I left Mary’s at 6:15 am and was last to leave out of the 10 of us. These dudes are dedicated
From Mary’s, you have a couple early 500 feet climbs. Was very happy I did not have to do them during the heat.
Got to the detour to Paradise cafe early by 9:00. Stashed a water bottle here so I do not have to carry it 2 miles. Yes, that sounds dumb but it makes sense when you are here.
I case I forget where I put the water, lol.
These are the 2 lady college soccer players I met at Mike’s place. (Pele and Little Beast). They bring a soccer ball with them, and put on an exhibition of skills while we were at Mike’s . These lady’s got game! Nate also brought a small drone that flew above us and took cool trail pics. Pretty impressive.
Idyllwild mayor is a dog. No recalls ever. Have not seen mayor max yet
Met the legendary “Grumpy” at the Paradise Valley Cafe. He is a classic character that dominates every room he is in. He takes hikers to and from for tips, and took 4 of us from Paradise Cafe to Idyllwild.
Back in Idyllwild. Lovely small town that loves PCT hikers. The Silver pines lodge where I am staying tonight offers great hiker rates and does your gross hiker laundry for 5 bucks. Best deal ever!
Trail angel Barb is picking me up at 6:30 tomorrow to restart the trail. She won’t accept money, they just love helping hikers. This trail magic is incredible to experience.
Tomorrow I plan on going about 12 miles to the next good water source and camp. That’s about mile 163. Then I go 16 miles to mile 179. Around mile 170 is rockslide that blocks the trail. Ropes are in place, you have an adventure for about 30 feet. Not looking forward to that. Then I go to the next and last good water at mile 190. Huge elevation gains in the next 2 days. After mile 190 we drop 7000 feet into the valley with no water for 15 miles. Not looking forward to that, as the downhills hurt more.
Having a beer at the local brewpub. Can’t get the hotel wifi to play well with this blog, so had to come here (yes, what a sacrifice). Feeling really stiff so likely will eat and take a long hot shower
For certain not trail food at the brew pub!
Tom hikes the PCT 
That detour around the rockslide looks bad! Are you sure you want to do it? Yikes! Keep finding that good trail magic
Really impressed with with the TWO 18 mile days! Wow!
LikeLike