Tahquitz Valley via Devil's Slide

It was a beautiful day last Saturday, and my hiking partner and I decided to try a loop from Devil's Slide over to Tahquitz Peak and then down the South Ridge trail into Idyllwild. We also considered Devil's Slide over to Wellman's/Strawberry Junction (up to about 9000 feet).

My hiking partner is recovering from a broken leg, pretty much the same injury we saw during March madness the other night, and we've been hiking together as he gains his strength. He's usually pretty hard core, so this is a rare chance for me to be able to keep up with him.

The rangers and volunteers we met at the Ranger Station and on the Devil's Slide trail warned us of the snow we'd encounter on both routes, so we headed off to Tahquitz, via the PCT and decided we'd take conditions as we found them and return if it got too hairy.

It got too hairy!

But I get ahead of myself.

The walk up the Slide was a quick one. Just over an hour to get up 2.5 miles. Once at Saddle Junction and having encountered minimal snow, we headed out on the PCT towards Tahquitz. It was already a warm, cloudless day and we were really enjoying the scenery.

We finally hit snow around 8300 feet, but it was pretty spotty and we still didn't need our Micro Spikes.

At the Tahquitz junction we could see tracks heading out on the usual trail as well as some that look like they went straight up into the snow. We also ran into a lone hiker who asked to tag along. So off we went, inching our way along the side of Tahquitz. About a tenth of a mile in, we hit a shady spot and ice, so we decided it was time for the spikes. After another tenth of a mile and lots of postholing, we decided that was enough.

Lunch break.

The shot above are our tracks, which we followed back to the junction, as seen below.

Things were pretty routine from there until I discovered my GPS was missing. Damn if I had neglected to string up a safety lanyard to it before setting off. So I hiked back up to the junction (I guess I needed the extra mileage) to see if I left it out during our break there.

No luck and there was no way I was heading back out into the snow by myself, so I chalked it up to Tahquitz curse.

On the way back I was rewarded with a beautiful run off/melt water waterfall we had missed on our way up. It was beautiful and calming and reminded my why I hike. I also remembered my GPS was a used basic model from Craig's List, so the rest of the way down was calm and uneventful.

I did stop by the ranger station to file a lost gear report. We'll see if someone finds it out there when the snow really melts away.

It was a beautiful walk on a warm, sunny day. And time in the mountains of southern California is never wasted!