"Crazy day today. Started hiking around 4:00 AM and descended into Idyllwild. At breakfast and got my toe socks then headed back up towards San Jacinto with feet feeling much better. Summited around 1:00 PM. Super gnarly descent down the north side and hiked a few more miles before camp. Pretty wiped." 4/9/22 6:38 PM
That was a very crazy day. I hiked to the saddle at the top of Devil's Slide Trail and set up my tent to leave my stuff inside, before slackpacking down into Idyllwild. I had to walk almost all the way into town from the trailhead, as nobody was really out and about yet. I reunited with my friends that I began with at breakfast. They had resupplied and stayed in Idyllwild the previous night. I got to the outdoor store at opening to pick up a couple pairs of toe sock liners. As soon as I put them on, it was like all of blisters went away. It was much easier to get a ride back to the trailhead. I ripped my way up the climb with a near-empty pack, before packing up my gear that I had left at the top of the climb.
From there, I headed north again on the PCT until I reached the turn off for the San Jacinto summit. As I continued to climb, the snow became more and more prominent. At this point in the day, it was extremely soft, and every step was laborious. By early afternoon, I made it to the summit. I enjoyed my lunch, and began my descent down the notorious Fuller Ridge.
Being on the north side of the mountain, the snow was a whole lot thicker. The trail was steep, and the snow was soft. There were sketchy almost-melted snow bridges over raging rapids. I slogged along with another group of hikers I came across until we came to a well established campsite. The group of hikers stopped, but there was no way I was going to let any snow come across my path the next morning, so I targeted a site a few miles down the trail, and got going. I finally made it to camp, which I shared with a handful of others, made dinner, and went to sleep.
Alpine start, breakfast with the boys, on the summit of Mount San Jacinto, appreciating my new toe socks at lunch:
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