Today was a difficult day, mostly because of the issues that can arise at altitude. I was having trouble sleeping all night, and woke up around 530 to a light sprinkling of snow upon the tent. All the condensation had already frozen to the inside, despite my best efforts to keep it ventilated throughout the night. The humidity outside was near 100% and everything was frozen solid.
By the time that we roused ourselves at 7:30, the snow had begun to accumulate. Nothing too serious, maybe a quarter to half an inch at that point. We broke camp, cursing the entire time at the cold while trying to convince our numb and useless fingers to do things that they normally do with ease. I mashed thr tent into a loose ball with my numb stumps and then we were off. After a mile or so, we will warm enough to ditcher down jackets, and walk through the muted snow environment of the upper reaches of Mt. San Jacinto. It was a scene that seems more fitting for late fall or an early spring, but anything can happen at this altitude. We continued on to the forest with relative ease, only having to backtrack couple times to ensure that we were on the proper trail. After refilling our water bottles from the San Jacinto River, we began down the Fuller Ridge Trail in earnest. We exited the shelter of the red and silver furs and started crossing a nice edge ridge with much more exposed granite then soft tall trees.
There were trees on the ridge, but instead of standing majestically with limbs outstretched every direction of the compass, these ones were yielding back in direction telltale of hundreds of years of persistent beating by strong winds. Those very winds were gusting to around 40 or 50 miles an hour, and bringing with it stinging little particles of ice and snow. The trail was easy enough to follow, but our progress was slow as we did not want to slip and create a medical problem that would be very difficult to solve in such conditions. Eventually we dropped onto the lee of the ridge, and made good progress down below 7600 feet, which appeared to be the snowline.
We thought the most difficult part of the day was over; In a way it was, in a different way, it had not even begun. Halfmile's PCT maps state that l from the bottom of the Fuller's Ridge trailhead to the water fountain as the crow flies is 4.6 miles, but 15 miles by trail to descend 6040 feet. The view was fantastic, however the trail tested our mental capacities.
Smiles and I on the endless descent from Mt. San Jacinto.
Somebody could drive a wheelchair up that gradient. To make matters worse, the sinuosity was maddening. You would contour around about half a mile and only to double back and see the trail you were on about a mile ago less than 60 feet above you. This continued over and over again, across drainages and around mountains, for seemingly endless hours while enduring the buffeting winds of the desert mountains. Now, I know that the people who designs this trail could build steeper trails. I have no understanding of why somebody would be so sadistic as to build the trail like this, not even to save the knees. I can't even imagine enjoying such a gradient going uphill, because you seriously just don't go anywhere. You zigzagged back-and-forth pointlessly staring out the mountain wondering why the fuck you arent going anywhere. However, by staying faithful to the trail we were able to pass the 200 mile marker.
We finally got to the bottom, both Erin and I at the end of our wits and in considerable amounts of pain after the physical trials of the day (not to mention the mental torment). After a delicious Mac-n-cheese dinner (enhanced with pork, mushrooms, and furikake seasoning), we were out like a light.
Coolest critters: not much in the way of animal life today, and no new sightings. I was pleased to hear the omnipresent "cheeseburger" calls of the mountain chickadee and the quasi-drunken yanking of the red-breasted nuthatch as we descended San Jacinto, as I took their activity as a sign that we were out of the storm.
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