Dave served Quiche for breakfast along with tea and we were on the road by 8:00am, headed for the Palm Springs Tram. The drive from Dave’s ridge top house at 6000’ overlooking San Bernardino, down into the LA basin and then east to Palm Springs took about an hour and fifteen minutes. We unloaded at the tram base station and Sally drove away as Dave and I mounted the stairs to purchase our $24.95 tickets to ride the tram. The sky car left the base station precisely at 10:00am and lifted us smoothly from desert palms to mountain pines. We stopped at the ranger station for our mandatory $5.00 permits, then headed up the trail. A stop at Round Valley for water and we continued up to Wellman Divide. As the day progressed, we continued west, then north and finally east as we circled the peak, ending up at Little Round Valley at 9,300’, about 1500’ below, and 1.3 trail miles from the San Jacinto summit. The western end of our hike included about 7 miles on the PCT.
Along the way we passed two kids in their mid twenties, a boy and girl, laying on the forest duff just a few yards off the trail. They were hiking the PCT. I asked how they were doing. “Not well”, came the unexpected reply. They were both considering quitting the PCT. A discussion ensued, in which we learned they were hiking the trail with the boy’s dad. The dad was intent on getting to Canada and was pushing for 20 miles a day. The grind was making for a miserable trip for the two kids, and they appeared to think their only recourse was to quit.
I passionately urged them not to quit, but rather change their goal. Instead of making a goal of hiking the whole trail the goal, I suggested they change it to a time goal; be on the trail for 5 months and how every far they get is immaterial. To do this, they would have to separate from his dad, which they thought might be feasible. I encouraged them to stay on the trail once more, then left them to discuss their plans and formulate what action they would take.
That night, I had a Mountain House dinner, Dave gourmet noodles and smoked clams. Dave pitched his tent and I laid out my ground tarp to sleep out under the stars. The sun sank toward the horizon, and by the time it disappeared, it was cold. My choices for sleeping bag were either a 8 pound REI expedition down bag rated to some astronomically sub-zero value, or a 40º bag I use for lowland summer sleeping. I guessed it would be cold, so I brought two 40º bags, mine and Sally’s, and slipped one inside the other. These bags weigh just a little over a pound each, so their weight was insignificant. Surprisingly, I stayed warm as the night time temperature dropped well below freezing.
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