Warner Springs – Idyllwild.

Miles 109 – 179.

Days 6 – 9.

The trail between Warner Springs and Idyllwild gradually gains elevation. It climbs out of the chaparral to larger mountains with pine forests, gaining 5,000 feet of elevation over 70 miles. Hikers are rewarded for all that climbing with a scenic ridge walk in the San Jacinto Wilderness. From there, hikers can take the 2.5-mile Devil’s Slide trail downhill to Idyllwild, CA to resupply.

Day 6

Once again, I woke up early in the dark after a night of cowboy camping under the stars. I packed up quickly, knowing I was only half a mile walk from my resupply point at Warner Springs. Nothing motivates a thru-hiker to move like the promise of town and all its amenities!

Warner Springs is a very small town. The main attractions for hikers are the post office, a mile down the road, and the town’s community resource center, located directly where the trail crosses the road. I needed to visit both since I had a resupply package to pick up and wanted to shower and do laundry.

I arrived at the community resource center a little before sunrise. The place was deserted when I got there, but it usually receives lots of hiker traffic. There were signs directing hikers to go around to the back of the building, where I found picnic tables, a spigot, two outdoor showers, and 5-gallon buckets for doing hand-wash laundry.

Since the post office wouldn’t open for a few hours, I took an excellent hot shower, hand-washed the clothing items that I didn’t wash yesterday, and charged my devices. A few other hikers showed up and eventually the community center building opened, and I went inside to buy a $1 cup of coffee and leave a small donation (they recommend leaving a donation to offset the cost of the electricity and water).

A little before 9 am, another thru-hiker named Alex and I hitchhiked together to the post office, 1 mile down the road. I’m not exaggerating when I say we waited less than 15 seconds before a man in a pickup truck pulled over – as it turned out, the town’s firefighter chief!

I got my box right when the post office opened. Fortunately, my hitch back from the post office was as easy and quick as my hitch there. By 10 am, Alex, GTA, and I were back on the trail with packs full of food and water.

The trail followed a creek for about 6 miles, which was great because it provided lots of opportunities to dip my dress and hat in the water to stay cool. By 12 pm, we parked ourselves in the shade at the final creek crossing and settled in for another great siesta.

It can be challenging to lie around for 5 or 6 hours during the day when I feel like I should be hiking. It seems to really help to have a trail hobby. I’ve seen other hikers making repairs to their gear and reading books. I’ve been writing.

After the siesta, we hiked another 12 miles or so, climbing gradually as the sunset. It was late and dark out when we arrived at the next water source, a cistron 0.2 miles off the trail. We ate dinner there, filled all our water containers, and continued a short distance on the trail to dry camp – which means camp away from a water source, relying on carried water only for eating, drinking, and washing.

I was exhausted and fell asleep the moment my head hit my pillow… I mean, stuff sack. Cowboy camping under the stars once again.

Overall, it was a very social day. I ran into a lot of hikers that fell behind me when I skipped the Julian resupply stop but caught up thanks to my slower pace in the heat. Most of these were happy reunions – like at the community resource center, where I ran into hikers I’d walked with and befriended during the first few days on trail, including TakeOut, Dylan, and Pip. It was so great to see them again, even briefly.

However, I was also surprised that some other hikers that I didn’t really know and hadn’t talked to much had been trying to “catch” the girl with the tiny backpack who’d once passed them. This felt weird, like I was being hunted for sport because of the way my pack looks.

No solo woman hiker wants to feel like she’s being chased through the wilderness by strangers. I’m trying not to let it bother me, as it’s certainly harmless and all meant in good fun. Even so, this left a sour taste in my mouth for the rest of the day.

---

Day 7

I woke up in the dark. Scratch that. I woke up in the sun and pulled my thick wool headband off from over my eyes.

Though I wanted to get an early start to beat the heat today, I was glad for the extra sleep. My weird sleep schedule for the last two days is starting to wear on me. My afternoon naps aren’t high enough quality sleep to make up for my late bedtime and early alarm.

I dumped some of my water into an empty roadside cache near my campsite. I’d filled up too much last night. In my sleepy state, I hadn’t trusted my own ability to do math correctly and simply filled every container I had (7 liters!) even though the next source was only 12 miles away.

While I packed up camp, a woman walked by and said that she’d seen a mountain lion last night. She woke up while cowboy camping, and the lion was feet from her face! Luckily, it got scared off when she yelled at it and everything was ok.

The goal for this morning was 12 miles, to reach the house of Trail Angel Mike. A Trail Angel is a local person who supports and helps thru-hikers on their journeys. Located 0.5 miles from the trail in the middle of a long, otherwise dry stretch, Mike’s property provides a great place for hikers to get a break from the heat on hot days.

This place was great – it had everything a hiker in the desert needs – water, shade, a bathroom, wifi, and even a pool! Plus Mike grilled us hot dogs. I wish I’d taken a picture of this place, but I was too busy enjoying it.

At 5 pm, Alex, GTA, and I headed back down the road to the trail. Unfortunately, we missed the trail and walked down the road the wrong way, adding an extra mile. This wasn’t the first time I’d gotten lost today. I also walked in the wrong direction on the PCT for a bit this morning til I saw GTA walking toward me in the correct direction. Perhaps my errors today are signs that I’m a little sleep-deprived.

Luckily, today was the last hot day for a while. Knowing tomorrow I could resume a normal sleep schedule, I pushed through one more night hike.

---

Day 8

This morning, I “slept in” until 7 am. I woke up near the side of Highway 74, where I’d cowboy camped the night before.

I packed up quickly, motivated by the promise of breakfast and hot coffee at Paradise Valley Cafe – a restaurant one mile down the highway.

Alex and I tried to hitchhike for all of 5 minutes before we gave up and just walked the mile down the road to the cafe. We arrived right as it opened, along with many other thru-hikers. In fact, there were only a handful of patrons that weren’t thru-hikers.

After a wonderful breakfast, I walked back down the road and started hiking. It didn’t matter that I didn’t start hiking until 9:30 am, because the forecasted high today was only in the 60s! I could hike all day with no siesta!

Today was my first time hiking alone in a while, since the folks I’d hiked the last few days with had different plans for the day than me. I mostly entertained myself by taking lots of photos and singing.

The water options were not great today – most were very far off-trail. I opted for filling up 5 liters from a murky bathtub-sized puddle with dead bugs. I double-treated this water – with my rarely-used filter as well as AquaMira chemical droplets. This water would get me through the 22 miles to a creek where I could camp.

The trail today was incredibly beautiful and challenging – everything I’d hoped for when I decided to hike the PCT! It gained 3,000 feet of elevation up onto a mountainous ridge in the San Jacinto Wilderness, perched high above deserts on both sides. My descriptions and photos cannot adequately describe the beauty of this place.

It was challenging because there were high winds with 50+ mph gusts that made it hard to keep my balance. These rivaled the winds I’ve experienced up on Colorado 14ers (14,000-foot-tall mountain peaks). I felt concerned that my friends hiking with sun umbrellas might get swept away and fly off the mountain like Mary Poppins!

Additionally, this area had lots of blow-down trees. With the crazy wind today, I can see why.

Between the cool temps today and the climb up into the mountains, this Colorado girl is finally feeling in her element! Amazingly, I saw a little snow today near the top of the ridge. It’s a huge contrast to the past three days in 80-90-degree heat!

Eventually, I caught up with GTA and we crested a high point on the ridge as the sunset. We ended up hiking the last two miles to the creek by headlamp. I pitched my tarp for the 3rd time on this trail for some shelter from the wind and tried to fall asleep despite the loudly flapping DCF fabric around me.

---

Day 9

My morning was exceptionally leisurely today. That’s because I only needed to hike 4.5 miles to reach the town of Idyllwild. Today would be my first Nero Day (a day with minimal hiking).

After hiking 2 miles on the PCT, I took the 2.5-mile side trail to the outskirts of Idyllwild. There, Trail Angel Grumpy picked me up and gave me a ride to town.

Idyllwild is a great trail town. Everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming. Locals asked me questions about my hike and were clearly knowledgeable about the trail.

I did laundry at the Laundromat, grocery shopped, and visited the outfitter to pick up some more electrolyte drink mixes. I even met the town’s elected mayor, Max, who is, in fact, a golden retriever!

Best of all, I stayed in a cabin with several hikers I’ve met on the trail so far. TakeOut, named for his love of restaurants, even skipped dining out to cook us all a big family-style pasta dinner! Yum!