I have never seen such an inefficient way to get down a mountain. Let me back up... after checking the maps it looks like I made about 12 miles yesterday. Thanks to the snow it took 7.5 hours to do it. Today was 19 miles, and it was done in about the same time. Of course, that was also downhill. And when I say downhill, I mean 16 miles down 5000 feet, then 3 miles across San Gorgonio Pass.
The descent ambles across a broad boulder strewn mountain, jutting roughly northeast from Mt. San Jacinto. Each switchback spans about half a mile, and progress is tortuously slow. Worse, the trail regularly ascends to avoid boulders, which makes the whole process that much more frustrating. My feet and knees were soon aching with all the downhill pounding they were taking.
The positive side is that the hillside is quite beautiful, and teeming with flora and fauna. At the higher elevations there are a lot of thorny shrubs overgrowing the trail, and the remains of a pine forest that burned at some point in the past. Time and again winter storms have knocked these dead trees down, obstructing the trail. As the trail descends, the ground water becomes more abundant, and thorny shrubs give way to manzanita, and then foxtail grass and wildflowers. Animal life changes too, with the higher elevations being chock full of lizards, and the lower elevations full of chubby ground squirrels. I was constantly amazed by the number of lizards on the mountain, as well as their variety. I saw one every fifteen paces or so, from slender brown to thick black in size and color. My favorite was a horned lizard with amazing camouflage (pictured).
Wildflowers were out in abundance. Purples, whites, reds and yellows were everywhere. I saw Indian Paintbrush, California Poppies, and a flower that resembled a lily (pictured), to name a few. As I got lower the heat intensified, and I began to see cacti. Even they were in bloom (pictured).
Eventually I reached the base of the mountain, where the Desert Water Agency has set up shop to collect spring water and snow melt to ship off to the desert cities. Unfortunately this meant no access to a stream, and no camping. They did install a drinking fountain for hikers, next to a large boulder (pictured). The temperature when I started the day was 60 degrees, down here it was closer to 96. I managed to crawl into the shade of the boulder and have a bit of lunch.
After calling my parents I learned that John Curtis, a family friend, was swinging by to help me resupply. He would be at highway 10, about 3 miles away, within a few hours. I packed up and headed across the frying pan that is the pass. There is no trail here, to prevent ORV enthusiasts from driving on them. All you get are wooden posts with yellow painted tops spread at 150 yard intervals. Finally I reached the underpass for highway 10, and settled in to wait for John. Fortunately, some trail angels had left coolers of cold drinks, which was heaven after the hot desert sun. Incidentally, San Gorgonio Pass is the second lowest elevation on the entire trail.
Eventually John found me, and we headed up Whitewater Canyon road to see where my trail would take me tomorrow. John wanted to see if there was a place he could lounge about and possibly meet me for a final meal. Turns out the nature preserve at the end of the road was gorgeous, and only a half mile from the PCT. Afterward we headed via dirt roads in search of an RV park to stay the night in. He wanted to avoid the freeway, and I was happy to head up along the hillside to get a close up look at some of the commercial wind turbines. These things are impressive, even moreso up close. I hear they cost about 3.5 million dollars each once installed.
We found a nice RV park and stopped nearby for some mediocre Mexican food. I thought it was good enough after weeks on the trail, but John says it's not the real deal. We're hoping for better tomorrow. I spent a couple of hours showering and then sitting in the hot tub, and swimming in the spring fed - 88 degree pool. Laying back and watching the stars while warm water soaked away my soreness was ideal. To cap off the evening we sat around drinking beer and eating chicharrones with hot sauce as we pored over maps until about 11:30. Now off to sleep before an early morning visit to the hot tub!
