PCT day 16
Mile: 197.2 to 209.6 (12.4 miles)
Start: Windy campsite 4800 feet up Mount San Jacinto
Finish: Comfy soft bed in Palm Desert Via Tamarack Rd past the I-10 highway overpass, Whitewater, CA
We descended the mountain early in the morning following a blustery night of hurricane winds threatening to topple over our tent. We followed the fresh tracks of a small deer and ravens down the mountainside where it seemed like maybe the wind had died down. Turns out we were absolutely wrong and had just entered a small protected hillside for about 90 seconds. As soon as we turned onto the flanks of the mountain the wind nearly knocked us off our feet even with our heavy packs weighing us down!
We spent the first part of the morning hiking in long sleeves, pants, jackets and our wool hats. We soon submerged under the chilly cloud cover blown in from the Pacific Ocean where it only was windier and colder. As we were blown about the side of a dusty charred mountain by the crazy winds we ran into Old Man, Spielberg and Poppy, who were all also getting blown around this morning. One of our friends Catdog later told us that he ended up night hiking this section in the gusty winds which didn’t seem like the best idea in retrospect. His tent kept falling down in the gusts and around midnight he gave up on getting sleep so he descended down the mountain. Not only was it pitch dark and he was struggling to find the trail but he was getting blown around in the dark and occasionally losing the trail entirely. At one point Catdog almost got attacked by a very large, very bold striped American badger, which bounded over huge boulders to check him out as he was hiking. He thought for sure it was a mountain lion clambering over the rocks with ease but thankfully stopped 10-15 feet away from him, its black and white striped back bristling before it backed down and left him alone. North American badgers can be notoriously aggressive, and we were just glad that Catdog didn’t get attacked!
As we finally got to the bottom of the stupid windy mountain we celebrated but a little too soon. Several times we had to take a knee and crouch down low because the gusts of wind were so strong that we almost blew over, even with our heavy packs on! This morning what really kept us moving was looking forward to something that the Guthook (navigation) app was the “large rusted pipe.” This was one of the most random waypoints that we’ve seen on the app so far for this trail. Other hikers, of course, took advantage of the large rusted pipe to add their hilarious commentaries. We’ll just leave most of those comments to your imagination as some were not quite PG rated.
Of course we had to leave a comment because there was nothing better to do besides not getting stung by bees, not rolling our ankles in the rock gardens or getting blown off the mountainsides.
For the Guthook App’s Large Rusted Pipe at PCT mile 205 or so…
“And on the 7th day the hiking gods created the large rusty pipe And they proclaimed that all ye humble hikers Who doth gaze upon the rusty pipe Shall no longer be known as Hiker Trash in the eyes of the hiking gods, But shall be saved and forevermore known as Hiker Treasure.
-The book of Princess North Star”
We laughed at the stupidity of this for hours but it kept us moving in the cold windy morning. We finally got to this stupid pipe and it was just as beautiful and as magnificent as everyone before us had described in the Guthook App for the past six years. I had run out of water at this point since we had a 27 mile water carry or something crazy like that and it was the first time in my life that I drank water using an old dog bowl. That was cool and definitely more of a “Hiker Trash” moment than a “Hiker Treasure” moment.
At this point the trail turned into a cement road where we held hands “…to keep from blowing away” as I told Shannon. Really we just wanted to celebrate making it to our first paved road and off the stinking mountain finally. We blew about in the wind some more, squeezing through a security gate blocking the road from the public. As the water supply for the very dry cities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert was piped down from the San Jacinto Mountains, it was important that nobody bothered the water pipes or the towns would potentially be in trouble.
We trekked through a nice community where we offloaded some trash in a dumpster and trekked onto a large sandy wash, where it’s so flat that we couldn’t really follow where the trail went because there were so many game paths and side trails from dirt bikers. We navigated using fallen and burnt wooden posts and yellow painted poles in the ground as guides to stay on the Pacific Crest Trail and not end up lost.
Down on the flats, gusts of wind whipped gravel and sand into our faces making for some not so fun hiking. Squinting so gravel didn’t whip around our sunglasses and into our eyes, our Buff neck gaiters pulled high up over our noses like we were at the Burning Man festival in the desert, we plowed through what felt like an industrial grit blaster. Bits of skin were ripped off our exposed legs and arms from the blowing sands. I just tried to imagine that it was a fancy exfoliation treatment that we were being treated to for free instead of the stinging, burning and somewhat bloodying barrage of the desert on our skin. The thought that we were going to soon be off the trail to Trail Angel Sheila’s house (Katie’s cousin Olivia and A.J.’s grandma) was keeping us motivated, and we could taste the home cooked food and imagine ourselves in the swimming pool in just a few short hours.
We kept plowing through the desert washes under crackling electrical wires whistling in the winds and past wind turbines that were spinning like crazy. About a mile or so from the I-10 highway overpass, we called Sheila to let her know we weregetting close to the road, and she started driving on over to come pick us hikers up. She is literally a saint.
The last mile of desert wash we had to truck through was so difficult to navigate, people had put up rock stacks, or cairns, to help hikers find the trail. Some hiking angels before us lined rocks up in a row to outline the path, creating arrows and rock barriers which we used to follow the trail. It was really hard to navigate and you had to pay attention to every single step or you’d end up in the middle of nowhere.
Finally, we made it to the highway overpass where Trail Angel Mama Bear and several other local trail angels had set up a really nice little hiker oasis under the highway bridge. There were posters on the bridge walls with what looked like thousands of hiker names written on them for 2021 which was eye opening that this many people had hiked through there. The Trail Angels had provided some food, water and Gatorades for thirsty hikers and the shaded cement structure offered a welcome respite from the wind. We traveled under the busy overpass and hiked onto the next road where we were going to meet Sheila. Since it’s California there was of course some traffic so we waited for a little bit on the windy road and FaceTimed a couple family members especially since it was my Nana’s 90th birthday party! Happy birthday Nana!!!
A local Trail Angel named Don pulled up to chat with us in his ATV and gave us the lowdown on the trail, asking us if there was one thing we could do for him is that when we got to the Sierra Nevada (about 500 miles north) to unbuckle our backpack hip belts when we crossed rivers that were deeper than up to our knees. He told us that a few hikers had recently drowned up there when their feet were swept away by the fast stream crossing currents and being weighed down by their backpacks they ended up drowning. We thanked him for the somber advice and promised that we would be good thru-hikers and unbuckle our packs when we crossed deep rivers.
Soon enough Sheila pulled up and we were so excited to see her and she was so excited to see us. We drove back to her city of Palm Desert sightseeing a bit from the car, our eyes shocked by how lush and green the city was compared to the desert that we’d been trekking through. At her house, we ate a nice fresh salad and delicious fresh fruit that she had just bought especially for us since our bodies were craving veggies and fruit after weeks of granola bars and dehydrated food. We met her fluffy dog Waldo who was super sweet and within five minutes of us stepping into her house we accidentally let a yellow bird inside! The bird was flying around like crazy but Sheila was in the other room and didn’t see it until it had already flown out. We thought for sure we were going to get kicked out after letting in the bird but thankfully he widened up and left the way he came in.
We spent the night showering, eating dinner and relaxing with some adult beverages. Sheila was so very accommodating to us, helping us with our laundry, letting us play tug-of-war with Waldo, bringing us snacks and letting us rest our tired and blistered feet. It was truly paradise and a much-needed break from the PCT.
