4/28/14 - 4/29/14 Triple Trail Angels

Spent the night in Hemet, Ca and turned in the car the next morning. Right on the dot our trail angel, Dave met us at Enterprise Rental and drove us to the trail above Idyllwild. He handed each of us a pack of lifesavers for the desert trail. What a super nice guy, thank you Dave!

We took 4 liters of water with us knowing this was a waterless section, our packs were heavy and full of 6 days of food.

The 8 mile walk up to the top took 3.5 hours, through boulders,  Ponderosa Pine,  Sugar Pine & Manzanita brush.

 It was quite an elevation gain from 5,000- 7,300 ft.  

This was a cool growth in the pine needles, haven't figured out the name yet but it was beautiful! 

We immediately started down the other side enjoying the views from the mountain top to the flat valley and Interstate 10 far below, that was where the trail would be taking us eventually.  We could also see wind turbine farms all across the hills far below- it would be windy through there.  The  lower down the mountain we walked, trees were replaced by scrub brush and cactus. 

We found a campsite in the brush hoping we'd be protected from wind. San Jacinto looms in our back view.

During the night wind came roaring through, 85 mph is what we heard later. My new tent bent & struggled in the wind but was not defeated!  I looked out twice to be sure Peggy's was still standing. The next morning in a quick lull I jumped out, took the support down and lay on the tent so it wouldn't blow away.  As it was I lost a stake, blown away in the night. We packed up & took off without breakfast or Peggy's contact lenses. Couldn't manage it in the wind! 

This is an example of the rocky territory we hiked through, tough on the feet, a 12 mile downhill to the hot desert floor. 

One colorful spot in the dry desert hills.

At the bottom of the San Jacinto descent was a water faucet where we got 2 liters. We walked to a trail angels home a mile away. Their home was in a small development and their shaded yard was open for hikers to rest, soak feet in a small child's pool, rinse off with their hose and enjoy mandarins & grapefruit from a cooler. We threw ourselves down in yard chairs and slept in the shade of palo verde trees as humming birds zipped by.

An oasis in the dry desert that we very much appreciated!   We rested from 1:30-4:00 and decided to cross the desert,  destination Ziggy and the Bear's hiker sanctuary 4 miles away.

We came from the mountains to the desert floor in one day, this is San Jacinto, still looking over us as we quick stepped our way across the flat sand in the hot wind.  

 After a hot slog we came to the I-10 overpass with a PCT sticker on the concrete pillar!

Once through we had a short walk to a small subdivision and found  Ziggy  & The Bear's house on the edge of the town of Cabazon.   They had outhouses, a patio & back yard covered in carpet pieces bolted to the ground ( nice padding for hiker feet and sleeping bags).  We got a foot bath! Oh the Luxury!   Our photo was taken for their hiker journals then ice cream, soda & fruit etc were offered for a fee.  There must have been 40 some hikers there & we met up with some that we knew from previous places on trail. Hiker #400 came into Ziggy's while we were there so a small celebration took place. They report many more hikers on the trail this year than last year and I'm thinking the hard trail & drought conditions will cause some attrition on it's own.  

We cooked our dinners & at 9 am lights out. I slept out without a tent ( my first cowboy camping) and enjoyed the views of stars whenever I rolled over. Wow! We had 3 trail angel experiences in two days.