
Day 12: Mt San Jacinto
Devils slide trail 2.58 miles
Skip (trail closure) 151.9 — 179.40
San Jacinto alternate 5.49 miles. Of which I did about half… Sleeping on the top of the mountain.
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I woke up around six, full house, nobody up, snoozed a little. At 6:30 I started rolling up my kit as quietly as possible… No sign of life from the others.
By 7 I was ready to go. First signs of other life. Well, an early start wasn’t happening so at 8 I wandered over to the outfitter and waited till 9 for them to open. They didn’t have what I wanted so I wandered towards the trailhead while the others went to breakfast. A few blocks later, without even trying to hitch, a really nice man, Ned Roberts, stopped and gave me a ride to the trailhead.
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Trailhead was about 6400 feet, I motored up the first part to 8,100, took a break expecting to keep motoring, but no. The rest of the day was pretty much pure torture. The last 1000 feet or so I took ten steps, stopped to breathe twice, took ten more steps, etc. it was the only way I could make myself move enough to matter, otherwise I was taking longer and longer breaks very often. I was at the trailhead at 9:30, didn’t make it to the top until 4:15ish. Lots of people, took lots of photos, and had a tuna fish sandwich for dinner.
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initially I intended to rush down the mountain and find a camping spot before dark. Instead I stayed in the four man cabin at the top with six other people.
First time I’ve seen snow on the PCT
DeAnna Reynolds
Hoo boy! I’d have been having trouble with the altitude as well!
Nice that there was a cabin for you to sleep in.
Thanks for the pictures.
🙂
Charlie Hough
<3 any time DeAnna!