Heat, Wind, and Trail Magic

Day 9 (May 11):  We (Pica, Stone, Texas Chill and I,) only hiked 15 miles today, because we got sucked into the vortex of Paradise Cafe on the way to Idyllwild.  The burger I had was amazing!  (Yes, a burger.  The vegetarianism has gone on hiatus while I'm on the trail.  Hopefully the reasons are obvious.)  I saw some really cool barrel cacti today.  It's been eleven days since my last cigarette.  Yay!

Day 10: Um, I have no record of this day.  I hiked.  Saw some trees.  There was actually snow on the trail!  What I thought was a small desert farm town down in  the valley beneath the ridge actually turned out to be Palm Springs.  I made this realization when night fell and the lights came on.  It was very beautiful, but it was the most city lights I've seen in a while.  I'm starting to get a rash on my hands from the sun, so I'll have to get some gloves in Idyllwild.

Day 11:  Hiking down to Idyllwild was difficult for me this morning because my left shoulder keeps having intense cramps.  My backpack (an original GoLite model) doesn't have a hip belt or a sternum strap.  On our way down Devil's Slide, Tex and I ran into Grasshopper (the guy I hiked with on the first day).  He is going to leave the Pacific Crest Trail to hike the Continental Divide Trail.  This is really exciting because when he completes, he will have his Triple Crown. I got a calzone at the pizza place in Idyllwild that was really good!  I got a new GoLite pack at the outfitter here.  They also had some gloves for me, but no sports bra.  The price was right.  The hotels here were all too expensive, so a bunch of us camped at the State Park which had showers for $1.  This is a cute town, but super expensive.

Day 12:  The b-fast at Jo Ann's in Idyllwild is overpriced and the waitress was rude.  The Mexican place is right on, though.  Huge portions and breakfast is supposedly buy one get one half off.  Got a bunch of stuff done in town.  Got a ride back to the trail by a trail angel named Dave who gave us Lifesavers.  We just called this guy and he came and picked us right up and dropped us at the trail head!  I'm tellin ya, nothing beats trail magic!  Tex and I hiked up to Taquitz Peak because there was a lookout tower we thought we might want to stay in, but it was locked up.  It was super windy but we decided to stay up there anyway.

Day 13:  Last night I got a horrible night's sleep.  I had to get up and fix the tarp in the middle of the night.  The wind was super strong.  Today there is another 20 mile waterless stretch (sigh) through a hot dessert.  My new pack feels great though.  I'm not having shoulder pains anymore.  I've moved on to foot pain.  The muscles in my feet are adapting to hiking everyday.  Taking ibuprofen every night helps to relax the muscles.  The decent from this ridge is like, 11 miles long, and it really only needs to be like 7 or less miles long.  What-a-ya-gonna-do?

Day 14:  It's in the triple digits today.  Tex said it was in the nineties, but when we got to the trail angel's house someone said it was 106* in the shade.  Ya, that sounded about right.   We saw three rattlesnakes today.  A little baby one, a medium one and a big one.  In that order!  They were all reluctant to get off the trail, even when I continuously prodded them with my trekking pole.  (Don't worry.  Thier striking distance is 18 inches.  My trekking poles are plenty long enough to do this safely.)  I'd like to eat one one of these days.  I hear they're delicious.
This was the hottest stretch yet, and I definitely questioned why I am doing this.  To get through hiking through the sand (which I strongly dislike) I pretended I was cross country skiing.  We got to Ziggy and the Bear's  (trail angels) at 4:30.  That was 18 miles before the evening!  The first thing you do at Ziggy and the Bear's is get a lovely hot mineral foot bath!  Then they serve a fresh delicious salad and later giant scoops of ice cream with cake.  Such a treat!  This hike can be really trying at times, and this kind of trail magic totally makes up for it.
You could grate cheese on my feet.

Day 15 (May 17):  It was another hot day, but the wind was refreshing and I felt better after staying at Ziggy's.  Lunch was at a beautiful park at a wildlife preserve on Whitewater Creek.  Yummy water!  I felt asleep face down in my maps for an hour.  We crossed the river and headed back into the mountains.  The wind was INSANE!  I would say about 70 mph.