I woke up this morning with ice covering my tent. It had snowed on and off since around midnight, my gear kept me warm though. I had no trouble sleeping in the cold, although the site was on an incline which did interrupt my sleep a little.

We packed up our soaking wet tents and headed back to Mt Laguna. We knew a longer day was needed to get around the Mt Laguna National Forest restriction, which covers 12 miles of trail. Willem decided not to come into town, rather to continue on the trail from the junction. For me, the call of coffee and Cafe breakfast was too strong to resist. After breakfast, I didn’t get out of town until around 10:30 am. Lucy & Tiger stayed in town to rest for a day, so it would be just me on the trail this morning. The ice on the trees was starting to release, it was falling from the branches and pine needles in huge clouds whenever a gust of wind came through.

Everything on the trail was covered with wet ice, the wind had blown drifts of frost from the trees which had begun to melt into the mud. I also saw gigantic pine cones lying on the ground, a reminder not to camp near pine trees during a storm.

The desert view trail, which this section of the PCT follows, skirted around the mountains of Mt Laguna National Forest Reserve. These mountains border the desert and made for a stark contrast in environment. On a clear day, the view must be absolutely stunning. Brief clear spells allowed me to see into the desert where the sun was shining, and from down there I bet these mountains look ominous.

I stopped for lunch at about 6 miles where a nice sheltered spot gave me protection from the bitter cold wind. On a calm day, the better lunch spot might be Foster Point which looks out from a mountain spur into the desert. I left my pack at the junction and made a quick 5 min detour to see the view.

Further around the mountains, the freezing wind continued and the track was quite exposed in some places. On certain aspects, especially near saddles, the vegetation was stunted and hardened against the wind. I was fortunate enough to find a sheltered campsite with space for just one more tent. As I walked up, I saw two familiar faces from the group who I’ve been hiking with since the first day, Willem and Linda. They’ve made friends with some people in another group, who now share this location just a bit further around the corner. The weather was expected to clear tomorrow morning and I’m looking forward to seeing these mountains properly.