Song of the post – “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves
PCT 101 – Packing Water
The rule of thumb regarding water on the trail is 1 liter per 5 miles. Of course this fluctuated based on factors such as climbing vs descending, heat and windiness. We each carry a capacity for 6 liters.
Day Two – San Jacinto
One of the paramount tasks this morning was to collect water to get through most of the day. We are starting the day at mile 164, our next water availability is 4 miles up the trail (3 miles of climbing), but after that it wouldn’t be available until mile 177. Also, today is essentially all up hill. Cliff leaves 1/2 hr early to get our water which is 1/2 mile off trail at mile 168. Im the slower hiker right now, so I hang back and break camp. Leave camp at 6:30.
My pictures can’t do justice to what we hiked today. Yes we climbed, climbed, climbed, but what we climbed was kinda incredible. We were in the crags!
Much of the early half of the day we were looking down on Palm Springs.
What many hikers do as part of their San Jacinto hike is drop down into the village of Idyllwild, spend a day or 2(take a Zero and a Nero), and resupply. It’s a nice idea, but it’s also a long climb down (miles) and a long climb back up, but now with supplies and water. That being said, an Idyllwild break would have been nice. Maybe it was the exhaustion, but I swear I could hear all those hikers having a great time down there while we marched on.
While in route to more water and to our camp for the night, we hit our first bit of snow…and our first Poodle Dog Bush(more on that later)
Day 2 done. Mile 181.5. 17.5 miles.