Zero day. Woke up to heavier snow than we had expected. It’s 11 AM and I’m still laying in bed. I’m looking at the window at Snow continuing to come down.
Ryan and I had a serious talk this morning about moving forward. It is no longer a standard through hike. To move forward through San Jacinto, which still has a closed portion of trail, would not be hiking, It would be winter mountaineering. We would need more equipment, more food, our speed would be reduced, and the danger level would be higher than we are willing to take.
We have found a local ride service and our plan is to skip forward to the town of Agua Dulce at mile 454.5 and continue hiking north to Ridgecrest at Mile 652. From Ridgecrest, we will drop back down to Idlewild complete San Jacinto north back to Agua Dulce, and then jump back to Ridgecrest to continue through the Sierras.
Our hope is that the 2 to 3 weeks we travel Aguadulce to Ridgecrest will give the San Jacinto and San Grogonio mountain ranges time for snow to melt and compact.
The decision is made with a very heavy heart, for we both want to have a continuous foot path on the through hike, however, this truly is an unprecedented and historic year with snowfall. I’ve always felt I’m a little too rigid and unflexible in my plans and I know this is one of the things God is working on in my character.
We dropped off clothes at the laundry mat then got lunch at the lumber mill restaurant in Idlewild. It was delicious. We are now heading to the outfitters for more food, annd to look at winter gear, and then the grocery store.
Current snow conditions at 2:30.
Snow finally stopped at around 4 o’clock. Picked up some sushi to go for dinner got back to our lodging, preparing all of our food for the next five days and hitting the bed much later, how much busier than I wanted to be today.
