Norovirus, Snow, Wind, and Whitewater

We left Idyllwild late, getting to trail at around 10. The next stretch winded its way up San Jacinto over 60 miles. We anticipated a lot of snow at the top. Every hiker was carrying crampons or microspikes and most donned ice axes - if they even chose to push over that is. Many detoured around the peak when faced with the prospect of miles of hardened snowfields. What I didn't know yet was that the challenge for me would start well before the summit push.

Ten miles into the climb out of town I started feeling nausious. It began very mild at first, but quickly grew to a level of discomfort I could no longer ignore. We planned to make 16 miles, but at 12 I was already feeling it, so we took a side trail 1 mile down to a spring and camped at the water source for the night.

That night I threw up several times. I tried to get some food in me, but my stomache wouldn't hold down water. My feverish chills led me to burry in every item of clothing I carried, only to rip them off at 1 am when I was burning up. I slept about an hour that night, tossing and turning between various degrees of too hot, too cold, and needing to swiftly egress from the tent.

The next morning I felt astonishingly better, albeit weak from no calories and dehydration. Lindsay supported me the whole time by taking care of camp chores and doing what she could to make me comfortable. We were the last to leave camp and start he 1 mile climb back up to the PCT. I stopped for breaks every couple minutes to catch my breath. Once at the top, I laid down in the dirt and took a 3 hour nap. I can only imagine what passers by thought of the situation.

My condition improved gradually over the next two days as I drank and ate more. By T+3 days I was 100% back to normal, which was good because we faced a new challenge ahead: San Jacinto.

The snow proved manageable but more than either of us was expecting. Thanks to a heat wave it warmed to a pleasant 60 degrees by midday at 10k ft, which was a double edge sword. It was comfortable, but the snow was soft with the consistency of mashed potatoes by 10 am.

Climbing up to San Jacinto, El 10834 ft.

Summit hut with bunk space for 4. The day before our summit we watched a SAR helicopter airlift someone off the peak.

View from the summit to the valley 10k ft below.

Glissading gets you down faster!

The morning climb up wasn't too difficult, but as the snow softened and our legs tired the afternoon turned into a slog. After descending the peak we traversed snow slopes for a couple miles with slope angle varying from 30 to 45 deg. For reference, if you haven't been in steep terrain, 45 deg feels like a wall. It can be intimidating for inexperienced mountaineers (us) and drain on you mentally. The risk is falling. A misstep and you slide down the mountain. With the snow being soft I wasn't too worried of this, but neither of us carried ice axes so we'd have to rely on trekking poles and the plank arrest position if anything went sideways.

Pretty typical trail for this section: walking straight down a steep slope in soft snow.

When we finally got off the snow and onto hard dirt we were relieved. We covered 10 miles in 12 hours and were exhausted. In total we hiked about 15 continuous miles without stepping on dirt. We almost forgot what solid ground felt like.

From here we descended some 8000 ft to the valley below. Snow rapidly turned to snow-free pine forest then again to desert. The temperature tipped up and the sun was strong. We could hardly believe we spent all day yesterday on snow.

After a brief resupply in Cabazon we continued north toward the Whitewater preserve. As we made our way the wind ripped harder than anything I've ever experienced as we slogged our way up the sandy river bed. Gusts of 50 mph threw dust from the wash into our faces, making it tough to keep our eyes open. We were told by a trail angle the weather isn't normally like this - something we've heard a half dozen times already on our trek.

Coming up was our first "real" river fording of the hike. When we arrived at the shore we were a bit intimidated.

After much searching and some guidance from a fellow hiker we identified a safe place to cross 1/3 mile upstream. I went first and the water got up to my knees - still enough to push me hard with the current, but still a significant improvement from the ~28" depth in other spots. Lindsay crossed immediately after and I lent her a hand on the final bit. Patience in finding a good spot paid off. We heard someone was airlifted out after falling in when crossing at a less than ideal spot. We were also lucky in our timing as the heatwave had ended by the time we got there, slowing snowmelt and in turn river depth.

The next day was mostly uneventful as we made our way to Big Bear for a resupply. As we boarded the free trolly the snow began to pick up and we headed into a coffee shop to warm our bodies and spirits.

-Orange