Journey Day 17 | PCT Day 17

Moon over Fuller Ridge, California

5/3/85

Awoke early and began the day hiking across snowy ridges on the Fuller Ridge Trail we later found out rangers had said should not be hiked without crampons and ice axe. Footprints from Californians led us to the edge of the ridge where the snow ended.  From here we began inexorable hike down.

Came upon a coral king snake early in the day. Then two rattlesnakes. The second startled me in the path and hissed a warning that had me backing up. Long, wasteful path took us around and around as we worried we wouldn’t make it down before dark. (We needed to be in Whitewater in the early a.m. before the post office closed for the weekend.)

Met a single hiker coming up the trail without the proper equipment. Warned him gently, gave him iodine tablets, then sent him on his way, while we headed on down in the other direction. His soft shoes would be no match for the snow ahead and he admitted  having little experience. We worried about him until we began to worry we might not make if off the Snow Canyon stretch of the trail before dark.

Just before dark, we hit the bottom. After resting our aching feet (18 miles already) we walked into tiny Snow Creek, where we got water and drank a beer with two guys about to go out and hit the town.

Walked a dark dirt road toward an I-10 rest stop in San Gorgonio Pass. Crashed almost immediately. A biker cruised up soon afterward. Just as I was asleep, I felt a sprinkler system kick on, jogging us awake. We moved to a dry area, the sprinkler pelting our tired bodies with water. Crashed again until 6 a.m.