Miles hiked: 4ish of actual PCT; 2ish to get out of town; 6ish on the Mt Fire detour; and 5.5-6ish on Mt San Jacinto alternate trail. Somewhere around 18 miles total. Included 4,800 feet of climbing.
A bunch of dogs were barking all over town last night, making sleep difficult. Packed up a bit after light and headed to the coffee shop. A nice man there with a poodle I got to pet bought my coffee. Great stuff!
All day yesterday I had been trying to decide where I would restart the hike. To have a continuous footpath from border to border, I would need to hitch back down the hill to near Hurkey Campground, at about mile 10.7 of the detour. However, no one I talked to who did that part of the detour had much good to say about it. I was also concerned about adding the extra climb on my somewhat strained Achilles. But the allure of the continuous footpath was strong, and I eventually decided that I would try hitching for a half hour or so, and if I didn't get a ride I'd hike out from town.
Well, the half hour came and went and I got no ride. Hmmm. I checked the map and started to figure out how to get out of town. My plan was to head back out to the detour, and try to hit it as far back as was reasonable in order to miss as little as possible of it. It was a bit tricky getting out of town, and I was walking around on side streets for over an hour before if found a way to get up to the detour. This was a little dirt road leading steeply up to the ridge that hemmed in the town.
Eventually getting to the South Ridge trail and back on the detour somewhere around mile 15, I started up Tahquitz Peak. My Achilles was feeling pretty good, with only occasional slight twinges upon which I would slow my pace for a bit and let things calm down. It felt good to lean into the climb, legs straining at the job they were made for, sweating, pulse rising, becoming short of breath; feeling my body work. There were Violet-green swallows visiting tree snags, and I heard a Wrentit sing at around 7000 feet! This species generally isn't known to migrate, but they are also not normally found at higher elevations. Since there is generally snow here in winter, I wondered if this might be an attitudinally migratory Wrentit.
I caught up with Zack (had dinner together a couple nights ago) shortly before reaching Tahquitz Peak, and we finished the climb together and took photos of each other at a cool overlook. I had lunch on the narrow balcony of the old fire lookout on the peak, with a long view south the way I'd come, and also east and west. The view north was blocked by Mt San Jacinto, which has the somewhat bland distinction of being the second highest peak in Southern California. But, at a bit over 10,000 feet, it is still a pretty tall hunk of granite.
But to get here I had to cross 6 or so miles of subalpine forest, with sparse chinquapin understory and sugar pines and a fir species for the trees. I rejoined the PCT shortly after descending the east side of Tahquitz, at about mile 178. This forest was really birdy, and as with previous times on this trip when I've entered a new habitat, I was easily distracted and wasn't making very good time. I heard a strange song that I couldn't quite place; it sounded like something between a sparrow and a finch. Eventually I saw who it was: Fox Sparrow. These birds winter along the coast and I'm quite familiar with the calls they make while scratching for invertebrates in the duff. But I think I've only heard their song once before. So Foxy! I was also super lucky to just happen to see a Red Crossbill building her nest of pine needles.
Today I also decided to take an alternate route that went to the top of San Jacinto, bypassing 4.5 miles of PCT but adding 5.5 miles. The final few miles up Mt San Jacinto were a struggle. I hadn't done much for breakfast, and with the altitude and all the climbing I'd already done, my legs were getting pretty fatigued. I also had to pass a bunch of day hikers who had ridden a tram most of the way up he mountain from the Palm Springs side. Eventually at the top I had a full 360 degree view, looking both back the way I'd come and where I was headed next. Just to the north of San Jacinto the earth plunges away down in to the pass that interstate 10 goes through, some 6000 feet below where I stood. Right on the other side if the interstate the San Gorgonio mountains jut ruggedly upward again. Over the next couple days I will make that descent and climb back into that next set of mountains. Can't wait to hear what the chickadees sound like over there!
I came down off the mountain on shaky legs, switchbacking down the west slope to rejoin the PCT at about mile 186. A short while later I made it to a beautiful stream running down the steep slope. This would be the last water for 20 miles, so I planned to eat dinner here then hike a few more miles before sleeping. As I was doing this both Zach and You Again and Angie showed up. The later 2 had dinner too, and we caught up on all the day's events then got hiking again as the sun dipped below the horizon and the temperature dropped. I camped only about a mile later, having been caught by the dark a bit quicker than I was expecting. I'm perched on a little granite sand ledge on a steep slope looking west down to many many lights flicking on for the night.
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