Day 13

A mile past North Fork river to the faucet,

18.3 miles

5000 feet loss aka down to the desert again,

We started this morning at around 5,500 feet with the cool brisk mountain air. As we steadily lost elevation throughout the day, it became warmer and warmer. We were gifted a nice breeze to keep things cool. A few days ago it had been about 100 degrees in Palm Springs so we were very grateful to have avoided that.

The high forest and coolness of the air was a small taste of what is to come in the Sierras. There were several points in the last couple of days where I was reminded of hiking around Lake Tahoe. I am trying to remind myself to enjoy each moment of the trail including the desert but I am also really excited to get up into the mountains!

Today’s miles dropped us out into desert terrain fairly quickly so we scrambled to find some shade as the day got hotter. We were grateful for a few large boulders along the way! We even took a siesta under a tree since we were able to do the miles today a bit faster than planned. Usually our pace slows way down when going downhill but the trail was graded very well and we could keep up our pace. Our knees were very grateful for the gradual descent!

The milestone of the day was hitting 200 miles! It is hard to believe we have already walked 200 miles! It is a gift to be out here! While some of the high points of thruhiking are the northern and southern terminus’ and the milestones in between, it is the journey that makes the memories and growth.

Day 12

Spitler trail junction to campsite 1.3 miles north from North Fork of San Jacinto River.

19 miles

The day started out with a lovely sunrise. Our campsite was on a ridge so we could see the valley that holds Palm Springs to the east. The valley toward the west was full of clouds the entire day. It was so beautiful to see as we hiked.

Today was a big push over the San Jacinto range. We did not go to the tallest peak, San Jacinto Peak, that was off trail. Maybe we are boring but we don’t often do side trails. Today felt long enough in itself. We did about 5,200 feet gain in elevation which is our biggest day yet. Some of the trail was built into the edge of the a rocky cliff. There were quite a few blown down trees that we had to climb over.

Part of this section of trail has been burned recently and the effects of the burn can still be seen in dead trees and bare hill sides. There are a few plants we saw that are common in burn areas because the seeds lie dormant until the heat of fire opens them and those plants are one of the first to reproduce and provide soil stability. One of those plants are the puddle dog bush. Often talked about on trail because it causes a rash worse than poison oak, requires medicine immediately, and the effects last up to six months. We are trying to be super careful not to get it.

Near the end of the day we arrived to the most beautiful water source we have seen yet! It was a cascading waterfall with plenty of water which was great because this is the last water for 19 miles. We ate dinner here and filled up on water as well as chugged a bunch to be hydrated for tomorrow. We headed out from the water with very heavy packs and started down hill. My knees felt about 100 years old with going down hill and having more weight. Hopefully these knees will make it a few more thousand miles!

One thought I had today was that the hike was both hard and we are also strong. Sometimes it can be easy to think that if something is hard/difficult, it is because I’m not strong enough to handle it. However, black and white thinking creates unnecessary dichotomies. Something can be difficult to complete and I can be strong to persevere through it.