DAY 15: WEIRD DAY

miles: 20

Today was a weird day.

We woke up and frantically packed up in a hurry, eager to get down to the Paradise Valley Cafe for the most delicious breakfast of our lives.

Not only are we starving, and low on food we WANT to eat, we are the most filthy we have been... ever. Or at least I am, and I'm very disgruntled about it. I don't mind being dirty - seriously, I can deal with 7 days without a shower - it's the sunscreen that turns into a dirt paste. It's the days that we only drink water from pristine caches and we would feel like huge jerks using drinking water to rinse our feet or hands. It's the feet that are so caked in dirt that it doesn't come off and it makes your blisters worse.

It's not the greasy hair or the B.O.

I just want to be able to rinse dust and dirt from my tender feet every night, that's all I ask.

The three miles to Paradise Valley Cafe were a long three miles for me. My feet were screaming, my stomach was audibly angry and growling, as I had not eaten breakfast in anticipation of the pancakes I would soon be eating.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed breakfast as much as I enjoyed this one. I was in heaven, to say the least.

Not only was the food amazing and deliciously diner-y, the service was amazing. Cindy, our waitress, was HANDS DOWN the best server I have ever had. She caters to thru-hikers during this busy season and does it with a smile that never ends, no matter how annoying the request, no matter how busy she is.

Although the morning was blissful and exactly what we needed, something absolutely terrible happened. After we had finished breakfast (round 1, we would be eating lunch as well) we were just loitering, relaxing and using our electronic devices, waiting for our stomachs to empty enough to accommodate more food.

Suddenly there is a gigantic CRASH. And... two more crash sounds. There had been a car accident across from the cafe in the busy 3-way highway intersection. I witnessed the actual crash but it all happened so fast, I couldn't tell what was going on. Almost everyone from the cafe dropped what they were doing and ran out into the intersection to see if everyone was alright - waitress and the coffee boy included. They ran at top speed out into the intersection and immediately there was screaming and bolting and "call 911!". There were three cars involved, people shot out of two of the cars immediately, letting us know that everyone inside was o.k. but the third car (and most seriously impacted) stayed still, horn blaring, as a sort of nightmarish background noise to the whole event.

I will say that everyone involved IS okay, just so you aren't left wondering if there were casualties.

But, the two people in the severely impacted car were trapped and in very bad shape. Ben was out on the scene in a flash, as Angela, Carrot, and I stayed back, watching from afar, waiting to know if there was something we could do to help. A lot of people were out on the scene and I felt as though it would have been a "too many cooks in the kitchen" sort of scenario if I had been out there, so I just watched and waited, feeling ill.

The entire restaurant basically shut down for a good hour or so, as it should have. The waitress was simultaneously crying, helping the victims, and pouring coffee and seating patrons, she did a STELLAR job and went above and beyond in a time of crisis, really holding it together.

Ben called one of the victims family while the paramedics struggled to get him out of the car. He was 26, our age. The passenger was also very badly hurt and could not be removed from the vehicle easily. Two helicopters arrived, along with 3 ambulances, and they were transported via life flight to Palm Springs.

It was overwhelming and traumatic to witness something like this, especially after being in the woods for so long, so out of touch with normal civilian daily life, and to be reintroduced with a car accident, was.... well..... I don't know how to really describe it, I guess.

Ben's feeling a bit shaken up by the whole thing, as he should be, having been up close and personal with the victims and being the one to share the bad news with their loved ones.... Man. It was a really strange start to the day.

We did end up ordering lunch, but got it to-go so that we could get hiking. It was now very late for us (12:30) and we felt the pressure to keep moving, despite our overflowing stomachs.

MAJOR PROPS AND THUMBS UP TO THE STAFF AT PARADISE VALLEY CAFE, I'll be sure to give rave reviews!

Angela and I took the lead as Carrot and Ben were hanging out at Dr. Sole's Foot Care Tent (a man set up a tent offering free foot massages, cleanings, trimmings, doctoring, etc.) digesting and feeling sluggish and ill (especially Carrot).

We were now surrounded by pines, boulders, and just.... stunning scenery. I felt like I was transported to a version of Yosemite! It was spectacular hiking.

After an hour or two, Angela and I stopped to scarf down our to-go meals. Me, I had a grilled cheese sandwich (YES, a 100% American Cheese, which I usually despise, but today LOVED) with a pile of fries. Cold. Soggy. French. Fries. Angela had a club sandwich.

Ben and Carrot caught up and we lounged in the shade of the rustling trees, trying to shake the mornings awfulness out of our minds.

The hiking grew intensely more difficult as we went on - we were entering the notorious San Jacinto Wilderness.

The San Jacinto stretch of the PCT is one of the most steep, and difficult sections of the entire trail, most definitely the hardest part of Southern California. The elevation gains and losses are immense and the weather can be unpredictable.

San Jacinto (the peak itself) towers over the land at 10,834 feet and is one of the tallest peaks in the contiguous United States. It divides Palm Springs and the greater Los Angeles area and is very rugged.

I'm excited to be in new terrain, especially one that is not sizzling hot and smells like pines, but it is brutal out here.

Dusk was near, and we still had 6 miles to go... There were ominous looking cloud formations and a red setting sun, which isn't a good sign, in terms of weather. All I could think about was the probability that a storm is in our near future and that I needed to get off of that mountain before the storm rolled through tomorrow.

By sunset we are still hiking on precipitous edges and bounding down steep rocky slopes, like gazelles.... only, I am feeling more like an injured gazelle. My feet have been bothering me on a daily basis. The pain begins around the tenth mile and accumulates over the course of the few remaining miles of each day, and when it starts hurting - IT HURTS. I'm wincing with each step. Is it because I hiked on new insoles without breaking them in? And they were not the right fit for me and just caused an injury instead? Is it because I hiked without ANY insole or padding my shoes for 3 days and they just need time to heal? I'm hoping our rest in Idyllwild will be the cure-all and I will hit the trail with new, hardened feet after that.

I forgot to mention the wind.

THE WIND.

I am not joking when I say: The wind up here in the San Jacinto's is probably blowing at 70 miles per hour. Gale force winds. Wind that nearly blows you over. We literally have to brace ourselves against it and stop ourselves from falling over, holding onto our hats, our sunglasses and our belongings for dear life.

The wind destroyed my sun hat (my Lippman's Party store straw costume hat that probably only cost me $2.00, I know, I know).

Uphill uphill uphill, relentless. In the wind. This was our most difficult day of hiking so far and we managed to fit nearly 20 miles in today! I'm very impressed with our motivation.

Our campsite, thankfully, was the sole windless spot tucked away in the forest down off of a switchback. It was QUITE creepy, as it was mostly a cave with some old metal barrels, bowls, and other miscellaneous remnants of human activity. Hunters maybe? Thru-hikers? Not sure. Angela and Carrot cowboy camped in the cave, shielded from the wind. Ben and I set up the tent and I got in that sleeping bag SO FAST, because my feet were hurting SO BAD.

I couldn't fall asleep because of the pain, and I found I was out of Ibuprofen... One day away from Idyllwild, I told myself.

Paradise Valley Cafe from my seat off to the side where I had my phone plugged in...

Dr. Sole.

Just a man rubbing feet in the desert.

There was cold pop and cold beer here too.

My to-go root beer on the left.

The dirt ankle.

Marveling at the dirt legs.

Laying in the leaves eating sandwiches.

going up up up and we have no idea what we're in for.

Changing landscape.

I like how this doesn't look steep in this photo... it was STEEP.

Some tall wet grass in the wind.

... is that a storm brewing?

Angela is cold.

Hiking toward the sunset.

Gorgeous sunset hiking, but very very very low morale.

Red.

These clouds terrify me because they indicate foul weather soon.