Day 11. Zero in Idyllwild

The purpose of zero days is to rest and let your body recover. And to go to the library to look up wildflower guidebooks.

Susan at the library in Idyllwild

We also got to fill up on fresh food.  I cooked a tofu and veggie stir fry in the kitchen of our cabin, and now we are hard boiling eggs to pack out with us for Easter tomorrow.  Hello hiker hunger!

Susan finally got a trail name today too! Tour de Plantae! Glimmer suggested it and was calling the three of us that as a group name, but we thought it suited Susan best. Will see if it sticks.

We also planned our route for the next section. There is a closure of the PCT due to a fire last year between miles 162 and 178. There is detour that involves roadwalking on 74.  That's the road we hitched on, and let me just say I would not want to walk along it at all. There is also an unofficial alternate described by Halfmile that came out a few days ago.  We also saw Stampeed head out from the Paradise Valley Cafe to try it. We didn't know about it until we met Stampeed, so didn't print the directions or maps, and it looked too complicated to follow without paper maps. Oh I wish I had the printout!

 Most people we know are doing what we are- getting a hitch to Idyllwild and then taking a trail up to the PCT. We are going to take the Deer Springs Trail so we don't have to hitch up the road to the other trailhead on Easter Sunday morning- even with our luck so far getting hitches, it seems much easier to just hop on the trail that leads directly from town. That means we will miss miles 152 to 183 though.

Some people say that means we aren't real thru hikers because we aren't walking a continuous route north though. It does bother me to skip a section, but I don't feel comfortable doing the roadwalking. Especially now after seeing the road.  It is a safety thing for me.  So fine with me if you want to say I'm not real thru hiker.

I would like to come back and hike the PCT through that section once it is reopened. At the outfitters today, Pathfinder picked up a map of the area, so we can plan a future vacation out here. It's beautiful area and would be a great excuse to return.