Day 14

Earliest start yet, up at 12, on trail by 1 - overnight low: 30f. Spicy, Will, and I were determined to hit San Jacinto for sunrise.

We hiked up the snowy mountain in a three man conga line following the alternate route or “blue blaze” that goes to the summit. Night hiking is the safest way to get through snow because it is coldest and hardest, therefore easier to navigate with micro spikes.

We made it to the summit emergency shelter a bit before sunrise and had some cocoa. Once we were approaching dawn we bundled up and hustled up the last .2 miles and 100 vertical feet to the proper summit. The wood sign that hikers often hold was either not there for the season or buried under snow, but we got our pictures anyway.

After we warmed back up for a bit in the shelter, we started our descent. The snow was still grippy not sticky and we flew down the mountain. At times we even treated it like skiing!

When we met up with the PCT, we were over come with what would turn out to be false confidence. Only 4 miles to camp and it was only around 10am.

Those four hours would prove more taxing than the summit push. The sun had softened the snow making it slushy and hard to traverse. Additionally, following footprints would lead us far off the actual trail due to impassable conditions on trail. Those four miles took us close to 6 hours.

Luckily the campsite had no snow and some sunshine. Overall a great day.

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