Day 11: Mile 144 to Mile 158.4

Ever since the fourth day of our Pacific Crest Trail hike, when we left Mount Laguna, we have been watching Mount San Jacinto grow a little larger on the horizon each day as we hike closer.

Well, it’s gotten really large now, as it’s a big mountain and we are camped just 14.8 miles as the crow flies from the summit.

Sadly, the PCT is closed 4.3 miles ahead due to a wildfire last year, so we will be exiting the PCT on a side trail and finding an alternate route into the town of Idyllwild. Usually the Forest Service creates alternate routes in situations like this, but none have been created so far. We are on our own to find a way around the closure. I have researched several options, and don’t expect this to be too big of an issue.

We are camped not far from Tunnel Spring, where we planned on getting water this evening. It turned out to be flowing much slower than we expected. It took about 7 minutes to fill a liters container and between Deb, myself and another hiker we needed quite a few liters.

Photo: Hiker “All Day Long” collects water from the trickle flowing into the algae filled trough at Tunnel Spring.

Trail Date: Sunday, April 13th

Mileage: 14.4 miles