30th April 2025

We woke at 5am and were away from camp just over an hour later. We paced on upwards knowing Paradise Valley Cafe (PVC) was exactly 10 miles away. As we trudged upwards we met Alex and Josh, a couple from Alabama who we kept crossing paths with. Chatting with them helped time and distance move faster.

We reached PVC for 09:20, meaning we had achieved our target of 10 miles before 10am. After stretching, we grabbed our resupply package then crashed into seats at an outdoor table. This restaurant is a popular hiker spot boasting great food and large portions. Dan ordered a breakfast burrito, myself omelette with hash browns and toast, between us we then shared three large buttermilk pancakes with syrup. 

We grabbed a ride with Alex and Josh into Idyllwild. This was not our intention, our plan was to keep walking today, but Dan had bad chaffing on his hips with open abrasions so we thought best to get them cleaned and covered before continuing. Idyllwild is a small mountain town, well known on the PCT for having a dog as its Mayor: Mayor Max III, a golden retriever oblivious to his position of power. The town is full of charm; pine trees surrounding wooden shops, restaurants and cabins: a real winter wonderland in the heart of the desert section

The price of a town day means completing town chores and we had quite the list to get through, starting with laundry. We headed straight for the laundromat where there was a box of clothes for hikers to wear while washing their own. Normally, I would be grossed out by this, but no clothes in there could be worse than the ones I was wearing. It took about a hour to wash and dry our laundry and once done, we checked into our cabin for the night.

We bathed away the dirt and grime, but no matter how much we tried, we could not get rid of the lingering sour scent of body odour. Dan washed up our cooking equipment and the many empty sandwhich bags which had held food and flushed the water filters. Meanwhile, I ran inventory on our food, mapped out and planned our resupply for the next two weeks.

At 4pm we met with Alex and Josh for milkshakes before being joined by a friend of theirs, Ronny. We sat on the terrace of our cabin watching the evening light dwindle before heading off for burgers (they even had a smashed salmon burger for me). To finish the evening we headed back to the cabin where we watched The Wedding Crashers on the DVD set up from the comfort of a proper bed, our first since leaving San Diego.