The wind blew fairly hard all night last night, but we were snug and secure among the boulders of the Desert Divide main ridge.  Knowing that we were in for a VERY tough day, we got up early and prayed for God’s help as we shouldered our packs and started out along the trail.  And what a day…it took us 12 hours of hiking to find and hike only 11 miles of PCT.

The first section of trail we had to face is literally blasted out of the mountainside.  It is amazing to me that they even managed to get a trail tread through here at all.  Often we were climbing across steep snowfields and I did a lot of chopping steps with my ice axe. Bill just walks straight across, very fast, with his trek poles (he says his theory is “Momentum trumps gravity!”)  then he sits down and waits (as long as 20 minutes) for me to creep across, chopping steps as I go. 

Just as in 2005, eventually we lost the trail entirely in the snowy forest.  In 2005, we were able to head downhill till we were out of the snow,  then contour over and head back uphill to Saddle Junction.  Bill wanted to do that again, but I was very dubious.  As far as I could see, the snow extended far, far down the mountain, not just a little way down as in 2005.  And going DOWNhill on steep icy snow is pretty scary.  But Bill insisted, so down we went.  We kept going and going, still in deep snow everywhere,  till we ran out of water.

OK, we’ve been snow camping, so we knew what to do.  We stopped and melted snow to get water.  Later on, we found a creek under the snow, and chopped away at the ice that covered it till we could get at the water. Another thruhiker came by, also hunting for the PCT, and he was very glad to find water!  Our fellow hiker took off in another direction, while Bill continued to go determinedly downhill.  But there was no end to the snow, and finally even Bill reluctantly concluded, “This is not working.”  So we turned and headed UPhill again.  Noontime came, and I found a rock to sit on to cook lunch, while Bill headed up the hill to a really big rock that was high enough to give him a view of the area.  Yahoo!  He spotted a lot of footprints off to the west that looked like they might be the PCT.   We were eating our lunch when yet another lost thruhiker came along, and when Bill told him about the footprints on the other side of the hill, he was overjoyed.  “Idylwild, here I come!”  he said, and was amazed to find out that we were planning to bypass Idylwild and head straight for Big Bear.

After lunch we also headed “over the hill”, found the footprints, and yes!  It was the PCT.  Before long we were at Saddle Junction.  It was buried in snow, but well-marked.   From there, the trail heads up south-facing slopes, so the snow soon disappeared, the sun was warm, and we joyfully switchbacked up on snowfree trail…for a little while.  Then we were back into snow-covered forest, hunting for “trail indicators” like cut branches or logs.  Every now and then we would find something, but progress was slow, and we were both exhausted.  I was all banged up and scraped from many falls on steep, icy snow.   At 4 pm, we found a bare, flat piece of ground, and Bill suggested we just stop and camp.  But even though I was very tired and discouraged, I could not bear the thought of giving up so early.  And I knew that in the morning the snow would be all hard and icy again, instead of soft.  So I begged to go on, and Bill agreed.  Shortly afterward, we met two other thruhikers, also without a GPS, who were hunting for the trail, too.

At this point, all I could do was ask God to guide us, and as it turned out, He did.   We were walking along, looking for SOME sign of the PCT, when I spotted just the top of a trail signpost sticking out of the snow!   Hooray!   Now we knew where we were!   We happily followed the direction indicated, and soon were back on almost-snowfree trail, heading along toward Fuller Ridge.   We stopped for water at Strawberry Cienaga, and it was wonderful to be able to drink as much as we wanted, without worrying about where we’d be able to find water up ahead.   While we were sitting there relaxing a bit, along came the other two hikers–they’d also found the trail.  We all plan to camp tonight at Strawberry Campground.

At the campground, there were only a few snow patches, but very little level ground, so I took my ice axe and levelled out a place for Bill and I to set up a cowboy camp.  Then we ate a very late peanut butter and crackers supper and collapsed into our sleeping bags.  We are at 8,030 feet elevation, it’s 39 degrees and the wind is blowing.   Good!   Our shoes are soaked from all the snow–maybe they will dry out a bit.   I am very grateful for being safe (other than some scrapes & bruises) and for finding the PCT again.   It’s going to be more of the same tomorrow, but hopefully by tomorrow night we’ll be across Fuller Ridge and down out of the snow!

Walk to Rivendell: Still in Midgewater Marshes

Tags: Saddle Junction, Strawberry Junction