What a fantastic night!
Hiked the PCT partway up San Jacinto, not as far as I’d hoped but I had a painful blister from the hole in my toe socks. I’d drained some of it yesterday morning but it came back with a vengeance.
I cowboy camped 150 ft west of the water faucet off of the paved section of the trail. Snow Creek Rd. I think. Sat there in this perfectly formed rock as my backrest watching the traffic in the valley. When I stretched out and went to sleep the bitter cold that I’d anticipated never came. Sure, if you were exposed to the wind it was brutal, but I’d managed, for the most part, to use my bivy as a wind break.
The stars were amazing. Again. And maybe because of the buff over my face there was no condensation inside my bivy by morning. (or maybe the constant wind.)
When I packed up it was already warm enough to lose the sweatshirt and jacket. I stripped off my leg base layer lower down the mountain after passing all the houses. I simply jumped off the side of the road and stripped.
Despite the now hardening blister I felt like I was again just bouncing along. Loving life. I took a picture of the Palm Springs City Limits sign that someone had knocked over and stuck out my thumb.
First car stopped only seconds later. They dropped me off at the Visitors Center since they were on their way up to the Tramway to the top of the mountain.
“Super Bowl Sunday,” they said. “Nobody will be out there.”
Oh yeah, also noticed that I stink already.