The day started without any drama but there was no warning of what turned in to a very "interesting" day. Chicago Joe & I started an hour after the others who were keen to push on through the "closed" section. The first 10 miles had us climbing up the Mission Creek valley which was canyon like at times. With no one else on the track apart from some volunteers doing repair work it was a quiet morning made more pleasant by the myriad of wildflowers - a pot pourri of blue, red, purple, yellow & orange blooms. By the time we left the San Gorgonio Wilderness to enter San Bernadino we had climbed 3000 feet.
As we started to climb steeply we got hit by a hail-like snow. We retreated back to put up the tent & warm up, have some lunch & decide what to do next
Joe was ahead of me but I lost contact when I had to do some repairs on my hiking poles. So with snow becoming heavier it was a case of doing my best to pick Joe's footprints & hoping like hell he was on the track. In 4 miles we regrouped after climbing almost 2000 feet. By this time we had 6 inches to a foot of snow covering the trail with no sign of let up. We set a target of 6 more miles to reach a campsite but after 1.4 mile we lost the trail so at 5 pm we had to make a quick call as Joe was getting wet & cold. I was ok as I have good wet weather gear although my hands & feet were cold. A quick decision was made that we would camp in the flat ground near a trail market. So I cleared the snow from an area near a tree to pitch the tent while Joe prepared his bivvy sack - sort of like an overgrown sleeping bag with a waterproof cover. And then straight in to my sleeping bag to get warm - thank you One Planet Bungle for a brilliant bag. As the body warmed up we talked to each other about our predicament with agreement that we had shelter, warmth, food & knew our position. It was too cold too emerge from our cocoons so with no food (a mistake) we settled in for the night. Luckily the snow has stopped & it was still. Weta
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