On Friday, Me and 5 other hikers went up to Idyllwild to start our 2 and a half day backpacking trip. On the way there we drove through a thunderstorm and got pelted with rain. At a stop at a ranger station on the way there, two dogs that were scared of the thunder ran into the truck when the door was open and wouldnt get out. As a result, I had to wrestle them out. Once we got to Idyllwild, the storm dissipated. The plan was to leave one truck at the trailhead to Devils Slide (where we would be coming down) and then drive the other trucks about 25 miles south to the Fobes trailhead.
The first day was basically a 1.7 mile climb up to the PCT from the Fobes trail and camping at the junction. We started climbing at sunset. It was already dark as we started to set up camp. My tent was new and I havent had the time to try putting it up yet, so I tried reading the instructions, which didnt really help. I havent really backpacked before (just lots of dayhikes) so I didnt know what things like "guy ropes" were. The stakes bent even when you tried to push them into the ground with your hands. The design of the tent was also unusual, and it finally took 4 of us to figure out how to put it up. Lesson: NEVER buy cheap $30 tents from Big 5!
8/27/11
I woke up 20 minutes before sunrise and poked my head out of the tent. There were high clouds in the sky, which usually means a good sunrise. Because we were camping in a sort of valley area, I couldnt see the horizon. I grabbed the camera, tiptoed through camp (everyone else was still sleeping), and sprinted up the PCT towards Spitler Peak.
I ran to the point where I was about 0.3 miles from the very top of the peak when the sun came up. After 20 minutes and some really nice shots, I jogged back to camp.
Thunderstorms already starting to build in the distance on my jog back to camp
When I got back to camp, 2 others were already up and eating breakfast. 30 minutes later we were all packed up and hitting the trail.
We were planning on doing 6 peaks along the desert divide off the PCT. At the start of the individual trails going up each peak, we decided we would ditch our packs to avoid the weight. The first one was Spitler Peak.
Kat and Trace near the top of Spitler Peak
Lake Hemet viewed from the summit
Descending
Spitler Peak behind us now
As we headed towards Apache Peak, there was a meadow near the summit, very unusual for this spot.
Marge Simpson
We didnt realize this at the time, but we had missed our turn onto the trail up Apache Peak and had continued along the PCT
Becase we had overshot our turn onto Apache peak, the alternative was scrambling up the north side. Alann, me, and Kat decided to go for it, while the other three would sit under some trees and rest. We headed for the point we thought was Apache Peak, but it turned out to be a false summit. The real summit was towards the right and took an extra 10 minutes to get to.
View from the summit of Apache. Thunder was already rumbling over the valley
The 3 of us on the summit. I placed the camera on a rock and used a 10 seccond self timer to get the shot
Back on the PCT
A big thunderhead over San Jacinto Peak in the distance
I thought it would be hot here, but the temperature only got up to the mid 80s.
We stopped at the base of Antsell Peak to eat lunch and ditch our packs before heading up. Antsell by far was my favorite peak on the trip, mainly because it involved a lot of scrambling.
When we got to a notch, it started pouring on us. The temperature dropped suddenly and the wind picked up. There was a flash of lightning every minute or so. All of us went to the rocks for cover. After the rain stopped, I saw Jason start climbing again and followed after him. Everyone else was still huddled in the small caves made by the rocks.
When I got to the summit, there were numerous lightning flashes to the south. Another storm was headed our way! but for the meantime, it was still far enough we could stay on the summit for a little while. I got out my camera and snapped a picture of the lightning. 10 minutes later I saw everyone else starting for the summit.
We were going to take a shot of all of us standing on the summit, but then there was suddenly a kzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound of static electricity and Kat's ponytail stood up on end. Someone also mentioned the hairs on their arms were also standing up on end. With the fear of being struck by lightning, all of us hastily climbed down the peak and didnt stop until we reached the notch. Surely enough, after about 20 minutes, a small bolt of lightning struck the area where we were standing before.
As we were descending below the notch, thunderheads were also starting to bubble up over Joshua Tree national park in the distance
back on the PCT and heading for south peak. 3 of us were going for south peak while the other 3 were planning on resting.
We got to an area where we thought the south Peak scramble was going to start and ditched our packs(because of the row of ducks that were going up the hill). They turned out to be misleading and just led up to another level of the PCT. We ended up looping around the mountain a few times. After summiting south peak, we walked all the way back down to get the packs, then back up the PCT.
the 3 of us on top of south peak
Back on the trail again
The sun came out resulting in awesome views of the desert
Views back at Antsell Peak (aka. Antsell Rock)
Entering the forest
We dropped off our packs at the campsite and headed a half mile down the hill to get water from a flowing stream. It took me 40 minutes to set up that annoying tent when we got back. I ended up bending another stake by pushing it into the ground with just my hands and was wondering if the tent would collapse during the night.
At about 2am that night, a sudden strong wind woke everyone up. It was quiet one minute and then we heard 50mph winds howling on the peaks above us. Someone described it as a "death wind from hell." After 20 minutes the wind disappeared suddenly. I was so surprised my tent didnt collapse.
8/28/11
The next day I woke up at sunrise and couldnt fall asleep again, so I went out and checked out the route up to Red Tahquitz, which we were planning on doing that day.
I was surprised how short the trail was and was up and back to camp in under an hour. After breakfast we all headed up the trail.
After getting down and packing up we set off for our last peak, Tahquitz Lookout
Views from the lookout
From the lookout, there were more thunderstorms forming over the valley. The thunderstorms helped us by dropping the temperature down into the 70s. After the lookout we descended the mountain on the Devils Slide trail, then ate lunch in Idylwilld before going back to the trailhead to pick up the trucks.
Thanks for posting.
