09 Apr Day 12 – Cactus Flowers

Hiked 24.7 miles today. At mile 211.3.

There was a little snow in couple of spots on the trail. I spent most of the day hiking 20 miles to descend the nearly 8000 feet to the desert floor. All the while I could see clouds gather over the San Jacinto massif. The clouds began moving down the mountain, but never reached me. This evening while viewing the mountain from camp, the clouds lifted to reveal new snow on the upper slopes. My camp spot last night being well above the cloud line would have received significant snow.

As I started descending, I saw a missing person bulletin. Thomas O’Sullivan, a PCT thru-hiker was last seen on April 7, 2017. Today is April 7th, so it was exactly a year ago. Last year there would have been 5 – 6 feet of snow on that date .

I hiked for 20 miles without a water source. I carried a little over 5 liters.

After reaching more than 20 miles, the trail approaching the I-10 bridge turned into beach sand. To make it harder, I was walking directly into strong wind. Upon reaching I-10, I had no desire to camp there and had to continue. Already exhausted the last few miles really wiped me out.

Here are the photos. 8 photos

Snow on trail

Finally, cactus flowers.

The trail and rock formations.

The storm in Mt San Jacinto.

Another Rattlesnake!