I’m posted up at the Silver Pines Lodge in Idyllwild and this place is just lovely. I can’t imagine a better place to take a zero. The facilities and grounds are wonderful and the staff has been extremely helpful. I got some reading glasses for free (apparently, this is a common item left behind by guests). They let me do a load of laundry for free. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a quiet place to rest.

I would love to say that I sat on the porch all day and watched the squirrels and bunnies, but a zero isn’t like that. A zero just means you hike zero PCT miles. It was still a busy day.

I slept in until 0730. Naturally, I left all the windows open overnight so it was kind of cold  inside when I woke up (50F?). After I got up, I went back under the covers to check all my emails and Internet stuff I had missed.

Around 0900 I headed down to the Red Kettle for breakfast. Within two blocks I was flagged down by some hiker friends and we talked trail for a few minutes. Then when I got to the Red Kettle there were six more of my trail friends. And I proceeded to see them again and again all day at the gear shop and the post office and the pizza place.

The Post Office is less than a quarter mile away, but I had to go there three times today. Apparently, they lost my Bounce Bucket. This required quite a bit of “out of the bucket” thinking, but I did manage to mail off my tent and rain pants to a safe home, and send a new bounce box with the maps, guide book, town clothes that I just bought, shampoo & conditioner I just bought, and some food I don’t need to carry. Feels like that was a close one and I’m glad I figured it out so well.

Tomorrow, Silver Pines Lodge is going to give me and my German neighbor a ride to the trailhead. We have to take Devil’s Slide Trail up to meet the PCT. I think it’s like five thousand feet in 2.5 miles. And we might have to carry 20 miles of water plus our full food resupply.

And then, the top of Mt. San Jacinto is only two or three miles off trail. I think I might go up there too. Sounds like a lot of up tomorrow. And there’s weather coming in too. Maybe thunderstorms. Maybe snow on us if we don’t get over that mountain fast enough.

Hopefully, all the town walking today will still feel like a rest day to my feet tomorrow. Whatever happens, this was a great zero, just like I pictured it, and I’m ready for whatever lies ahead.

Let’s do this!