Trials and Tribulations of Fire and Ice.

Upon leaving Idyllwild and armed with Fire Marshall’s newly found snow skills, the Team headed back out to Apache Peak. After six miles, Zero developed a terrible migraine, which forced them to find another campsite below Apache Peak. It turned out to be a beautiful spot - overlooking Palm Springs, with Mt. San Jacinto towards the left.

In the morning, after Zero recovered, we bushwhacked over the saddle of Apache Peak and continued on towards Mt. San Jacinto. The entire journey to our campsite at Skunk Cabbage Meadows was filled with numerous snow traverses and a lot of land navigation to even find the trail. Many hikers – even those with their GPS’s – were forced to seek Fire Marshall’s guidance. He dutifully told them where they were, showed them where they needed to go on the map, and for those who still did not get it, we led them to where they needed to go.

The next morning, we had thought we had seen the worst and the last of the snow. Little did we know, that would not be the case. Things on the mountain went from bad to worse to potentially deadly. On the ascent to Fuller Ridge, there was tons of snow and ice, and it was extremely steep. The team pressed on all day and only made it six miles. Part of those six miles included many close calls. Zero demonstrated that he can self-arrest using only a trekking pole. Crossing one of the bowls, he lost his footing and went sledding on his butt about forty feet before slowing down and smashing into a rock.

The trail was so hard to find at this point, even with GPS and consulting with other teams, we found ourselves hundreds of feet below or above the trail. We made it to Fuller Ridge and were forced to camp because the trail was totally impassable.

We gave it a valiant effort the next morning, and tried bushwhacking around the south face, to avoid the ice-covered cliffs. We did this to no avail, and were forced once again to turn back. It was an option we did not want to do. But we could not go forward, and it was our only alternative. Tired, exhausted, and nearly out of food, we made the long journey back the way we came. Friday took a spill, slid down a slope, and managed to arrest herself using a pine tree. Trying to go to her assistance, Fire Marshall ended up sinking up to his waist in the soft snow.

It took a long time and a great deal of effort, but we made it back down to a safe point on the mountain. While there, we ran into many hikers getting ready to do exactly what we just came back from. After hearing about our adventure on the mountain, many decided – very wisely – to go down with us.

We took what we thought would be a fairly easy and safe bail out trail – Seven Pines Trail – and found that our adventure was only half done. This trail too was snow covered and very treacherous. The trail was hard to find even with GPS and the collective minds of all of the hikers. We were forced to rock climb, snow traverse, stream cross, and boulder hop just to get down the mountain. When we finally set up camp for the night, we could not have been happier. We are not sure if it was legal or not, but we camped at a Girl Scout camp that was closed for the season. It could not have been a better spot.

In the morning, thinking everything was wonderful, and happy to be safe, we ran into a Park Ranger, who informed us that there was a forest fire standing in our way and that the trail was closed for the day below Fuller Ridge. Once again, we were forced to go back to what we would call our temporary base of operations – Idyllwild to regroup again. Not able to spend any more time waiting out the weather on the mountain or waiting for the trail to reopen, our friend Jane came to our rescue again. She took us to McDonald’s so we could fuel up and got us to the trail at Cabazon so we could continue north.

Though we did not make it over Fuller Ridge, most hikers – including us – were not able to go over Fuller Ridge, due to the inclimate weather. It was a minor defeat for us, but we came closer together as a team, made sound decisions, and walked away with no injuries. In all, we considered it a success and have no regrets.