A view of the San Jacintos from
just south of Pines to Palms Hwy.
Climbing onto the divide. A look
south reminds us of how far
we've come.
Scott contemplates the simple
beauty of trail life.
(Deep, isn't he?)
A coat hanger a.k.a. a trail
marker is silhouetted in the
sunset.
We hiked into the San Jacintos. The assent was beautiful. As mentioned in an earlier message, everyone around here refers to these mountains as "the divide,"-short for the Desert Divide-a much more descriptive name than the San Jacintos as they in fact divide the cooler western areas from the deserts to the east in which the communities Palm Springs and Indio are located.
By now, you are probably thinking, "This geography stuff is getting a little old. What I'd really like is to hear more about the pain and suffering."
No problem. I can oblige.
A few more miles up the trail, we decided to stop for a break. There was a lovely group of rocks shaded by pines that looked like the perfect spot. I sat down on a big flat rock and was enjoying the view when I felt something bite me, then another bite, and another. I leapt to my feet to find that I had planted myself right beside a nest of ants. Ants were on me everywhere biting me. I had to rip all my clothes off [Imagine that...-Scott] and shake everything out, but not before they were able to bite me about twenty times. Why oh why do I keep having these unfortunate encounters with ants?
The ant encounter set off a chain of events that concluded with the two of us exchanging unpleasantries. We continued up the trail and found a different spot to stop. We had not been stopped long, when a couple (Bob and Jane) came up the trail. We chatted for a while and we found that they had hiked the majority of the PCT last year, but had missed a few sections and were finishing them now. They said that they were sure glad to run into us because they were getting on each other's nerves. We could relate. They were working over the subject, "Why can't you be more...(fill in the blank)" As the participants get angry, they hike at a faster pace. It sounded like a fun trail game. I think we are going to try it.