The Desert

Town day today, and that means a hectic blur of a day. Resupply, laundry, shower, and eating as much town food as physically possible. It’s hard to overstate how chaotic things can get on a town day. There’s many hikers from multiple familiar groups with different plans and nobody knows really where we are. As… Read more

Another great day today, covered 17.5 miles, 28.1 km, and mostly downhill. The track was very well formed, not too rocky in most places, and level for most of the day. Starting out, just before 8 am, it was a little chilly. The sun rose slowly through the trees, and we were on the west… Read more

Today was a great day. Covered 12.8 miles, 20.5 km and climbed 3661 ft, 1116 m. Almost all day, we had clear and well graded trail to follow, and views which just got better and better. Starting out, we climbed quickly from the creek bed. A fairly steep climb, but very rewarding. We could look… Read more

Today wasn’t the longest day, with only 9.3 miles or 15 km covered. It was a bit of a slog though, mostly washed out trail and river bashing. Tiresome work. To be honest though, it wasn’t as bad as I’ve heard from rumours, certainly it’s no Hapuku River Valley. The trail started out fairly smoothly.… Read more

Today was fortunately not as hard as the last few days. With 13 miles to the camp before Mission Creek, I decided I could afford to spend a bit of time at camp. The windfarm office was kind enough to allow hikers to use the bathrooms and charge devices, so I packed up and made… Read more

After yesterday’s efforts, my legs needed a break. Fortunately we were near the town of Cabazon, which has a gas station, an In-N-Out Burger joint, and a Dollar General nearby. I had a decent sleep in and got out of camp around 9am. All I needed to do was walk down the road and find… Read more

Today was another very hard day. In fact, I think it was harder than approaching San Jacinto. I covered 18.3 miles, 29.4 km, and descended 7430 ft, 2265 m. I slept in to 6:30 am, and was on the trail at 8:15 am. The trail took me along Fuller Ridge, under the cover of huge… Read more

Today’s focus was a push to summit Mt San Jacinto. I packed up and got on trail around 7:30 am. The first hour or two were in a shady pine forest with quite an easy grade. I found a good lookout to Tahquitz Peak from some rocks. The snow on trail started to thicken. Definitely… Read more

Today may have been the hardest, and most beautiful day yet. It was set to be a long one, so we were up for sunrise. The spot last night was perfectly placed to catch the dawn, which turned everything around us golden orange. This morning I was packed and on the trail at 6:30 am.… Read more

The trail calls! We’ve organized rides and half of the group is off at 8:00 am, the other half at 10:00 am. I’m on the 8:00 am ride, and appreciate the headstart. We were back on the trail around 8:30 am, and briefly touched the desert before immediately beginning to climb. Very soon, we left… Read more