20 miles, Then Wild Storms (March 19 to March 22)

It sure was fun to get to the southern terminus after such a long journey and dream! Knowing the scale of the forecast storm, my mindset was simply to cover as much of my planned northbound 77 miles as I could, and adapt to reality.

As an added bonus, a sore throat starting Saturday turned into a full head cold by the time I was hiking. So, the adage of one-step-at-a-time has never been more true.

Although my 2 person MSR tent was a palace compared to some of the paper thin shelters I saw thru hikers setting up, I was sure happy to have it as the 8 year old rain fly is still working like a charm. However, it was rainy steadily during disassembly and was a wet mess when packed. No problem when taking to a place where it can dry a bit before being set up, but the worst nightmare if it had to be set up in the rain. I also gave my cheap poncho another try, and it was OK to walk in, not something I’d like to make a habit of and useless in more than a light breeze. Made a great temporary cover of my pack while I set up the tent!

I met several others starting off on the long thru-hiker journey, and a couple times tried to explain my complicated multiple flip-flop in 90 seconds or less. Mostly I just ended with ‘see you later on the trail!’ Maybe I will see them somewhere in the San Bernardino’s as they head north.

The trail from campsite one to Morena Village was 12 miles, taking me about 5 1/2 hours (8:30 to 2) with one 1/2 hour break for lunch and letting my feet dry a bit. My lightweight waterproof Altra Lone Peaks saw their limits, getting a bit damp in exchange for low weight. I finished the last 3 miles in my Luna Sandals, as I plan to mix about half and half between the Altras and sandals over the long haul, hoping this will be the best for managing my feet. It’s worked well on other period of lots of walking, but this of course is something else, so we’ll see how it unfolds.

One lesson out of the gate: wow did I underestimate the elevation undulation. I didn’t zoom in close enough to the trail relief and thought the trail dipped a few hundred feet and was mostly a traverse today, but no, that was like 2,000 feet! The climb up from Hauser Creek, about mile 8 to 11 was pretty brutal and my body needs some more work…

Ashley had backtracked from our night one camp, and took the car around to the intersection with Morena Village at mile 20 and we made the call to drive back to Palm Springs. The next leg climbed up to Mt. Laguna another 2,500 up and the forecast for Tuesday was 8 to 12 of snow and 30F temps. We drove the route back closest to the trail and stopped a couple times to get wind blasted as the next wave of the storm moved through. I have gear that will suffice with a bit of rain and 40 degree temps, but 2 straight days of wind and rain with my gear set? Nope, especially with a viable back-up plan already mapped out. I look forward to hearing what the other 30+ people who logged in at the start on 3/19 decided to do and how they fare as this storm passes by!

Returning to Palm Springs around dusk Monday, the way back to Tri and Asher’s place (AND HUGELY GRATEFUL AGAIN FOR THIS BASE FOR THESE FIVE DAYS) was blocked in multiple places by flooding in the wash and we went 40 minutes out of the way. We then woke to dark gray Seattle-like clouds and a steady rain Tuesday, 50F on the valley floor at a mere 600 feet of elevation. Sitting in my went tent in this would have been spectacular misery. I’m sure I’ll get some of that later, but I felt I got some good suffering here in the opening 2 days. A day of recovery and hopefully the head cold recedes so I can do one of my regulars around Palm Springs with my full pack, albeit on the greenest slopes I’ve ever seen in 20 years of fairly regularly visiting the Coachella!