It was a cold blustery night last night, and I struggled to keep warm. I awoke to see sunrise then promptly went back to sleep in anticipation of the sun warming the chilly air and me still inside my bag. Phantom and Good TO Go awakened me at 7:30 a.m. At 8:20 a.m. we began a steep 1,000 foot ascent from the gap at Fobes Ranch Trail intersection to Apache Peak. From there we continued ascending to Antsell Rock where we stopped for lunch. The trail was difficult all morning with several sections having a steep pitch, similar to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. From Antsell we continued ascending to South Peak. We had fantastic views of snow-covered San Jacinto peak just to our north and the desert floor and Palm Springs some 7,000 feet below to the east. We hugged the eastern slopes of the ever-rising San Jacinto peaks until we reached the eastern slope of Red Tahquitz Moutnain.
We were at 8,200 to 8,4000 feet when the trail took a jog to the northeastern side of Red Tahquitz Mountain. At this point I was in the lead by several minutes, and I hit patches of deep snow obscuring portions of the trail. A few yards farther and suddenly I was in snow with footprints, but not trail. I assumed the snow would last for only a few more yards before trail would reappear, and I was paying close attention to every step. Soon I realized that where the snow ended there was no trail…in fact, the trail had disappeared. So I stopped and waited a few minutes, realizing that it would be possible for Phantom and Good To Go to follow other tracks, thus potentially separating us. So I backtracked a few yards then began to yell for the guys. After five minutes of yelling (seemed like an eternity), I finally got a response. I waited until the guys hiked into view and watched as they carefully traversed the snow toward me.
When we had reunited, we agreed that we must travel together the balance of our time in the snowy terrain before us. Since there was no trail, our first order of business was to study the map to determine our approximate location. Phantom took the lead and hiked up to a rock outcrop where we had clear views across ridges and valley to the towering San Jacinto peak to our north. I did some orienteering work by first orienting the map, then shooting several bearings to verify our approximate position. We knew we faced certain snow for miles and would not likely relocate or be able to follow a trail, so we came up with a game plan to bushwhack cross country to find Saddle Junction where we planned to exit off the mountain as all other thru-hikers had done before us. I gave us a range of bearings for cross country travel and we picked out some landmarks.
Off we went cross country for the next 2 1/2 hours. Thank goodness for the ice axe and my previous training with use of it! I took a couple of falls off the side of the mountain and was able to use the ice axe to prevent injury by avoiding sliding more than a few yards. The terrain was difficult as we traversed, with deep snow; at times we broke through, and we slid a lot. We stopped for short breaks on the steep ascents and had to work our way through dense tree cover, snowmelt creeks, and terrain too steep to traverse. I kept monitoring our general direction of travel with repeated directional verification using my compass and, at times, using the map.
Finally, around 4:30 p.m. we came to an area which we believed was very close to Saddle Junction. Phantom found a trail and some footprints which we followed for a few hundred yards to what appeared to be the saddle. Sure enough, after Good To Go did a quick 5-minute search, we located Saddle Junction! We were quite proud of ourselves as we completed a 2 1/2 mile bushwhack through difficult snow-covered terrain and nailed the destination! All my years of teaching orienteering skills to the Scouts back home paid off! For the first time in my life, I had to use those skills for a real life situation where potentially dire consequences could have resulted if we had failed. I can certainly see how thru-hikers or anyone else without map/compass skills could get lost on a huge, steep mountain and could put themselves in peril. We did all the right things and had a picture-perfect day to work with to sight points or reference to triangulate our position and to verify our progress.
So we happily but exhaustedly took the Devil’s Slide side trail 4 1/2 miles back to Idyllwild, where we secured the same room – #16 – at the Tahquitz Inn for the night. Good To Go caught a ride, Phantom and I walked all the way in to the motel, arriving around 6:45 p.m. After quick showers we found some Greek food in town, got some groceries, then ran into Opto and Squirrel on the sidewalk and spent an hour catching up on our trail experiences. I had the opportunity to share my Stratton, Maine sandal scandal story at their request since we had not seen each other since 2001, and they had only heard the trail rumors that year since we finished the AT before they did.
We went back to the room and have spent the balance of the evening relaxing and watching a little TV. It’s now close to midnight and time for some sleep. My feet are still a little beat up with blisters, and the let foot remains sore. Tomorrow we will do a road walk then another climb back up to the PCT to continue our northward journey, but we will avoid Fuller Ridge due to the extremely steep pitch (60 degrees) and a 3,000-foot drop with the entire area fully covered in ice and snow. I want to go to Canada, but not in a body bag!
The last two days were rough going on the trail, and we have read that some hikers believe it’s the toughest section of the whole PCT from Mexico to Canada. That remains to be seen! It’s nice to be back in town, if only for a few hours, and the shower and warm bed are much appreciated! Today’s mileage: 12.3 official PCT miles and 4.5 side-trail miles. Cumulative mileage: 178.6 Weather: Clear and sunny. Low 32, High 62.
