Finish Location: Castle Rocks (On Fuller Ridge)
Daily Mileage: 8 miles (on trail)
Total Miles: 1880 Miles
Miles To Finish: 2472 Miles
Tuesday was another very tough day on the trail. Dave encountered a lot more snow, making each step of the climb more difficult.
(Ed in the snow.)
Ed and Dave decided to try to make it to the peak of Mt. San Jacinto. But to add to the difficulty of just walking in the snow, there were navigational issues. Not only is it impossible to see the trail when snow is covering it, but Dave lost his maps and his GPS died. So they were now navigating by the book with maps that Ed had and had to use various features to figure out where they thought they were.
So when they hit a fork between two trails - they opted for the wrong one. And although they ended up climbing another 700 feet, they could only look at the peak and did not make it there themselves. It was disappointing, but Dave had a bigger goal to worry about. And San Jacinto is not going anywhere.
So they continued on making it to Castle Rocks and were treated to the beautiful views in the valley below.
But Ed and Dave were not the only ones struggling in the snow. They had come upon a few hikers - retirees. And witnesses as one was precariously perched upon the snow, as his ice ax slipped out and went slidding down the mountains for hundreds, if not thousands, of feet below.
When they set up camp at about 8000 feet, it was not too cold, but they were still surrounded by snow and short on water. And Dave was really tired - as the snow trudging and navigating was starting to take its toll.
Dave decided to pack his water bladder with snow so that he would have some water and opted against a hot meal and simply ate a couple of sandwiches for dinner. With that, he was ready to go to bed - hoping that tomorrow they would finally be out of the snow.
~Midget Trail Angel
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