San Jacinto & Fuller Ridge ‘Alpha Mountaineering Crew’ – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [06]

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Day 13 (10/04) – Mount San Jacinto

Today, from Idyllwild, we set off to Mount San Jacinto. This was a slight detour off the PCT with a summit of 10,800 feet (3,291.84 m), making it one of the highest peaks on (or near) the trail. Some extra adventure and snow experience could do us good – despite being told it was a bad idea the previous night by a random hiker who had turned back, due to conditions at Fuller Ridge.

Corky and Abi had agreed to join Echo and me for the summit of San Jacinto, the first time we would hike together. The first step was a hitch to the Devil Slide trail, where we started our climb. San Jacinto is not actually on the PCT, so to access it means taking a different trail. Our side trip would re-join the PCT at Fuller Ridge.

The Devil’s Slide trail was really steep, and we knew we were getting high in altitude by the time we reached the top of it. The snow became really thick by this point and navigating by trail became a waste of time. We used our GPS apps to locate landmarks and head for them in our own way. Sometimes we followed rough trails people made in the snow, but most of the time it was easier to make our own trail.

After a long ridge walk, I made the decision to start heading straight up the slope and head straight for the cabin near the summit – it was much easier than side-stepping along the ridge. We noticed the thinning air, as breathing was just a little harder the higher we got. Waiting above for the others to arrive and rest, I boiled some snow for water in my Jetboil, as there was no running water anywhere. This took far more gas than I expected, and old only made a half-litre worth of water.

Shortly after the break, we made it to the cabin just below the summit! “Epic!” were my initial thoughts. The last to arrive was Corky. Upon reaching the cabin with a happy face ready to celebrate, he unceremoniously face-planted into the snow outside the cabin door! It was truly a monumentally hilarious occasion for all, haha!

Deciding to utilise the daylight remaining, we trudged the last few hundred feet to the San Jacinto summit. We congratulated each other and enjoyed the view over the low desert below. It was a real bonding moment between the four of us – one I will never forget!

We went back to the cabin and had some dinner. My flask of rum was handed around, and we had also found a bottle of whiskey that was left there, which also made the rounds – thanks to the legend who left that!

‘What an amazing day!’ I think to myself. It was one of the most rewarding and best days of my life, and we all shared a similar view.

Distance hiked: 12 miles (19.31 km)

Total PCT hiked: 186 miles (299.34 km)

Day 14 (11/04) – Fuller Ridge

Sleep didn’t come easy last night. Perhaps it was from the altitude, or… perhaps from Corky’s loud snoring! We agreed to leave the cabin at 8am, and had our breakfast beforehand.  Some snow needed to be melted for water, at least giving us something to get by until lower down where there’d be some snow melt run-off.

We may have conquered San Jacinto Peak, but we still had the notorious Fuller Ridge to go – there were just so many bad stories about this place being dangerous! The ridge was to the west, and we had to head downhill. Like coming up, the trail was impossible to follow due to the snow, so we just headed straight down using the GPS navigation again, knowing where the PCT trail was going to be.

Further down the slope, I heard the faint sound of running water under the snow beneath me, and bashed out a hole, so we could refill our water bottles – fresh tasty snow melt!

The snow became more intermittent before the ridge, and we had to change out our microspikes and ice axe a few times, as they were only needed in sections.

Fuller Ridge had a lot of snow on its northern side, but it was nowhere near as bad as the rangers (and other hikers) made it out to be. Maybe we were still riding our high from the previous day’s accomplishments, but we did it with minor difficulty. It was continuous snow at a steep incline, so getting footing was important to avoid sliding. In the end, only a few ice axe self-arrests were needed in our group, along with a few post-holing (leg going through soft snow) misfortunes.

We made it off the ridge, and began heading down the mountain on more patchy snow – eventually into dry pine forest.

Abi, Echo, Matt (who joined us at the ridge) and I camped off-trail nearby a small stream. Corky wanted to do a few more miles as he needed to resupply in Cabazon but wanted to hike with us still after. It’s easy to fall far behind or get too far ahead of friends on the trail, so sometimes compromises need to be made.

Distance hiked: 9 miles (14.48 km)

Total PCT hiked: 214 miles (344.4 km)

Next Post:

Part 7 ‘Trails Names, Dinosaurs & Sleeping in Cyclones’

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