Day 1, Biting Off more than I can Chew

 Oct. 4, 2016
 Day 1, 18miles.

I wake at 5am and get to my cousins place in time to leave by 6:30. We have a good time catching up with each other over the 50 minute drive to Deer Springs Trailhead where I will hike a little over 4 miles to the junction with the PCT. I have a total of 17 miles planned for the day.

It's not as cold as I expect and I start the hike without having to dawn my jacket. About 2.5 miles into the hike up I spot a doe and her fawn. They quickly run into the woods and are out of sight. No more than 40 seconds later the doe appears again on the trail without her fawn. She runs a little ways ahead but stays in sight until I get close then she runs a ways farther and stops. I presume she sees me as a possible threat and is trying to draw me away from her fawn. I see another doe about 30 minutes later.

About 2 miles in. Nicely groomed section.

The doe in the center of pic. My need to expand.

The trek up to the trail junction is fairly tough as I have a full pack and am averaging about 600' elevation gain per mile. About a half mile before the PCT junction I meet two girls in their late 20's or early 30's who have just gone up for an overnight-er at Strawberry Camp and are heading back out. They tell me that someone has left some water there if I need any. I feel I have plenty and do not want to carry anymore weight than necessary up the hill or take water away from someone who might really need it. They also tell me about their trip earlier in the spring from Idyllwild to Warner Springs to the south. They too, hope to do the whole PCT some day.

I continue on ahead and think about going to fill up with water at the junction to the camp, but decided against it. About 2 miles farther up trail I come across a south bounder. His trail name is Continental Drifter. He let's me know about a spring about 1.5 miles ahead where I can get about one liter per minute if I need it. He tells me how the day before he made one of his longest treks of 39 miles. Considering the terrain he had to cover that sounded crazy to me but he told me the downhill part was good trail and he made really good time. So in Awe of this!

Looking south past Idyllwild in one of those valleys.

By the time I reach the spring, which is actually part of the north tributary to the San Jacinto River, I am about 7 miles into my hike and ready for lunch. I have already eaten two snacks throughout the morning and it has taken me nearly 5 hours to cover 7 miles. Much slower than I hoped. The spring is just a trickle by this time of year. I imagine it has quite a bit more flow in the spring. Water this time of year is hard to find and a precious commodity. I eat my lunch which consists of two medium flower tortillas, 12 slices of salami and two string cheese sticks. It is actually very tasty but takes me a while to get down as my appetite tends to diminish when I've exerted myself over a long period. At this point I am actually near the highest point of my trek in this mountain range at close to 9000' elevation. Even so, I still have a lot of elevation gain to go as the next 4 miles will see a lot of up and down. Although generally down there is significant uphill too. I fill my extra water container with a liter of water and drink almost half of it then fill it again and put it in my bag. I think about refilling my 3 liter camelback bladder, but don't want the extra weight and know that I will have to unpack and repack most of my backpack in order to do it, I decide not too. This will prove to be a big mistake.

Looking SW with Hemet Lake just over the L center of Ridge

Over the next 4 miles my legs begin to tell me it's time to stop but I'm bullheaded and want to get those 17 miles the first day. Otherwise, I will have to have two short days in a row and water will become a problem. Also it will throw me off my itinerary for being picked up in Fawnskin the evening of the 5th day and I will most likely have no way of notifying my wife of where to pick me up.

Somewhere during this 4 mile section I come across "Machine," another south-bounder.  He is very young and slight of build. Both he and "Continental Drifter" are packing light at about 27lbs. They are very minimalist for sure. Consequently they can cover much more ground in a day. Both have very dry lips and windburned faces.

Up and down and up and down I go dreading each incline in front of me. I am much more tired than I anticipated. Even the down slopes are hard as they are rocky and tricky and with one false step I could be injured. I stumble slightly on several occasions but don't fall. I slow even more. This makes what would normally be a 2.5mph pace into a little less than 2mph on the downhill. Once again I have miscalculated my pace and now daylight is getting away from me. I'm becoming anxious. When I come to about the 17 mile mark and see the campsite, I feel my Garmin must be off because it does not look like all that great of a campsite and is supposed to be one of the better ones. I will later come to realize that compared with the other sites it is a "grand" site. One thing being, that it is protected from the wind which I was unaware of around the bend in about half a mile. Not knowing that this is actually the place I want to camp I continue on. I come across 3 other south-bounders and they tell me there is a possible site about 3/4 of a mile ahead but very unprotected. Soon I am in a gale force wind. It isn't cold but it's very gusty with sustained wind at about 15mph and frequent gusts up to 25mph.

I finally see another possible campsite and scramble off the trail to set up camp with very little daylight left. Setting up my tent in this wind proves to be a nightmare. I am tired and weak and not thinking clearly. It takes me 15 minutes to put up the tent without the canopy which I don't really need anyway. In the process I lose two of my stakes, as the big wind gusts pull them out of the ground and sling them into the surrounding bushes before I can get them all set. Finally the tent is up and I needed to get my headlamp on and start heating water for dinner. I am not hungry at all. The over-exertion has destroyed my appetite. I have a Mountain Home Freeze dried Dinner, Beef Stroganoff. Sounds delicious, right? Well maybe it would be under normal conditions but it tastes like pure salt to me and all I can get down are 6 spoonfuls. I know that I need more for energy in the morning but I can't get it down. 12 ounces of precious water gone to waste. I climb into the tent and try to get to sleep. The howling of the wind and the gusting makes annoying sounds with my tent flapping everywhere. I finally drift off to sleep sometime after 9pm only to awaken around 10pm and have to pee. This continues every two hours for the next 4 hours. TMI, I know!

It is kind of nice to be able to look up at the stars from inside the screen of my tent. It would be much more enjoyable if I weren't so worn out. I am really worried about tomorrow and afraid that my miscalculation about how much distance I was up to in the first day is going to ruin my trip.

Happy Trails,

Russ AKA Colorado Kid