Day 15 – 6 Apr 19. Resting in Idyllwild

We were all up quite early but had a leisurely morning with Debbie spoiling us with a beautiful breakfast and lots of coffee. We were talking for ages when I realised I should head to town and complete my chores.

I put on my rain skirt, merino top and wind jacket and walked the half mile to town carrying all my dirty clothes and sleeping bag liner.

My first stop was to the Outfitters (Outdoor and Camping Store) where I was looking for a new bag to use as my dirty water bag as my Sawer bag broke on day 3 and I did not like using the Smartwater bottle as I kept having to stop half way through to let some air into the bottle. They only had Platypus bags and the tops are not compatible with my filter. I also checked the price of their freeze dry meals.

Next was into town and the other Outdoor Shop which didn’t have much as they focussed more on guns and hunting. Their freeze dry meals were significantly cheaper than the Outfitter though.

Now I headed to the Laundry where I met a familiar face, though I can’t remember his name. He has had to pull off the trail due too health reasons and is about to head back home to Canada. He was about to put a load on so we did a load together as booth of us only had small amounts. We sat there alternatively making the most of internet reception and talking.

Once my washing was dry, and smelling significantly better, I put on my tramping clothes so I did not have to walk around in my rain skirt. I then meandered through the cute little town heading to the market.

I did my resupply here and they had a good range of everything. I needed 5 1/2 days of food to get to my next destination. I already had 2 meals left over through going faster on the last leg so decided to just go with Potato and Tuna for my dinners again, Tortilla, Philadelphia, cheese and salami for lunch, Carnation breakfast drinks and a range of nuts, lollies and beef jerky for snacks.

Now I headed to the cafe for Lunch, bumping into Daniel again. He had been told by several people not to attempt Apache Peak south face so like many he went off track and found a way over the summit where the snow was not so icy.

I wasn’t inspired by the cafe so continued through town and found a sandwich shop which had sandwich named after PCT. They also gave discounts for PCT hikers. I got a PCT sandwich, orange juice, coffee and a bag of chips.

Next was to the other supermarket as I had forgotten tortilla and then the walk uphill back to Debbie’s. The rest of the day was spent talking, sorting out my resupply, updating blogs and videos.

I also sorted out a container to carry my crampons. Debbie gave me a plastic milk bottle and I cut the top off, cut slits in the side, threaded string through the slits and tied this too the attachments on my pack. The Crampons fit inside with just the very top spikes exposed. Definitely a much better way to carry them than just tying them to my pack.

Debbie went out for dinner as her son was in town so Smalls and I watched a movie about a solo free climber that was really good. We then talked for ages and it was a late night.

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