My alarm goes off at 5am. The sky looks clear! That’s good! We have a big day today. I pack up and eat some cookies. Good bye campground. We start the road walk to the trail head around 5:30. 
  
The town sleeps as we pass through. Neat little cabins line the road. The sun starts to highlight the ridge high up above us. I can see frosted pine trees near the top. I’m excited to see some snow! 

  
We finally get to the Devil’s Slide trail head. 

 
Jeff and Jonathan take a quick break while I push on. They’ll pass me soon enough. (And they do). I’m slower at going up switchbacks. Up and up the trail zigzags. The earth is pockmarked from the rain yesterday. I’m glad we took a zero. 

  
The Devil’s Slide connects to the PCT right after the closure on a forested saddle. I find Jonathan taking a break and Jeff taking pictures. Jonathan shares some of his strawberry fignewtons. Best cookies I’ve ever had! Yum! Thankyou Jonathan! It’s hard for me to believe we already covered five miles. I feel good so I push on.

The way is carpeted with old pine needles and dead bark. It feels wonderful and springy to walk on. Pine cones gather around the trail. The large pine trees look wild and tough. Their branches twisted and gnarled into frozen shapes from storms past.   

   
 Higher and higher the trail climbs. Last night’s ice melts in the new sun. The trees start to drip. Chunks of ice fall around me as I walk under their branches. It feels like they’re waking up from a deep sleep. Or I’m walking through a new type of rainforest made of pine and ice. It’s a lot of fun!    

    

 
  Jonathan and Jeff catch up and we admire the view. It’s cool to look down and see where we were a few hours ago. 

   
 
The trail contours the ridge, up and down and back up again. Large snow banks cover parts of the path. Even when covered by feet of snow the way is clear. It’s slick! I can see where other hikers have slipped. I place each step very carefully. My hiking poles get stuck easily in the icy snow crust. It reminds me of hiking in Colorado. I love it!

  
   

 
I pass a group of hikers taking a break by a stream. They look beat. One tells me they spent the night up here and it was really really cold. Yikes. I bet it was. I’m glad our plan is to camp as low as we can tonight. 

Jeff takes off up the trail and I hike with Jonathan for a good section. Jonathan does a lot of trail work when he’s not hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I watch him climb over a downed tree.

“What number is that one?” 

“16” he shakes his head.

 
We eventually catch up to Jeff taking a break on a warm rock and decide to join him. The sun feels so good. I get to paint while the guys nap.

  
There’s one more climb and then it’s all down hill from there. Jeff disappears up the trail again and I spend the rest of the day hiking with Jonathan. He lives really close by and knows all the peaks!  

  

The trail meanders to the other side of the mountain. This side is significantly drier and more windy. Down down down it takes us. Good thing too! Clouds start to gather over San Jacinto. It’s completely covered in half an hour. I hope those other hikers I passed get down soon!

   

         
We find Jeff at the next water source. We walk down the creek bed but it’s dry as a bone. Dang. The next reliable water is in 10 miles. We asses how much water we have between the three of us. Just enough. Phew!
We set up camp in the dry creak bed sheltered from the wind. It roars angrily through the trees above. Hope I can get to sleep!

Camped at mile 194 of the PCT

Miles hiked today: 2.5 road walk + 2.5 Devil’s Slide trail + 16 pct miles = 21