Idyllwild is a quaint little town of fewer than 3,000 residents situated in the San Jacinto Mountains. With snow capped peaks all around and smoke steeping from the chimneys of log cabins, it feels like we’re on the set of a Hallmark movie. We spent two days here and found there’s a lot to love about this place, but the very best part is the town’s mayor. His name is Max, and he’s the most handsome mayor in the history of all mayors. He’s a Golden Retriever. And his two deputy mayors are his cousins. It’s a family affair.
In the thru-hiking community you hear a lot of talk about “nearos” and “zeros”. A “nearo” is a day you hike nearly zero miles, and a “zero” is a day you hike zero miles (zero miles on the trail, at least).
We decided to take our first zero day in Idyllwild. And for several different reason. First of all, the name. Idyllwild. How does that not just draw you right in? Second, we needed to do our town chores - resupply, laundry, shower. Third, we desperately needed a break. The two days prior were particularly tough days on the trail. We couldn’t find our rhythm. We were tired, cold, and hungry. I had poison oak or poodle-dog burning on my hands. Our bodies were aching almost everywhere, begging us to rest. So we listened and promised them a break. Fourth and finally, we needed to wait out a freaking snow storm. Yep, a snow storm in April in SoCal. Who woulda thunk? Clearly, not us. We didn’t pack any gear suitable for hiking through snow.
Idyllwild provided us a perfect zero day. We arrived early, around 8am, after a short frigid hike down from Apache Peak. A trail angel who goes by “Grumpy” was at the trailhead and offered us a ride into town. In between his talking politics, he gave us a tour of the town. Upon dropping us off, he gave us his contact info so we could schedule a ride with him when we were ready to go back to the PCT. We immediately went to the the closest breakfast restaurant - Mama’s Egg House. We ate half our weight, and drank the other half in coffee. Then we rolled ourselves to the Idyllwild Inn where we’d be staying for our first night in town (the Inn was fully booked for the second night we’d be staying, so we had to book elsewhere). Our room was ready, and they let us check in, and it was only 10am. What a win! We settled in, I took a 30 minute hot shower (ahh-maz-ing!), and then we melted into the bed. We only let ourselves lay there for a few minutes, but we would’ve been content not moving for the rest of the day. We got up and hit the town. We spent the rest of the day working through our to-do list and eating our way through the town.
The following day - our zero day - was pretty similar. Except on this day we woke up in an insanely comfy bed with a fire still lightly simmering in the fireplace. We headed for breakfast first thing, at The Red Kettle. The waitress was concerned about the amount of food we ordered. “Oh, honey, I don’t think you want all of that. That’s so much food”. She was right about it being a lot of food, but she was very wrong about us not wanting all of it. Not a single bite went to waste. We took care of a few more errands and then had to move out of The Idyllwild Inn and into our Airbnb. Our Airbnb was a couple miles from The Inn. There are no ubers, Lyft’s, or taxis here, so we’d have to walk. For some reason, those two miles felt like they’d be impossible. We walk close to 20 miles most days, so two miles really shouldn’t have been a big deal, but boy we were dreading it. Luck was on our side. A wonderful Idyllwild local, and an avid hiker herself, pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. We hopped right in.
We walked back into town later that day to meet some trailmates at the local brewery. We hung out and chatted for a couple hours and then made our way down the street to one of the town’s dive bars - The Lumber Mill. It was karaoke night! We sat at the bar, ordered too many shots, and listened to the people sing.
It was getting late, and we all had an early morning ahead of us, so we hit the road and walked back to our Airbnb. Nobody picked us up this time. But that was probably for the best - we had several drinks to walk off.
Grumpy came to pick us up at 7:30am. He talked more politics and shared some life stories as he drove us to the trailhead. Our stay was complete. It was time to resume humping north.
Thanks for having us, Idyllwild.
Upon our arrival at the trailhead, we felt rested and ready to get back on the trail. Then we started hiking. Up, up, and up some more. We climbed thousands of feet. The trail was covered in wet sloshy snow, our packs were heavy with resupply, the air was freezing but we were soaked in sweat. Yep - we were back on the PCT.
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