Day 9 May 15, 2017

• Daily miles 11 plus 9 off trail
• Total miles 164
• Hiked from 5:15 am until 2:30 pm 

Today started out very cold and then ended up a bit weird.

As I was snuggled into my little down filled heaven last night, I could hear the wind just howling up on the ridge line above me.  Luckily the site I chose was down in a small ravine so I was quite protected.  I woke up at about 4:45 and was quite surprised by both the amount of condensation (I did not bother with the tent fly last night) and the fact that I could see my breath.  When I checked the thermometer on my pack, it all made sense.  35 F.

So with that as motivation, I was off up the trail early.  Had to contend with a 2,800 foot climb right away, but this is the PCT where no climb is really all difficult, particularly first thing in the morning when you are brimming with piss and vinegar.  But the higher it got, the colder and windier it got.  Which made for some really interesting frost formations on the vegetation.  I believe this is called rime frost.

That is not snow, it is last nights frost

The PCT is closed at a point called Fobes Saddle for about 12 miles due to damage from a fire several years ago.  So for that reason, we got rerouted around the closure.  Seems lots of hikers simply did not do the section from Hwy 74 up to to closure, opting to hitch around it instead.  I am really glad I hiked this section because it was some of the best hiking on the trail so far.

Really beautiful hiking area

Good bye PCT, see you in a couple of days

So then it was down a couple of miles of side to get to a dirt road which eventually lead to a highway.  There is an unofficial work around this closure and I started it.  To complete it right into the town of Idyllwild would have meant about a 27 mile day, including a couple of miles of highway walking.  Well, I tried.  I got about 9 miles into the route when I came to the Lake Helmet Store.  Went in and bought a Pineapple Crush (who knew such magic existed) and some Bugles (Lord, I just love Bugles) and evaluated my plan.  I came up with the compromise that I would try hitching into town, but only for 20 cars.  Fifth car by picked me up.  So that is the weird part of my day.  I can no longer claim continuous foot prints from Mexico to BC.  But I can still claim to hike every available inch of the PCT.

The gentleman who picked me up was a riot.  He had to be at least 75 and said he has been picking up hitch hikers all season because the local newspaper said we were good for the town.  Got to talking to him and asked what he did.  It started out that he had a ranch, then it was a farm, then it turned out that he grows pot.  He said that he had to call it medical marijuana up until it was legalized, but now he can call it just marijuana.  Interestingly, he said that the wholesale price per pound went from $3,000 to $700 when the vote went through.  But he did not mind.  

Home for the night