Tantalus stands in a pool of clear, sweet, water, in the shade of a fragrant fruit tree. He is racked with an insatiable hunger and is dying of thirst. But, every time he stretches his boney fingers towards the tree or his cracked lips to the water, it moves just out of reach. As I made my way down the 167th switchback of Fuller Ridge, and I wasn’t halfway down yet, I understood Tantalus’ predicament- temptation without satisfaction.
The PCT descends over 6000 feet in 15 miles of unending, shadeless, and waterless switchbacks. Sure, it could have been worse if it was uphill, but going down has the unique ability to see where you are going way before you actually get there.
I saw the water fountain about 4 hours before I actually reached the damn thing. It was literally a stones throw away but around d the bend the trail goes, all the way to the opposite end of the mountain to drop down ever so slightly and come back the same direction. Over and over again. Oh hi water fountain! Oh nevermind! And repeat. The effect is quick maddening and will put you in a funk.
The views however, are magnificent. San Jacinto looms over you the entire walk down and just screams at you to take a picture…from every angle. I probably have a shot from each switchback, each time just changing the angle by a few degrees.
26.2 miles was the total for day, though the last 5 were done in the dark, as there is no moon and we were grooving to hard to take out our headlamps out.
We made it to Ziggy and The Bears, a home open to hikers to sleep, eat, find shade, or spend a zero day. The hikers here are Apache, HandMeDown, w
Whisper, Recon, Spidey, Goldilocks, Dr. Chip Feinstein, Legend, and DangerZone.
It’s hot out here, so we ate night hiking 16 miles tonight and taking it easy at this lovely hiker oasis.
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