Idyllwild! Shower. Pizza. Bed. It's Friday night & I've spent 6 consecutive days on trail. The most Ive ever done. What a hard, hard, hard but great day. The trail today was 90% up, up, up. Some parts were steep, rocky, & exposed while others were covered with soft pine needles. But always up. My calves were burning. Then one section I came to had a rock wall towering above me on my left and a sheer drop off to my right. I had to be careful I didn't trip or slip here. I encountered my first snow. Large patches covered the trail. You just have to follow the footprints, posthole through, and the trail would soon reappear. This is the San Jocinto Wilderness & San Bernardino National Forest. And the views have been incredible. Sometimes steep canyons green with trees or the brown vastness of the desert in the distance, or a bright blue lake far below. I'm still hiking with Photo Finish & its working out well. On level or downhill trail I lead as I'm faster. On uphill sections he leads as I'm a snail going up. So we had hoped to get to Idyllwild by 5 before the PO closes as we both have bounce boxes to pick up. But we didn't make it. The terrain slowed us down & we did another 20 mile total day. The Devils Slide Trail into town is 2.5 miles. So hopefully we can get them Saturday. A trail angel knows the postman. Here's a couple pics.
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