May 13, 2008 Pacific Crest Trail

Destination: Snow Creek Road
Miles: 18

Adrian: Today was a big day even though the mileage doesn't reflect it. Our starting elevation was at 8,800 feet above sea level and we finished at 1,725 feet. I was wasted at the end of the day.

Fuller Ridge was snowy and slick with lots of switchbacks. We saw no one until we hit the primitive campsite at the end of the road.

Mount San Jacinto was awesome and still covered with snow. We had thought about going for the summit but decided against it. I'm glad we did not go because we would have wanted crampons. I'm sure some people have done it without, but it was slippery enough on Fuller for me.

The rest of the descent into San Gorgonio Pass was scenic and as equally relentless. The PCT has a habit of traversing forever and never losing elevation. It took hours to get to the valley floor.

I had a rough time and didn't think I was going to make it. The only thing keeping me from camping early was that I was just about out of water after this 22-mile dry section. Water is a good motivator.

Kirsten did much better than I. She didn't even seem phased by the 7,000-foot descent into the bottomless pit called San Gorgonio Pass.

Tonight we are camped with interstate I-10 and thousands of wind generators about 5 miles away.

Oh yeah, we saw a 5-foot Rosy Boa Constrictor. She was pink and slender but long. Really cool!

Sleep well...

Kirsten: The trail was endless today or at least it seemed to be. I haven't mentioned that my IT band - the connective tissue running from the hip to just below the knee - has been bothering me since the first day out of Campo. This is partly out of denial and because it's not serious.

The descent today pushed my IT band and the pain associated with it a little too far for my liking. Stretching every morning and during breaks as well as two Advil by mile 13 or so does the trick. Today it did not.

We've met several hikers in the past three days including Wing It, a woman from Seattle; Don't Panic; Sparky, a mining and dam engineer who completed the AT a few years ago; and Lorenzo, who is in his 60s, can hike miles beyond my capacity and is from Torino, Italy.