It has been a long 7 days since we were at Warner Springs-my last blog post. SPOILER ALERT: this is a long post about what we have done since.
Warner Springs resource center was a promising hiker haven with burgers, Epsom salt soaks, laundry, showers, and bathrooms. However, our timing could not have been more perfect. We walked over to grab a burger-nope they stopped serving burgers! That was okay though, we will just go to the one restaurant in Warner Springs and get a beer too-nope it closes early Tuesday and Wednesday (we arrived Wednesday). That was okay, we still had a trail dinner left. We figured we could at least get laundry done, take a shower, and soak our sore feet-nope the water was turned off. By the way, toilets do not flush without water. So our night at Warner Springs was not ideal. Far from it. Luckily the next morning they fixed the toilets and we were able to do laundry and take showers.

We left Warner Springs without spending another night there. We left around 4 pm and hiked 10 miles and got to the campsite around 8:30 pm. Joe set up his camp but Dom and I decided to cowboy camp since we were so tired and did not want to set up our tents. It was a beautiful view of the stars and an even prettier view of the sunrise.

The next day we hiked 7 miles to ‘Mike’s Place’-a Trail Angel’s house. We left at 6 am and arrived around 10 am. We planned to only siesta there then hike an additional 8 miles to a campsite; however, Joe was worried one of his blisters might get infected, so he trimmed the dead skin away, exposing the raw skin beneath. Not wanting to walk on it, we decided to stay the night and let it heal a little. Dom and Katie walked on without us. At Mike’s Place, we enjoyed some soda, some beer, and a bunch of freshly made pizza! It was everything Warner Springs was not.

The next morning we woke up at 5 and decided to take on the 25 mile trek from Mike’s Place to Paradise Valley Cafe. We met up with Katie and Dom at about mile 10 of the 25 miles and convinced them to take on the challenge of making it to Paradise Valley the same day. Dom and I really wanted one of their pct-infamous burgers, so we decided to huck it up the incline before they closed at 8 pm. Joe and Katie decided to take it slower as they both had healing blisters. Along the way, Dom and I experienced beautiful views and a bit of trail magic: a little library, fresh fruit, shade, and some soda. We arrived at the cafe around 6:30 pm, ordered a big burger and a beer, and eagerly awaited for Joe and Katie to arrive. Much to our surprise, they were only and hour behind us! Katie and Dom had their first 20 mile day, and Joe and I had our first 25 mile day. Needless to say, we all deserved a couple of zeroes after that!

The owner of Paradise Valley, and a fellow SFSU alum, was very generous! He picked people up from the trailhead and drove them to his cafe, he let hikers stay inside after closing hours, and let us sleep on the porch-with access to a bathroom. We stayed the night there then hitched a ride the next morning, after a big breakfast, into Idyllwild (there was a fire closure between the two places). We took two zeroes in Idyllwild. We stayed at the Idyllwild Inn, where we got a cabin equipped with a full kitchen, two bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. We enjoyed Idyllwild Pizza Company, Nomad outfitter, a grocery store, and free laundry service provided by our inn.

On Tuesday morning, we were able to get a shuttle ride from the Idyllwild Inn to Humber Park where we started our ascent to Mount Jacinto. Starting at around 6,480′ elevation, we climbed 4,400′ to the top of Mount Jacinto. With thunder clouds looming, we tried not to stay too long. We made lunch in the cabin near the peak, then quickly trekked up to the top for our photo opportunity. As we descended, it began to snow with some light thunder in the background. At about 5 miles down, the storm began to grow. At one point, the thunder and lightning were only 1 second apart. We immediately dropped our packs and poles and sat under a tree waiting out the storm. Five minutes later, the storm had passed leaving behind a white ground, with no trace of the trail (not to worry, it was still pretty obvious which way it went). Definitely an experience I will remember forever!! We hiked about 15 miles total, ending up in a big campground with almost no snow around (we dropped in elevation quite a bit). The next morning, we began the GIANT descent down, losing about 6,000′ in elevation in 20 miles. We stayed the night at ‘Ziggy and the Bear’ where they went out and got us a Little Caesar’s pizza, provided water, Gatorade, bathrooms, a place to sleep, and a shower. They are providing us with shuttles to Big Bear where we will resupply and head for Wrightwood.
As always, some photos are below.