Mark well these words. They fortify. Ultimately, it's about making the connections in life, and today they are specifically the crossing of the
Pacific Crest Trail with the Palms-to-Pines Highway, connecting north on the footpath through the extreme south of the San Jacinto Mountains' Desert Divide, to
Live Oak Spring Pass.
The day begins as unusual: reveille!
Weather activies kept you awake half the night, and out in the pre-dawn,
down 18 from Crestline,
across
San
Bernardino
Valley
to
breakfast,
up the Yucaipa Grade
for
supplies
in
the
sunrise --
and
down the
grade into
Hemet,
winding
back up
San Jacinto Canyon
towards Mountain Center,
south through Garner Valley to the
PCT crossing, c. 4800, northwest of Santa Rosa Summit, just under 5000.
Is this a safe parking situation? A passing retired law-enforcer suggests it is such, as a favorite hideout for traffic stops.
On the strenth of this
(but taking the precaution of carrying along documents often left in the paid-for auto),
off we
go again,
up
surreal /
labyrinthine /
boulder-strewn
Penrod
Canyon...
a trip which the
sole-remaining guidebook
key maps are
apparently AWOL)
assures is c. 6.5 miles,
while the on-site signs caution 8.
How can this be?
Make record time to the c. 5800' junction (traditionally on this the annual major-day-hike of the year, marking the seasonal transition), in time for the gathering monsoonal cloud-cover, perhaps one distant thunderous roll, mercifully no precip,
but at least slightly cooler temperatures on the downgrade, as the camera-phone typically loses power.
Back in the car, iphone quixotically-slightly powering up, a stop at Anza Junction for refreshment, onward,
reversing course as the
precipitation finally fitfully plummets,
apparently a
roadblock north through Lamb Canyon,
so a circuituous course must be made via
Ramona Highway,
Riverside,
I's
215 and
210,
back
up
Waterman,
over the crest and far away, slightly down to
Twin Peaks and Antlers,
rendezvous'ing with Carol, Fred, and Donna for a delicious impromptu dinner --
local home
late in the moonlight. High up north 108 -- new highest of the year (149th day of summer, 13 100's, 47 days 90+ / 84 80-or-beyond) -- with Crestline actually down a tick to 83, and three degrees warmer (86) in Idyllwild...
