May 2, Day 13: Mile 170.9-179.4
Miles Hiked: 8.5 trail miles, 2.5 miles to Idyllwild
Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for clean clothes, a shower and a roof over my head tonight to sleep.
Last night was one of the worst nights of sleep on trail. Zippy, Matador and myself cowboy camped on this ridge with Joscelyn and Landon who tent camped. The wind was relentless but the view off to the east was the night lights of Palm Springs. This morning Zippy, Matador and I woke up early, mainly because it was cold and the wind was still howling and headed down the trail right before the sun crested over the eastern mountains to spectacular views. Our morning consisted of more climbing and an issue with a huge boulder that had fallen on the trail that required us to navigate around other with careful footsteps and the use of a placed climbing rope. After yesterday’s onslaught of elevation today my legs were so tired, but we finally leveled out to this high alpine forest of pines. The last two days were the first that I didn’t listen to music, audio book or a podcast because it was so beautiful.
We reached the saddle junction, our detour trail that would lead us down to Idyllwild for food, laundry, showers and adult beverages. It would be a 2.5 vicious downhill to the parking lot where a local trail angel David gave us a ride to the Red Kettle a wonderful breakfast place.
Our amazing Airbnb host allowed us to check in early and EVEN washed all of our nasty, dirty hikers clothes and folded them!!! 5 STAR REVIEW!! We all showered which was amazing and headed back down to the town pavilion to meet the mayor of Idyllwild. An adorable golden retriever named Max!
Another beer at the local pub and now heading over to some other hikers Airbnb to hang out and enjoy their hot tub. It’s been a hard two days of climbing, but my heart is happy, I’m clean and my belly is full.
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