Pacific Creat Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 2 Warner Springs to Idyllwild

I felt a million times better after having a day off and it was almost NOT painful to put my hiking boots on. Plus, I had mailed some heavy gear ahead to the next stop as they had an outfitter there so I could reorganize my gear for the rest of the month. It was also nice not to have to worry about having so long in-between water sources as well. Still had some trail majic at the end of this first day as a fellow had a BBQ for us. You could camp there along had a bunkhouse where a bunch of us slept in. Did I mention the pot-o-potties? Yes, small things are nice out there in the backcountry. It was a cloudy, windy night so nice to have the shelter. It wasn't so nice the next morning and people were waiting for it to clear, but we just started anyways and it cleared up pretty quickly and had a great hiking day.

The next day was another story, rainy and a little windy. Free Range wanted to go into town and have a day off and dry out. She had a very ultralight tent which didn't do so well in this weather. I wanted to spread out my days off, plus I wasn't sure my gear I had forwarded would have got there yet, so she went into town with a couple of others while I went ahead hiking by myself. I was feeling tired that day and it was nice for a couple of days to just go at my own pace and rest when I felt like it. Not that it was lot different, but it was a nice change for a couple of days. As the day went on, it was getting very windy and cold near the top of the mountains so I went off the main trail down to some shelter where there was also a spring. Good choice as a lot of people who stayed up top on the ridge had a miserable night. I woke up to snow around my tent!! Up on the ridge was something I don't think I've seen before as there was frozen condensation on the trees, but only on one side. Very unusual. Had a long day up the mountain, but it was one of the more beautiful areas so far. Free Range and a bunch of others just slackpacked backwards in 1 long day what I did in almost 2 with my full gear so I saw them heading in the opposite direction. Great that I saw them and they had a place for me to stay in their warm cabin that night.





To get to the town of Idyllwild, you have to hike 2 miles downhill to a parking lot. Luckily there were some locals there to drive me another 2 miles into town. Very cute little place that all rustic and lots of wood. For us, it was one of the best places to stop - I had a "nero" there - as there were a lot of different shops and you could easily walk everywhere. I would definitely go back there.

They had an outfitter where I bought a new smaller, lighter pack that actually fit me. Because of my decreased pack size, I had to get a smaller pot. Crumbs also found me an Esbit stove in a hiker box. An Esbit stove is a very small tin thing with a fuel cube so I thought I'd give it a try until the next stop. Also, there were "hiker boxes" at the different stops, where you could leave stuff you don't want or had extra of and others could take stuff. Good source of extra food if you needed to. I had to get this huge box to ship my other pack and gear home. Even though my pack was a little heavier than most others still, it was tons better than before. After running around all day, I needed rest, but Free Range had organized a ride back to the trailhead to get that slog of 2 miles uphill back to the actual PCT. It seemed like a better idea than getting up super early!! Of course, we went a few miles further to Strawberry Flats. Free Range and I have similar personalities in sometimes we think more is better. Not always the case, but at least we were on the same page most of the time.