PCT Day 18 - Summit Mt Jacinto

I am writing this from day 19. Day 18 was a nightmare, almost brought me to tears – but Joe and I worked together as a team to get us down the mountain. Why the hell is that mountain even open for people to summit? Why didn’t anyone tell us “you may want to reconsider, or you shouldn’t go unless you’re an experienced mountaineer” Even the San Jac Jon report didn’t say the peak was dangerous or for experts only. It took us forever getting up to the peak, thankfully we had bought micro spikes in town, or we may not be telling our stories today. Microspikes clip onto your shoes to provide better traction on ice and hard packed snow. We got lost on the way up the peak, the snow was turning to slush(not good for spikes), and it was deep. Luckily for us the air temp was nice, so we weren’t freezing while standing in the knee deep snow- not yet. We got to the peak hours later and had lunch and even took our socks off to let them dry. Then decided it was time to go. It was getting late in the afternoon and I knew we had no idea what going down would entail. Well it was horrific. Joe’s instinct was just to go down the steep mountain side. I thought it best to step where others have stepped, which would be following the snow covered trail. Every four steps or so we’d have to consult the GPS. But I also needed both hands to maneuver through the snow- it was a time consuming process, super frustrating. We fell, I screamed, we post holed, scraped our legs and knees, and slid down the slopes unintentionally. It was awful! We even had to cross a couple fast flowing streams. My feet got soaked multiple times and the temperature was dropping. We crawled through bushes, under branches, and inches across ice covered giant boulders, and jumped from tree logs, it was bad. Not something anyone should have to do without mental and physical preparation. We eventually made it to a campground with a few cleared spots from snow. We decided to stay and get through the rest in the morning. We still had another half mile until we reached the PCT again. Regardless of that strenuous activity that we face today, we were able to relax and sleep so good.