Day 14 (5/11/11) – zero day!
For a day to relax, there sure was a lot to do. Grocery shopping, post office, laundry, the local outfitter and a few other errands filled most of the day. We did still find time to do some relaxing and hang out with our fellow hikers. Idyllwild is a really nice little town and very hiker friendly.
I neglected to mention that a few days back I pulled a leg muscle while playing on the boulders at our campsite. Yesterday the pain got bad enough I was worrie I wouldn’t make it to town. Then I discovered the wonders of Ibuprofen. The key is to take 800mg at a time! I’m hoping the zero will work some healing magic.

Day 15 (5/12/11) 15 miles (194)
We arranged for a ride to the trailhead at 8am, leaving time to get gigantic cinnamon rolls and coffee from the bakery. It was a bit tough to get going the 2.5 miles and a couple thousand feet back up the Devil’s Slide trail after a day off and with another 5 days of food in our packs. Speaking of trail food, I stole Meredith’s awesome lunch wrap idea and tried it out today. Fill a tortilla up with fresh avocado (pack out the whole avocado from town) and whatever else you’ve got. Tuna and croutons work well, but lacking both of those today, I used string cheese and crushed up crackers. Delicious!
Fearing the snow and ice everyone was talking about, we decided to stick to the official PCT and skip the ascent of Mt San Jacinto. We did get through Fuller Ridge, which had a good amount of snow, but wasn’t as frightening as rumored.
We started down the mountain at the end of the day and stopped for the night when we found a decent camp site.
Also, I’m glad to report my leg is feeling much better today. I’m still taking the ibuprofen, but then again, pretty much every hiker is taking ‘Vitamin I’ regularly.