Up at 7:30am. We drove to the water filling/dump station to reload the van in the Upper Pines Campground. While the water was filling, we each took spit baths in the sink. A check of the GPS found the quickest way south to Trail Saint Dave’s (TSD) house above San Bernardino was via the Wawona entrance to the park. The rest of the day was spent in driving south toward TSD’s house. We chose to go through Tehachapi so we could see it again-we were last there in early June when hiking the PCT. We stopped at the bakery in town for a treat, filled the gas tank and continued east. With Sally at the wheel we passed through Mojave out to Hwy 395, turned south and connected with I-10. It was a hoot to drive into Cajon Pass and see it again. We had stayed at the Best Western for 2 nights, taking a zero just before the memorial day weekend. It is a noisy, not pretty place, but we loved it when we had hiked into it. We snapped a picture of the McDonald’s that everyone so coveted on the trail-cheap, tasty calories right on the trail. We continued on to TSD’s on Hwy 138, passing the Sushi restaurant he treated us to last spring. Hwy 138 took us over the PCT at Silverwood Lake and we looked down with fond memories of the spring morning last year when we hiked under the highway and disappeared into the adjacent scrub.
The road to Crestline, the nearest town of any size close to TSDs, winds steeply up through magnificent oak and grasslands. The VW was in 2nd gear for many miles as the road switchbacked up through this breathtakingly beautiful country.
The GPS faithfully led us to his house, and we arrived about 5:45pm. Turns out, Dave had gotten married last October to a woman named Sky. Sky, Dave and a friend who was hiking with us, Vicki, greeted us and served a wonderful dinner of Chinese food that Sky prepared. It was exquisite.
We spent the rest of the evening getting our food and packs ready for the hike. The plan was for Dave and I to take the Palm Springs Tram up the side of Mt. San Jacinto (2000’ to 8000’ in 11 minutes) at !0:00am on Friday morning, hike to Wellman Ridge, then continue around the San Jacinto massive in a clockwise direction past Strawberry and Deer Springs and spend the night in Little Round Valley, a hike of about 12 miles. On Saturday, Vicki would take the 8:00am tram and we would hike up over the top and down to meet her, then retrace our steps to the summit, down the west side to the PCT and follow it north across Fuller Ridge, spending Saturday night somewhere north of Fuller Ridge. Sunday, we would follow the PCT for 14-18 miles north until it intersected Snow Creek Rd where Sally, who has been spending the last three days with her sister in Palms Springs, would pick the three of us up.
With our plans made, Sally and I nestled into the van, Vicki headed home, and Dave and Sky retired to their house.
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