It’s 10pm. A fairly long day.
Got moving late — early afternoon. Saw some squirrels, otherwise not much wildlife. The trail started with a long climb, then up and down from there. Passed a few people, nothing remarkable.
At some point I ran into the hiker who had driven me to Idyllwild. He was out for a day hike. Funny coincidence — he looked familiar before I placed him. I’d forgotten my hat, but got lucky: he’d driven a second group out, and they’d brought it along. Small win. Less lucky: somewhere during the night at Mike’s Place I lost the bag for my tent poles. No idea where. Not critical, but annoying.
In the evening I had to go back down to water again. A lot of hikers take their bottles, make the trip down and back without their packs. I might have done the same, but by the time I arrived it was already 8:30pm and dark. Set off with my headlamp — glad I have one again. Decided to sleep at the bottom. There were several tents up top, nobody below, same as last time. Most hikers prefer the shorter trip without their full pack.
This water source was different — not coming from a pipe. Water collecting in a hollow, steady flow, cool and clean. Didn’t use a purification tablet this time, just filtered it normally.
On the way down something funny happened. In the dark I spotted something reflecting and assumed I’d reached the source — thought someone had pitched a tent, since guy lines are reflective to stop people tripping over them at night. Then I noticed the path continued and realised this wasn’t the water yet.
Then I thought about what had been reflecting.
Two eyes. Close together, not small. Not moving.
Badger was my first thought — but badger eyes aren’t that close together. A puma’s are. The height would fit too. That realisation led to me turning around several times while setting up the tent, checking what was behind me.
I don’t know exactly what animals are up here. Too low for deer. Probably not a mountain goat either. Hard to say. It didn’t move, which is common when wild animals are caught in a light — they tend to freeze around humans.
Eventually the tent was up. For once I had a signal and could send messages. By 10pm I was too tired to cook and just ate cold. I’ll need a bigger breakfast tomorrow.
Good day overall. Great views throughout. And everywhere along this stretch — charred trunks, either dead or still living trees that survived. A wildfire tore through here a few years ago. I’ve heard the PCT section was closed for several years because of it.
