Tuesday, April 02, 2019 – 10.30 miles

I walked to Paradise Valley Cafe this morning, ate a hamburger and picked up my resupply box. A woman gave me $20 and a pat on the head. I’ve never been patted on the head before, but I’m down for it since it involves no hand contact. Just never pat a hiker’s head if it involves touching their hair, you don’t want that experience.

I left around 1:30 PM. A trail/old road connects the cafe to the PCT beneath the telephone lines just before the highway.

The rest of the day was climbing, climbing, climbing. Beautiful views.

When the wind began picking up, I checked the weather forecast and saw that a large amount of precipitation is forecast for Idyllwild on Friday. Hopefully that will change, since it will be snow in the mountains. There was also a wind advisory, and the torrent became increasingly alarming as I continued up the trail.

I considered camping in the canyon at Live Oak Spring, but it’s one mile off the PCT with 500 ft of elevation loss, and I’m hoping to encounter snowmelt before I have to leave the PCT for one of the off-trail sources. In retrospect I should have just gone, but while encountering increasingly good views I did find a sheltered campsite.

It’s cold up here. Ah Live Oak Spring…