We decided to skip about a 20 mile section of the trail that would have led us over Mt San Jacinto.
At the time there were a lot of hikers turning around, some being rescued, others being put into very unsafe conditions. The snow was still a serious issue.
None of us wanted to deal with that. We will be back later to deal with those miles.
After a 2 hour drive back to the trail we arrive at the Cabazon area, drive to a random bridge in the desert, hop out, put our packs on, and head down under the 15 freeway.
We are now in the shadow of the North side of Mt San Jacinto. It’s a massive mountain, standing above everything.
There was a couple mile walk from the freeway up into the start of the canyons we will be in for many miles.
After not too long we are greeted by the section C sign. The average section of the PCT is about 91 miles, this one shocked me.
Unfortunately, we started to late in the day and this section of the trail is very exposed and is in an extremely windy area. The first few miles here are thru the Mesa Wind Farm.
The sun was in full force and we had to take cover for a bit to allow the temps to drop.
The wind farm had setup a place for hikers to come and hide from the sun. They even provided some water and a few oranges. We hung here for about an hour.
Eventually pushed up the canyon, thru the wind turbines and up a very steep climb out of the first valley.
The trail resumes around the next mountain range, constantly heading upwards. It is beautiful here, flowers are blooming and it smells amazing.
A few miles of up is finally greeted with some down. At this point the trail comes to a ridge line and it now heads down to Whitewater River Preserve.
The view from up here was pretty awesome.
Walked down the hill to the riverbed and kept heading up for a couple more miles before we setup camp.
I found a tree with a great cowboy camping spot under it. I didnt even bother setting up my tent.
Ate dinner, watched the sun set over the valley, and fell asleep watching the stars.
Tomorrow is going to be a hard day, I just dont know it yet.
oversized-outdoors.com 
Leave a Reply