Pacific Crest Trail
Up before dawn, encounter some other PCT hikers who probably started at midnight (!), on the trail before sunrise. More than 12 miles down the fully exposed northern slope of Mt. San Jacinto to the next water source, so we were racing to beat the heat!
Travis and Cody took off, beating me down to the water source by a little over an hour, but it turns out we were okay. Stayed hazy enough that the sun was largely obscured, so we didn't fry. Although we did find most of the trail was a bit overgrown, and washed out in one place. Fun times on a long, long descent- camp at ~7,350 feet, water source at the base is ~2,450 feet, the flat at the end is ~1,300 feet.
The last 4 miles down the road and the flat, sandy soil to I-10 were far easier than going down the mountain, but no less mentally gruelling. t'was good to finish, tho! Actually a pretty good, very challenging hike. The guys thru-hiking the PCT are definitely nuts, just a little overnight for 32.3 miles was enough for me!
Back into Idyllwild to pick up Travis' truck and grab lunch at Restaurant Gastrognome. The area is actually a mountain tourist trap with overpriced food, but considering it was our first real meal in two days, it was welcome! (the mosquitoes sucked tho...).
Much later, dinner at Kula Sushi. They've got some new items-- a fancier, more tasty mackerel, as well as a "Megumi" octopus. Both are massive upgrades over their regular mackerel and octopus. Not bad for $2.25 a plate!