I woke and downed three Pop Tarts while Dave rose and prepared a cup of coffee for himself. It was another beautiful sunny morning. Our camp was on the east side of the mountain. We watched the sun rise above the horizon and bath us with its warmth. 20 minutes later we were packed and heading down the trail. We had 13 miles to go to get to the faucet at the bottom of the hill, the next available water. The faucet was installed by the local water municipality for hikers. It is the only water available in the 25 mile stretch between the North Fork of the San Jacinto, mile 186.3 and Ziggy and the Bear, the PCT famous trail angel house at mile 210.9. After the faucet, another 1.2 miles of road walking would place us on the Snow Creek Road where Sally would pick us up.
We descended this meandering, poorly engineered and poorly maintained trail for the next 7 hours until we reached the faucet.
At one point I had my ear buds in, stomping down the trail to "Who Are You" by the Who. I heard a loud scream. I spun around to the source of the shout. It was Dave. Apparently, in my Who induced walking haze I had step right over a rattle snake without seeing or hearing it. Dave, on the other hand, nearly stepped on it, he too listening to high decibel music. In the last split second, he saw his foot was about to come down on the snake. He brushed the snake off the trail with his trekking pole just before his foot came down in the spot the snake had been. Now, the rattler lay in the rocks below the trail, rattling and hissing at us. We moved on, but from that point forward, I was much more attentive to looking for snakes on the trail.
Our feet were barking loudly in the 90+º heat after 13 miles and 6000’ of pounding descent. At the faucet, seated and smiling broadly we found the two kids we had counseled to stay on the trail on Friday. They introduced themselves as Brian and Breanne. They said they took my advise, split off from Brian’s father and decided to hike their own hike. They reported that Brian’s dad was angry at the idea at first, but came to accept it and was now some 20 miles ahead of them on the trail. Brian and Breanne looked content. They had completed 10 miles for the day and were looking for a good place to get a beer and spend the night in Palm Springs. I hope my counseling results in happiness for everyone in the long run as the “Hike Your Own Hike” mantra was applied today.
At one point I had my ear buds in, stomping down the trail to "Who Are You" by the Who. I heard a loud scream. I spun around to the source of the shout. It was Dave. Apparently, in my Who induced walking haze I had step right over a rattle snake without seeing or hearing it. Dave, on the other hand, nearly stepped on it, he too listening to high decibel music. In the last split second, he saw his foot was about to come down on the snake. He brushed the snake off the trail with his trekking pole just before his foot came down in the spot the snake had been. Now, the rattler lay in the rocks below the trail, rattling and hissing at us. We moved on, but from that point forward, I was much more attentive to looking for snakes on the trail.
Our feet were barking loudly in the 90+º heat after 13 miles and 6000’ of pounding descent. At the faucet, seated and smiling broadly we found the two kids we had counseled to stay on the trail on Friday. They introduced themselves as Brian and Breanne. They said they took my advise, split off from Brian’s father and decided to hike their own hike. They reported that Brian’s dad was angry at the idea at first, but came to accept it and was now some 20 miles ahead of them on the trail. Brian and Breanne looked content. They had completed 10 miles for the day and were looking for a good place to get a beer and spend the night in Palm Springs. I hope my counseling results in happiness for everyone in the long run as the “Hike Your Own Hike” mantra was applied today.
After a 20 minute break to dry the sweat out of our socks, drink some water and chat with Brian and Breanne, Dave and I completed the final 1.2 miles to find Sally waiting in the van, engine idling to keep the air conditioning running in the 95º heat.
Sedona Maniac (Crotalus), our good friend from the PCT was in Palm Springs and agreed to meet us for a late lunch. We rendezvoused at a Greek restaurant in downtown Palm Springs and enjoyed a great reunion, conversation and lunch.
We drove Dave back to his home above San Bernardino where we met Vicki to retrieve some hiking equipment we had loaned to her and chat about the trip. About 7:30pm we said our final goodbyes to Dave and headed back to Palm Springs to Sue and Bill’s house, arriving about 9:00pm.
We drove Dave back to his home above San Bernardino where we met Vicki to retrieve some hiking equipment we had loaned to her and chat about the trip. About 7:30pm we said our final goodbyes to Dave and headed back to Palm Springs to Sue and Bill’s house, arriving about 9:00pm.
We spent a few minutes talking with Sue and Bill, then the fatigue of the day caught up with me and I excused myself for a shower and bed.
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