Day 10 – San Jacinto, Fuller Ridge, and Mile 200
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 21 PCT miles with a few extra San Jacinto miles thrown in. Woke up at 9000′, hiked to 10800′, and now I’m sleeping at 3300′. Boy oh boy, my legs are going to hurt tomorrow.
If you read my last post, you’ll know that I intended to wake up for the sunrise at the peak of San Jacinto. With sunrise at 5:32 am and a 3.5 mile hike up 2000 feet, I needed to wake up at 3 am to make it in time. I DID wake up at 3 am, but a lethal combination of cold, dark, and 4 hours of sleep caused me to rethink my plan and sleep until 7.
Hiking up to the peak was another strenuous exercise, but once there, you are rewarded with the emergency shelter that was built in the 1930’s and eventually the peak.
After signing the emergency shelter log book, I started the trek to the peak, which was made much more difficult by snow. I had no idea where the path was, so I scrambled up some boulders and made it to the top. The views up there were incredible, with mountains surrounding you on all sides and cities dotting the landscape in between.
It was also super cold up there, so I put on my puffy jacket and made a double cup of hot cocoa to dip some oreos in. Deeeee-licious 👌🏽. Holly was the next one up, shortly followed by a group of day hikers, and eventually followed by the guys from camp. I started the long descent alone and left everyone else at the summit.
Coming down, the trail was obscured by both snow and trees and at one point I completely lost it. Luckily, my maps got me back on track and I made it back down to the PCT. About 15 minutes later, I made it to a beautiful river waterfalling across the trail, when I look up and see Holly coming down what looks like a 70° slope next to the waterfall. It turns out that she ALSO lost the trail due to snow and trees and had decided to take a shortcut, which brought her right to the waterfall. Crazy 71 and another hiker I don’t know were also there, so it was a true PCT party! 🎉
The rest of the day was filled with lots of hiking downhill, seeing another smaller and blacker rattlesnake, reaching mile 200, and camping in what other hikers have described as the most windy place on earth. We’ll see about that!
