Saturday morning, my wife and I each drove a vehicle up to Garner Valley and the Fobes Trail head. As we started up Fobes Ranch road, the new rain/snow had made the surface a little more slick and muddy than I had anticipated and I decided to park down at the valley floor and just add few more downhill road miles to my trip...no problem. I jumped into my wife's car and headed to Idyllwild and the start of my hike.
We passed sign stating chains required on the way into town but being a "rational" guy i told my wife not to worry as the roads seemed very clear. That changed when we reached Fern Vally drive and as soon as we turned up the hill I new we didn't want to go any further. I jumped in the driver seat, turned the car around and parked on dry pavement and added a additional two mile walk to my trip. I said my "good byes", "don't worries" and all to my wife and patted the little one on the head and I was on my way.
The walk up to Humber Park was peacefull, a little boring and really slippery. If there was any a time on trip that I'd wish I had yak traks it was here. There were two vehicles in the ditch on the way up as well; not to serious but enough to cause some real embarrassment. I wasn't passed by many cars and decided not to thumb-it, being that I felt great, the sun was shining and it seemed like a good warm-up. I did pass two backpackers on their way down who said they had been forced to bivy in the middle of the trail on way up Devils Slide last night. I didn't ask what their original intentions were but they stated they hadn't even made it saddle junction. I imagine that was quite a rough night.
There were maybe five or six cars at Humber Park when I passed through and started immediately up the trail. The trail had been pretty well traveled and the hike up to Saddle Junction was pretty easy. I could see the sun coming up behind Lily Rock as I entered Humber Park but now the entire valley was shrouded in fog. The temperature would never reach 40.
My original (pre-weather) plan was to head down the willow creek trail through skunk cabbage meadows and down the Caramba Trail to Laws Camp. After stopping off there, I'd planed to make my way back up towards Red Tahquitz and head on south. Well, that plan was about to be augmented. There was a single set of boot tracks from a hiker I'd passed previously that headed down towards the 4 way junction but other than that the trail was not the clearest to make out under the 6 + inches of fresh snow. I figured that I should be able to make it to Tahquitz meadow, fill up on water, then make my way around Little Tahquitz and back up to the PCT. I made it to Tahquitz Meadow just fine, filled up my water containers and had some snacks.
I packed up and continued south out of the meadow. Now I consider myself pretty good with orientation but as soon as I left the meadow I had no idea where the trail was! I saw one large pine with a blaze mark but it was in an open are and any direction after that would have been plausible. I checked my map again....lets try this way...ok how about that way? I must have zig zagged and post holed on that hillside for 30 minutes and didn't see a single other blaze cut branches, cross cut logs.... not one sign of a trail. The worst part is I was up here last year. Oh well it was time to make a decision. Do I trust the map, and just cross country it for a while until I hit an obvious feature like Tahquitz Creek or take the chicken route and head back with my tail between my legs? I chose the later. Trail 1 - Andy 0
Determined not to throw away my weekend and still wanting to see my trip through, I reluctantly backtracked all the way to Saddle Junction. I imagine it was about noon at this point and i figured if I pushed on down the well beaten PCT, I could at least make it to the Red Tahquitz area and and be fairly close to my original schedule. The sun had gone home early and the clouds would keep me company.
The last person I would see that day was a couple of trail runners north of Chinquapin Flats. I made pretty good time to the Tahquitz Peak Junction and stopped to send a message to my wife that all was ok and updated her with my altered itinerary. I looked down into Tahquitz Creek basin, shrouded in fog and post-holed down the PCT. For some reason I had no trouble at all discerning where the trail was the rest of the way. The snow was deeper but there were plenty of cross cuts, markers and other features that made following this particular path a piece of cake. The combination of hiking through the canopy of trees with no foot prints and the thick fog made for an enjoyable but eerie effect. I finally made it to the Little Tahquitz valley junction turned right and kept on trucking.
By the time I crossed Tahquitz Creek I was starting to contemplate a campsite. With the cloud cover it was hard to judge the time but I new I wanted to get set up well before night fall. I decided to continue down the PCT and keep my eye open for a spot offering some shelter from the wind. I ultimately set up next to a huge boulder and a pine tree where the trail passes over a small saddle.
I set up my tent, pad and bag then made myself one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had. After getting everything battened up for the night, I had a some ramen noodles and too many peanut M&Ms before crawling into my bag and envisioning my wife and son at home in a nice warm house...Hey, sleeping in the woods is still one of my favorite things.
Overall the night was good. The moon came out and lit up the area pretty well but along with it came huge gusts of wind that swirled snow and ice all over the place. I slept warm and was awake around 6am. I had plopped myself down with an eastern view hoping that I might receive a few precious photons in the morning sun but no such luck. There were some signs of sun down near Caramba but none ever made it up my way.
I made myself some oatmeal and coffee and had breakfast in bed. After procrastinating for a while, I packed up all of my gear and decided to get back on the trail. I wanted to get down off of the divide before the predicted nasty stuff showed up later in the day. The hike along the base of Red Tahquitz was pleasant and the trail easy to follow. Some areas had drifts up to a foot deep, but the snow was so dry and not icy it made travel not so bad. The temperature was in the low 30s all morning.
As I rounded the bend on the east side of Red Tahquitz I got my first and only view of sunshine that day and a some sneak peaks of the Coachella Valley.
I was feeling good and pushed on down the PCT towards South Peak and beyond. The trail along this section was very easy to follow although somewhat precarious in some areas. I can see how one would want crampons and an axe along some of these traverses. I had my microsikes with me but I never needed them in that snow had not thawed yet and the trail was never slippery. I continued down the fog laden trail and enjoyed the 100 yard view in all directions!
As I passed South Peak it started to snow slightly and the wind picked up. The further I went the more windy it got and I wondered if It got worse if I should bail out before Fobes Saddle. As I past underneath Antsell the wind driven snow was really becoming a bear. I only had sunglasses with me and they only blurred my vision more with all the melted snow on the lenses so I just worked on perfecting my squint technique.
On the lower of the long switch backs north of Antsell I came across three guys hiking north on the PCT. After the so much solitude and the current weather, it was kind of surreal coming around a corner and seeing people just standing there. They told me they got on the PCT at HWY 74, slept Friday night near the Spitler Peak trail and were on there way to Snow Creek. We thanked each other for marking the others way and I was on my way.
The snow was really coming down now. After only a short while the PCTer's foot prints were starting to fill in with fresh powder and the was still howling pretty good. The mile or so before the Zen Center junction the trail is fairly overgrown and navigating through ice covered buckthorn with a pack made for slow going. I decided that being behind schedule a bit already and given the current conditions I would bail out at Apple Canyon and make my way down to the valley floor. It may mean a long walk on pavement, but the trade off for mountain storm conditions a worried wife...it was an easy call.
The step trail down to the Zen Center was bitter sweet. The relentless downhill was rough on the legs and the dry snow had turned to slushy rain. That said it was good to be heading off the mountain. I made it to the Zen Center around noon, sent a quick "I'm OK" message home and started walking towards the highway.
After a couple miles the first car to pass me stopped and offered me a ride. I happily accepted and these great Zen Center folks took me all the way back to my Jeep at Fobes Ranch. Had way too much Mexican food from La Cocina in Anza and headed home to a nice shower.
Some more Pics:
http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n51 ... %20Valley/
