched as the headlamps of other hikers traversed the far away ridges because there were no tent sites except for Mike’s for miles. The three of us cowboyed, giggling like school girls about who knows what and trying not to scream in pain as we helped get knots out of sore muscles.

What’s Next?

Check back in in a few days for the next section’s trail journal entries!