The Ultimate Wind Battle [Pacific Crest Trail Episode 7]

Описание: Day 22-23
May 17, 2024 - May 18, 2024

The night was extremely warm and windy. Our day consisted of descending the rest of the way down San Jacinto and across the desert floor. Passed by two snakes and a beehive swarming inside a rock crevice. FarOut marked a "Large Rusted Pipe" on the map and it was indeed large. We drank water from a non-potable spigot and navigated the poorly marked trail with the wind absolutely CRANKING. A random trail magic cooler filled with cold gatorades was a nice treat. We made our way to the infamous I-10 Oasis. The lady who normally treats hikers wasn't there BUT a perfectly timed car pulled up with my first ever In-n-Out burger, lemonade and fries. "Jack's Dad" hiked the PCT last year and was back to hike the Cactus to Clouds trail. We were going to go into Cabazon, CA to get In-n-Out and resupply but since Jack's Dad and friends saved us a trip, 6 of us hikers ordered an Uber to Beaumont, CA instead. Resupplied at Walmart and filled our bellies at Chipotle. Ubered back to trail from Eduardo, a really cool Uber driver super interested in our story of thru hiking. I now had to face my fear of the scary looking wind turbines and slept at a Wind Farm where they allow hikers to camp for free.

Our tent fell down 3 times in the night from the strong wind. Our trio suddenly became a duo as Katie decided to turn back to town and recover from an injury. Daytona and I pressed on to face the upcoming section of Mission Creek. But first, we had to face more wind and extreme heat. We took breaks in whatever shade we could find. I lost a ziplock bag along Whitewater River, please forgive me Trail Gods. As the heat became unbearable, a manzanita bush saved us. We crawled under it making our own shelter and took a wonderful 4 hour siesta. We napped, journaled and got attacked by a colony of red ants. We pressed on as the sun started to go down and I was stoked to have made that decision. The view of San Jacinto in the distance from the little ridge walk was stunning. As the sun set, the sky became a beautiful cotton candy color as we descended to find camp along Mission Creek.