The Gingey WILD Heart

Yesterday morning,  Kim and I took the tram up to hike San Jacinto Peak. This was an 11 mile hike from the tram.  We stopped at the ranger station to get a permit and the ranger began telling us and another group, make sure to go left, and then right and then right, and on the way back don't stay past 4pm and make sure you take left or you'll end up 7,100 feet down the wrong side of the mountain and will have to hike back up and end up camping over night. Remember Wellman equals Wellness in my belly. And little Round Valley equals Little Bad Valley.  We ran into a few guys, at the Wellman Divide, that came from the desert floor, which from the desert floor would have been 21.2 miles and they were beyond tired. We also ran into a few groups at the divide, that chose to hike in from Idyllwild and camp over night in round valley before the peak. From Idyllwild they said it was 8 miles, but when I look it up it says 18 🤷🏼‍♀️ okay. I'd say...

This morning I met Kim in 29 palms and we made our way into the North entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. We probably got about 20 minutes in when Kim looked down and realized she was in flip flips and not her hiking shoes. So we turned around and headed back to her hotel. Coming through the gate again the attendant laughed and welcomed us back.  We headed to Ryan Mountain, which is about 1,059 elevation gain in 1.5 miles and the loop in and out was 3 miles. Over the course of the mile and a half up, two hikers were trying to say hello to me and almost fell over. One, I attempted to like reach my arm out, like a driver shielding a passenger when they unexpectedly have to slam on their brakes, which makes no sense because when you think of the act done in the car it doesn't help the passenger. You're basically setting yourself up for a broken arm from the airbags, but whatever. Anyway, same thing here. What exactly was my arm going to do for this gentleman after...

So, this morning Garret, Kim and I hiked Tahquitz Peak. We started at Humber Park trailhead and began our trudge up Devils Slide.  When we reached the Saddle Junction we stopped where we met some pass through pct travelers that were about 180 miles into their trip.  We continued traveling up to Chinquapin Flats where a gentleman in a kilt was coming down and shared the terrain was too risky without spikes. Kim didn't have spikes, so we had her follow our footsteps.  We then came up to a man named Central Time who was looking for a frowy haired redhead guy named Sausage because they got separated in the snow. About a hundred feet away we ran into Sausage and Central Time was close enough to hear me yell Sausage and started yelling to him. Once we hit Chinquapin Flats we realized the route to Tahquitz Peak was a little on the sketchy side (extremely). So we decided to go off trail and just hike straight up what honestly looked like a ski ...

  This morning I took off to Suicide Rock in Idyllwild. It's a 7.9 mile hike with an 1,804 elevation gain. When I got to Vista Point the wind was about 15-20mph and I thought.. mmmm maybe this wasn't a good idea, but I kept going. Next, I hit the 371 Junction and the fog was so thick I had a moment of, ' wait, do I even know how to use fog lights?' And realized they were already automatically set, okay phwew. Then, what looked like a few snow drops hit my windshield. Okay, repeat of last weekend.. maybe this should be the time I turn around, as I'm popping ginger chews in my mouth because Lord knows I also get car sick just turning a corner. But I kept going. The fog lifted right after the junction, the wind stopped shortly after and the rest of the day was beautiful.  Next time I hike in snow, remind me to bring poles, those probably would have helped me not have an anxiety attack walking on a cliff of snow. Who am I ...