The journey to Idyllwild was an interesting one.

The way to Idyllwild

I decided that if my physical goal for this trail is to be anything, it was to be that I walk every mile from Mexico to Canada by foot without interruption. Doesn’t have to be the PCT, just has to be the entire way. So when Tumeric and I found out about the fire closure on the way to Idyllwild, we were determined to get to Idyllwild by foot regardless.

So that means a lot of road walking. We got off the trail at the top of the ridge and started the big descent down an old dirt road. Our goal is the convenience store by Lake Hemet before they close at an undetermined time. My drive was for a pint of delicious ice cream at that point.

The heat was unbearable. It seems like when you are on the road compare to the trail, all the heat just reflect back to you and you feel like you are trapped in this oven. We passed the time by talking about a lot of random stuff and by the time we are a mile away from the store, we were both drained. Would’ve stopped other than the fact that we could see the store at that point and we knew ice cream was waiting for us.

It was glorious.

It’s kinda incredible that we can finish a pint of ice cream and not even feel it. When I would eat a pint of ice cream at home (don’t judge me), I would definitely feel the overwhelming regret and disgust afterwards. But on the trail, like nothing happened. Score!

Afterwards, we headed towards a campground looking for a place to sleep. Unfortunately there was no free camping at the campground for pct hikers like some comment suggested so we hiked on, looking for a space amongst the private properties.

Exhausted, we finally decided to stop at this small piece of pine needle laden ground between two pieces of private property, a church retreat and the official campsite. So we the separation between church and state hehehehe. Kinda silly but it feels so great to be able to camp at these weird places where ever we decide to stop.

Fast forward to next day, climbing out of the valley up to Idyllwild, we finally arrive after lots of road walking. People in small towns are so nice, I have been offered a few times to get a ride into town and a place to stay on the way, even by people going the opposite direction! All of which, I politely declined as I need to make a continuous thru-hike.

Idling in Idyllwild

I bumped into Happy, J Boogie and ICB almost right as when got into town. Oh yea, we split up a day back, Tumeric and I wanted to walk there and was often distracted by cool sights and little climbes along the way. (yes I know I shouldve explained this earlier, too late to re-edit now.) 😋

Happy and the others got a cabin so we decided to crash at theirs. The cabin included a kitchen! So we had an incredible family styled taco night!

Also, Tumeric gave us her best Dwight Schute impressions.

After an wonderful dinner and sleeping in a real bed. Happy, J Boogie, and ICB left to push on the next morning. Turmeric and I wanted to climb San Jacinto in a spectacular way so we stayed around for one more zero. I spent the day eating (of course), refining gear and even went to a yoga class.

Time to climb a mountain

San Jacinto is the highest mountain in Southern California, at 10,834 feet elevation. So no way was I going to miss this. Here is the game plan. Head out Friday afternoon with a overnight pack as light as possible and make for the shelter near the summit. The plan is to spend the night and then summit San Jacinto in the dark to watch the sunrise. This is how it went down.

We got a ride to the trail head from Braden who operates Idyllwild’s only public transportation system. I can’t stop thanking all the wonderful people that are making this possible. We are just met with kindness every step of the way.

Right away we got started hiking up the trail. Did you know if you drank two glasses of wine and a glass of beer the day before and drank a coffee and a coke the day of the hike you will be dehydrated? Tumeric didn’t. only a little while, she called a break as she was running out of breath and feeling light headed. So she drank a lot of water with electrolyte mix and was feeling much better after that. She like to say that she’s usually not this irresponsible, but we have been staying in town way too long and hikers definitely let ourselves go in town.

The trip went on without a hitch. On the way up we met Gazelle and Sensi, another two pct hikers looking to sleep in the shelter. They told us that there are three more people behind them and we were like ah oh, that’s a lot of people for a small shelter. So we sped up our pace and pushed to the summit to make sure we get a spot as the weather is turning.

The view up is amazing. So many magnificent view points into the east with black clouds rolling over the mountain from the west.

As we got higher, it started to feel much more gloom and doom. Clouds started to envelope over us and wind started howling faster and faster. Soon, it was freezing cold and dark as we entered into the clouds. Everything seemed errie and dramatic.

At this point, I was very much looking forward to arriving at the shelter, so I sped on with pure determination through the rocky and icy trail. This was a sweet sight to see.

At last I was here. I opened the door to a nearly empty room with one hiker hanging out inside. He introduced himself as Jay. The more we talked, we realized that we have interacted with each other on the PCT Facebook group! He was also an avid photographer and brought an 360 camera as well! Damn I don’t feel as special anymore.

As soon as I set up my sleeping bag, I left the shelter to go see the summit. At this point, I had no idea if I would see anything. We were still completely surrounded with clouds and howling wind which was super disappointing as the sun was setting and putting on a beautiful show. Still, fortunately enough, I got an glimpse into the sunset after bracing howling wind that threatened to knock me off my feet.

Back at the cabin, we hung out with Sensi, Gazelle and Jay. Turns out I have seen Gazelle on the Facebook group too. She is hiking the PCT for Girl empowerment, to encourage girls to take risks and inspire more people to go out and do incredible stuff to find out their limits for themselves. Super cool to be sharing a shelter in a windstorm with really interesting and fun people. Btw Sensi is from Montreal! First Canadian I have met on trail! Funny guy and a photographer as well, his tripod got me beat haha

We quickly got ready for bed I said, we should wake up at 6 to see if we can catch the sunrise. Funny enough, Gazelle said, “I highly doubt it would be clear tomorrow with this weather. I’ll eat a worm if there’s no clouds in the sky.”

Our shelter mates!

At that statement, sure enough I looked out in the morning and saw lingering stars and the moon with zero clouds in sight. More people need to jinx themselves like that for my benefit.

Can’t wait for that worm eating video to come out. I hope you are read this, Gazelle. I’m waiting.

Everyone rallied and we rushed up to the summit and I just can’t believe my eyes. Pictures says more than I can ever say so I hope you can take a look and experience how I felt right there.

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Oh let’s not forget to include this shot.

Writing this back in Idyllwild after being so exhausted coming back down. Sorry if some sentences don’t make sense and I hope you enjoyed my adventures and incredible photos!

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