A love story...
By: Bonzo
The Cactus to Clouds hike is considered the toughest day-hike in California and one of the toughest in the nation. You trek without shade through the desert of Palm Springs for miles and miles before ascending the steep, rocky hills of San Bernardino forest. There is absolutely no shade or water resupply the entire way. Which is why most people take a tram up to the top that drops them off at a fancy restaurant with a fancy view.
But we are not most people, and no one who has seen me eat could consider calling me fancy. Maureen told me she wanted to climb a mountain, so after she returned from yet another underway on her ship, we drove that night north east from San Diego. We found a place to park the car in Palm Springs, threw on our packs and went searching for the well-hidden threshold which begins our adventure. The trail is notorious for lacking trail markers and for how easy it is to wander off of the trail. We found the Palm Springs Art Museum far easier than we found the trailhead, but then eagerly decided to start hiking despite arriving at midnight. After making an easy mile in the cool darkness we found a flat place to sleep. While many people start the hike at midnight, we thought that since it was already fall, we’d risk starting it at 4am in order to avoid the heat but not lose the trail in the darkness. However sound we thought our logic, we did not take into consideration all the hikers who had listened to the experts, as we were constantly awoken and alerted to the fact that many hikers did not expect to find a tent in the middle of the trail!! Oops...
As we rubbed the sleep from our eyes, a group of hikers that we would slinky with the entire hike passed us and looked skeptically at the size of our packs, even encouraging us to not continue the hike. As they would later point out, sane people do the trail with nothing more than water and snacks and take the tram down. As we trudged along in the early morning light, all of a sudden we heard a tumble of rocks up ahead. Frantically looking up from the rugged terrain we expected an avalanche but instead saw an endangered Desert Bighorn Sheep landing squarely 10 feet from Maureen. After a momentary staring contest, all parties a bit in shock, the sheep sprinted across the mountain slope eager to flee from us. It gracefully scampered, skipped, and sprinted horizontally along a treacherous slope in mere seconds that would have taken us thirty minutes to cross. It is believed that there are about 800 of these noble rams between the Mexican Border and San Jacinto.
Whenever we stopped for breaks, the San Jacinto Hiking Club would pass us, and then when they stopped for breaks we would pass them. The Cactus to Clouds trail is aptly named because you start in Palm Springs at sea level surrounded by cacti, and you hike 16 miles with an elevation gain of 10,400 feet at San Jacinto Peak to linger among the clouds. However, without a single cloud above us yet, breaks were often required! One of the hiking club’s members was putting us to shame only taking breaks for the rest of his group to catch up. He was 88 years old and had completed this hike more than a hundred times!
When we got to the valley on top of the mountain we set off for our campsite to drop off our packs before heading to peak for the sunset. However, on the way to the site, a frantic woman ran by asking if we were rangers or doctors. We said no, but we have a first aid kit. Panting, she replied that it wouldn’t help. She kept running as she told us there was an unconscious man ahead on the trail and she disappeared towards the ranger post.
I rushed ahead to find two off-duty nurses who had been giving the man CPR for 30 minutes, so I swapped in and when a ranger arrived he and I spent the next 30 minutes switching off. As the sun set around us, I felt a sinking feeling. No helicopters land on the mountain at night, we were several miles through rough terrain from the tram, the chances of surviving after receiving an hour’s worth CPR are almost nonexistent, and selfishly I knew that my plans would have to be put on hold or canceled.
After the head ranger declared the man deceased and all gathered held a moment of silence, Mo and I somberly left for our campsite. Exhausted, we decided that one flat spot was as good as the next one, where we eagerly dropped our heavy packs. Maureen made our tent home, while I cooked dinner before we fell into a 12 hour coma!
We woke up leisurely before heading to the peak. I was worried that the tragedy would affect our mood, but the lush forest with the crisp Jeffrey Pine Tree scents, the chirping birds--not to mention ditching our packs for the final few miles---lifted our spirits for the final ascent. Looking around the San Jacinto Mountain Range from the peak and seeing the soaring mountains, the brilliant blue sky, the enveloping forests all juxtaposed to the arid desert below was a sacred sight, but what Maureen did not expect was to turn around and see me on one knee. She literally thought I was just stretching and trying to avoid being in another selfie! And then the most wonderful woman made my dreams come true and said, “Of course!"
We returned to our packs happy despite the weight and hiked to the tram station. Don’t tell our parents, but we happily hitch hiked to our car and drove home, where I insisted that we pop open the damn champagne that I had carried all the way up that hill!!
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