Trail angels are awesome. Shout out to the group of day hikers who drove me to the post office in Warner Springs (and commented on my previous post!), Grumpy for the ride to Paradise Valley Cafe, and Devona and Bill for last night's rest.
I'm in town for another rest day today, but it's encouraging that all of my pain and soreness is in my muscles and not my joints now. Mostly quads and shoulders, though my calves aren't having a great time either. The right knee still isn't 100%, but it's worlds better than it was last post.
My pace the past couple of days has been... unwise. Leaving Warner Springs from my zero, I climbed 18 miles by 1:30 pm to take a long lunch at Mike's Place, an (in)famous place to stop and rest. My quads have more or less been hurting since, which hasn't made the past two days any easier.
Getting a burger and taking a siesta at Paradise Valley Cafe on Monday was wonderful. There was a big group that decided to hitch into Idyllwild from there, but me, Lieutenant Dan, Rudolf, and Rambo decided to go the more traditional route, which is a steep 2.5 mile side trail from mile 179.4 at Saddle Junction. So we've been hiking together since. Though we split from Rambo Tuesday afternoon, and he'll be descending into Idyllwild Wednesday morning instead of last night.
I got named on Monday night. "Happy Meal", since I mentioned it in response to Rambo saying "I'm loving it", about the trail. Rudolf thought it fit well, since I've been staying optimistic, am often talking about my next town meal, and drop little bits of wisdom from my AT thru as if they're the toy that comes with the meal.
Rambo's decision was the right one. Doing a 21 mile day over the San Jacinto ridge (which we haven't summited yet, that's for tomorrow) was extremely hard. It was about 5000 feet of climbing across those miles, including the one side trail for water. Only a mile or so was White Mountains steep, but the long climb is hard even when it's not steep.
And then there was the rock slide. It was navigable with care and without packs, but getting packs across was a bit of a challenge. Having a group helped. Lieutenant Dan went over first, then we passed packs, losing one of Rudolf's water bottles with attached Sawyer filter in the process. After everyone got across, I hung back another 10 minutes to help Rambo's pack across, then he hung out a bit longer, as there were some other solo hikers coming up trail.
By this point it was getting late in the afternoon. I pressed on, getting to the bottom of the side trail "into" Idyllwild right at dark, 8:00 pm on the dot. But, uh, the trail dropped me off at Humber Park Trailhead, and not near anything in Idyllwild. And with no service. In the dark.
So, 3ish road miles from downtown, I put on my headlamp and started walking. Along the way I passed some people hanging out on their balcony. "Any chance I could get a ride to downtown Idyllwild? I'm going thru on the PCT." "Sorry man, we've both been drinking. Good luck on your trek." "These feet have managed 20-odd miles today, they can take a few more."
Then I saw someone pull into a house, and started the same conversation, with less enthusiasm. "Hello, could you give me a ride to downtown Idyllwild?" "No, sorry ... Wait, are you a thru-hiker?" "Yeah, I am." "Y'know what, I can give you a ride."
Then I talked with Devona on the way in. She and her husband Bill have been married over 25 years, and they used to do a bunch of weekend-to-2-week long backpacking trips. In downtown Idyllwild, places were already closed, so Devona, angel that she is, offered me her spare bedroom.
I was naturally a little floored by both the generosity and the trust, but, running low on options, I accepted the offer. I got dinner, a shower, laundry, and a place to stay. Along with the opportunity to hang out overnight with Devona and Bill, who were happy to talk about the multitude of trails nearby. Bill in particular knew much more about my PCT hike than I did. I got dropped off in Idyllwild this morning by Bill. He almost forgot and drove off with my pack in the trunk, but I figure a 100 meter sprint to catch a truck is probably good cross training on my off day.
So that brings us to the reason for the title. I'm pretty beat, so I'm definitely not making Big Bear Lake by 5/29. Then the 30th is a Sunday, and the 31st is Memorial Day. So the earliest I can pick up my packages is the morning of 6/1. Which gives me plenty of time to relax. I'm thinking a full day off here, a half day getting back on trail, 3 days at normal pace, then a half day on Memorial Day getting into town. (I'm hoping I can find a room the night of Memorial Day, as the holiday weekend will be over at that point.)
This means I'm going to end up very far behind pace rather quickly here, especially considering that I'm planning to spend a bit of time with Chris in LA when I get there next weekend. I definitely started the PCT knowing that I may not finish it this year due to scheduling constraints. I expect to speed up as my body continues to get stronger, but it's definitely disheartening to see the numbers slip for now. When I first made my schedule I knew that I'd be within a week or so of pace, but seeing the miles gradually fall off is different from knowing that it might happen.
Enjoying Idyllwild,
Happy Meal
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