San Jacinto

After a few ‘zero’ days in Idyllwild, Dad’s feet were feeling much better. It was good to be back on the trail heading toward Mt San Jacinto. San Jacinto is the big peak (10,815 ft) we’ve been seeing on the horizon since before the Paradise Valley Cafe. The PCT gets really close to it but we won’t be climbing it. We don’t have the right gear.

Mt San Jacinto is well known for making its own weather. There have been PCT hikers go missing out of Idyllwild because they weren’t prepared for the bad weather, even snow, that San Jacinto can trigger. Even though the weather is hot during the day, it is still getting down to the low-30s at night, and we have to be careful to stay warm beginning about 6:00pm.

After going around the western flank of San Jacinto, we headed northwest toward Black Mountain and our eventual exit from the San Jacinto mountains. The ‘exit’ wasn’t too easy on our knees. We went from 8000ft to 1200 ft on the desert floor over the course of the day. On the way we passed another milestone – the 200 milepost! – at about 4000ft elevation.

The PCT crosses the valley floor about 5 miles east of downtown Cabazon, going over train tracks and under I-10. Even before some joyriders came through it was very very noisy. I don’t think I could have slept under there like some other hikers were.

I was also starting to feel a bit sick. So Dad got us a ride into Palm Springs for a meal and a quieter place to sleep. On the way the wind picked up and we were in a sort of sandstorm. I was so glad we weren’t out in it!

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