Lion Spring

The one with the cloud inversion, amazing sunrise, firemen a home cooked meal.

📍 Location: MM163 back to Idyllwild

🏔️ Elevation : High! Over 7000ft
🥾 I actually walked: 9 miles
💰 Money: Breakfast $24, $25 groceries, $100 for two nights accommodation (not bad!)
⛑️ Health: I’m on form and feel great. My bisters are gone, shoulder pain is no more and I have good energy levels.

☀️ Weather: It’s turned! We woke up to freezing weather and my hands were so cold I couldn’t clasp the zip of my tent. Packing up was challenging! We have a storm rolling in so we are cutting the walk short today and getting off the mountain.

🍲 Food: Breakfast oats with cranberries and peanut butter, Cheeeeburger and potato salad, then Harry cooked for five of us (Spaghetti bolognaise, salad, garlic bread and wine). A good food day.

💤 Sleep: Not the best night as it was freezing and super windy. Tonight I’m back in a proper bed though 😜

🐍 Snake count: 5 still

👨 People update: We are a bit worried about DinkyDi. She is struggling with the altitude so we were sensible and went to the Fire Station and the nice firemen took her blood pressure and gave her the once over. She’s ok but he talked to her about nutrition and electrolytes, and not to use the caffeine electrolytes).

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🏕️ 5.10am It took me nearly an hour to pack up today due to the lack of dexterity in my fingers, but eventually we are off. As I start to hike the sun is peaking its head over the mountain and sprays a deep pink and orange colour through the sky. With the lights of Idyllwild below it’s stunning. The wind is now non existent so it’s extremely peaceful and all yuh can hear is the crunch of our feet as we walk.

☁️ We are so fixated on the sunrise we hadn’t really looked to our left but when we did we all just stopped in our tracks. Me, DinkyDi and Disco were in awe of the spectacular cloud inversion that was happening below. It looked like a huge ocean was rolling over the mountains. I’ve never been this high before and I’m loving every moment.

☕️ 6.49am - The trail starts a steep descend which is formulated in a series of endless switchbacks but I’m loving it. Disco has his stride on and we lost him a while ago so it’s just DinkyDi and I now. She spots a gorgeous little tent site with a log to sit on and a cave to explore “breakfast time” she declares and and we set up our stoves as we enjoy the a well deserved break. Little did we know what was around the corner!

😂 8am - OMG! That was so much fun. I have not laughed that hard in ages as two 50+ year old ladies are trying to negotiate blow down trees. We are pole dancing around some of them. Soldier crawling under others getting filthy, legs dangling on the higher ones. The heavy backpacks were up and more than a tarts knickers! 😂

💦 9.10am - We are still laughing at our antics when we turn a corner and are surprised to see a familiar face. It’s The Royals! We thought they would be well ahead of us by now but they had stopped for water (which was a mile down the mountain then another mile up). With the storm rolling in tomorrow, Di and I had no intentions of camping out in that and risking hypothermia so this intersection was our exit point into town. It’s a six mile hike down the mountain but we knew we would be in town by lunchtime. Amber chatted with Harry. She currently has 14 blisters on her feet and her Achilles are extremely painful with each step. After lots of chatting with Harry they also decide to take the exit point and stay with us for two nights. They will ride out the storm in town and rest Ambers feet. Good call guys!

🎒 9.20am - We leave them to pack up as they will catch DinkyDi and us for sure.

🥾 I’m loving the walk today. We
See endless birds and hear woodpeckers. A humming bird flew right in front of me and hovered for a second. We are guests in their world and what fabulous world it is.

☀️ The sun is now out and we are starting to sweat! Outer layers are removed as are my waterproof socks. DinkyDi tells me stories of her childhood in Australia and it’s so interesting to hear tales of her past. We sing along to songs, dance in the sand and then DinkyDinhas an idea. “Let’s make a note for Amber & Harry”. With her pole she writes in the sand “sing out loud” and I draw a big smiley face and write “The Royals”. Apparently Harry has an amazing singing voice and can play the guitar. We hope to witness his talents in the coming weeks.

🚗 12.10pm - DinkyDi and I made it to the road and now it’s the fun challenge of getting a hitch. I’m so glad I’m not doing this on my own.
A few cars drive by but within 15 mins a car pulls over and a lovely lady called June shouts for us to hop in. June is a character and often gives hikers a lift. She had offered a lift to other hikers up the road but they declined as it was too dangerous to get in a car with a stranger, so they had called an Uber. There was nothing scary about this 61 year old lady who told us all sorts of stories of the local area. She had a strong negative opinion of max the mayor which made me smile. She wouldn’t take any money from us even though we offered and dropped us in the centre of town.

🍔 We are not able to check in to the cabin until 3pm so we leave our packs in the hotel reception. “Burger?” I asked DinkyDi. “For sure!, Kathy and Kim’s?” She replied. I nodded and we headed back to the Red Kettle Cafe for a slap up lunch. I was starving!
We had just finished our lunch when The Royals walked through the door. High fives and lots of coffee all around. Today is a good day, and it just gets better!!

👨‍🚒 2pm - DinkyDi is a bit worried about her reaction to the altitude so we asked in the diner if there is anywhere she can get her blood pressure taken and get checked out. The waitress told us that they offer free check ups at the fire station so we make our way to the fire department. Sure enough, the lady made a quick phone call and within 5 minutes an ambulance appeared and DinkyDi hopped into the back with two hunky firemen called Troy and Trevor! “Have fun” I waved with a wink 😜. 10 mins later she had received a good service (medical of course!) and was given the all clear. No clots and her heart and blood pressure were fine. They gave her lots of advice and explained that they see a lot of hikers who struggle with the sudden change of diet, heat and daily exertion of hiking with a heavy pack. We both walk away feeling confident about how to manage our bodies going forward.

👋 Guess who I saw? As we were walking back from the fire station we bumped into Ash from Ireland. It was so good to see her and we hugged each other in the street. She now has a trail name “zippy” as she got her hair caught in the zip of her tent and had to be rescued in the night! 😂

🔑 We check in and get the key to our cabin. It has three bedrooms and a huge wood burning stove, a kitchen and a bath. We are here for two nights and sharing with The Royals and Disco Daddy. DinkyDi and I go grocery shopping whilst Amber and Harry go shopping for another pair of hiking shoes for Amber. She can’t wear those Zero Drop shoes anymore as they are wrecking her feet.

🤩 Wow! In the supermarket a voice behind us said “are you
PCT hikers?”. “We sure are”
Says Di. The kind old gentleman introduces himself as Robert Muir. The famous John Muir was his great uncle. We stood in the cereal isle for about 20 mins chatting with this guy. He even showed us is his driving licence to prove his name! He was in his 80’s and had suffered a stroke about three months ago. But he just lived talking to hikers about the trail. It was an honour to meet him.

🥘 7.30pm - Back at the cabin, Harry got to work making the most gorgeous home cooked supper, and then Disco Daddy turned up. We all sat around the table chatting and listening to Disco Daddy’s day. He has climbed over 100 blow down trees, traipses through snow, post holed and traversed over Apache Peak which is not too bad at the moment. He had fun sliding down a sleep incline in the snow on his bum. He looked exhausted, but very happy. We are all so proud of him and he deserved his meal and beer!

🛌 10pm - I bid you goodnight and wander what tomorrow will bring.

As I close my eyes I’m thinking about our 2nd tramily of Handyman, Jesse and Kodak who are still up there on the mountain with this bad weather rolling in. I hope they are ok.

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