Back on the Trail Again

It was wonderful to have a couple of days to relax at the Idyllwild state park. It was even more fun to take a Winnebago trip to the PCT Kick-off in Lake Morena. But after so many days off, it was high time to get back on the trail and get some miles under my feet. Come Sunday morning I was anxious to get started. I had a steep climb back up Devil's Slide trail from Idyllwild to the high ridges of Mnt. San Jacinto. I had hit plenty of snow on the way into Idyllwild and the north slope of the mountain, Fuller Ridge, was rumored to be even more traitorous. It did not disappoint.

I hit the snow a little before noon with ice ax in hand and gators strapped up high. It was the perfect time to start across because the snow had just become soft enough to kick sturdy secure steps without sinking through to the thigh. As I continued over the white stuff, around the northeasterly mountain rim, the day warmed and the latter quickly became the norm. I soon labored with high steps and unstable footings. It made for a sluggish pace. To make things more interesting, the snowy path sometimes ceased under direct sunlight and far from the beaten trail I had to bushwhack up or down the slope to the trail. I barely escaped the snowy ridge before nightfall, and had only logged 14 miles for the whole day. It was tough but I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment completing the almost technical section.

The next day, dropping some 8000 ft to the valley floor, I had completed the same mileage of the day before by just past noon. I caught up to Old Ridge Runner by then, who had walked a number of road miles with Chase the day before to skip the snowy section. Across the desert valley and 35 to 40 mph winds to I- 10, we eventually caught up to Chase and made camp near a giant wind farm. Sleeping in the midst of giant windmills there are the constant sounds of whistles and whines that can't help but conjure up thoughts of spirits and ghosts. Fortunately exhaustion prevails against any possible worry or concern, and sleep provides a convenient escape from both.

The next two days, like the last, were 20+ mile days leaving only a short 9 mile hike to Highway 18 on Thursday morning. The allure of town and corresponding amenities hastened my pace and I covered the morning mileage in only a couple hours hike. Hitching in with two welders on their way to a job, I quickly found a place to eat and then the Nature's Inn. Recommended to me by an ancient looking hiker Billy Goat, whom I had passed the day before, it opened its hiker room to me which I enjoyed all to myself for no other hikers passed through that day. That night I went to a local sports bar to enjoy game six of the Chicago/ Boston series, which turned out to be a doozy, and met a delightful couple George and Jenny Deisler. We enjoyed wonderful conversation through the second half and the three overtimes. They were so nice to let me in on important information about their small town and were personable and curious about my trip and background. They even gave me a ride back to the inn following the end of the game, which was well beyond the hours of the local transit system.

It has been very interesting to jump in and out of towns. How intriguing it has been to see such a stark opposition between the things I read in the newspaper and the people I encounter. Catching snippets of media, maybe once a week, its easy to see a collective disapproval of our society's direction, contempt for the people that "run" it, and a generally depressed attitude toward any sort of remedy effort. Yet on a personal level, I am continually blessed by the smallest of social interactions between complete strangers. Even today as I walked to the library, a young man named Ian stopped in his mustang, which could barely contain my large pack, and gave me a ride the rest of the way here. I wasn't hitching or anything. He just thought I could use a ride. I understand that failing economies, scandals, and outbreaks profoundly shape peoples lives, however they hold no bearing on how people should be treated. Its refreshing to see that on a daily basis removing these propagated stories can refresh a view and a love for the individual. Its unfortunate that so often in a more conventional daily life, bombarded by a very strong media presence, we can be so smothered by imaginary ideologies of politic or boarder and incomprehensible processes of market or virus that we sometimes miss out on the very tangible everyday encounter with another somebody. Face to face there are no markets, no boarders, no politics.

Quote: "Life is a prayer." George Deisler