Quark and Towanda wanted an early start in the morning so alarms were going off at 4:30. Tried one of my new confetti pop tarts. God, it was awlful. Towanda seems to agree. Tossed Quark a snickers from my too-much-stuff pile, then headed out. We were on the road at 5 heading to the trail head of Deer Creek.
The ascent basically started at the Inn’s doorstep, but Deer Creek was a steep one. Pretty much stair steps and switchbacks all the way up. I stuck with Quark and Towanda for the first couple miles, but unfortunately Towanda was in the lead and she was charging (again). Said bye to their receding backs. Only evidence of them was a snickers wrapper that dropped out of one of their pockets a few miles up…..Always cleaning up after the kids 🙂
Reached the PCT trail at around 7500 feet, so probably did a 3k foot climb in 3 or 4 miles. Still felt good. After that it was a bunch of mostly mild climbing to the highest point just shy of 9k. Crossed some pretty big streams and cooked a little brunch along the way. Met a couple guys who stayed on the peak of San Jacinto last night. Samson and Jared.
Then the pain began.
I figured, “ok, all down hill from here”. But that was not to be. The next 4 miles were a soul sucking series of ups and downs between 8k and 8.7k feet. Down a switchback 200 feet, up a switchback 200 feet. There was even one that, if you imagine the shape of a raindrop, was just like that. Drop 150 feet, walks some flats, then back up basically going backwards. I actually thought I was turned around on the trail. How could I be back to the same spot ? The trail planners are doing the devil’s work out here.
It going so slow in this section. Wasn’t out of breath, just had no energy. I’d stop at every 2 or 3 switchbacks climbing to rest the legs, then shuffle off to the next one. Cant wait to see my trace on the inreach site….must be pathetic.
Fuller ridge still had several dozen snow crossings, but they were relatively small. The melt is almost done here. Got down to Fuller trailhead and ran into Jared and Samson again.
At this point I only had 11 miles in and it was 1pm ish. The guys were also keen to make up the miles, so we all hooked up and walked together. It was dry slog. We stopped about 4 miles from the camp site and I was down to 1.5 liters (plus my .5 backup ration). The guys were a lot less. We figured we’d get there around 7:30.
After the break, I took the lead, well sort of. Losing the altitude gave me a burst of energy so I racked my poles and started semi-trail running down. I just wanted this to be over. Passed 200 and took a Selfie. Wish the guys were around so I could take more lewd photo. Maybe next milestone.
Made it at 7:10, guys showed up 15 minutes later. Setup camp, ate something cold, and crashed. The guys are out of water so I gave them my half-liter bottle.