Or Toothless talks my ears off and tells funny jokes.

We packed up pretty efficiently. We ate. Toothless for more TV. Lil Flier played with paper plates and things and practiced standing. We checked out and got a ride with Grumpy and shared the car with Sam.

Sam told us that the other family that started half a day before us is in Idyllwild and was at the coffee shop that morning. I’m relieved they are still hiking and happy. We kept hearing about them at every stop then the talk slowed down. We worried they had to bail. It’s okay to bail if needed but sometimes that happens for reasons that are not great (injury, something happening at home etc).

The hike out of Idyllwild on the PCT from nearby PVC is pretty pleasant. It’s super interesting and not that hard. The weather was cool but sunny. It was a good afternoon. Toothless loved the large rocks and kept climbing up them.

We had to get water. Down a steep side trail. It’s a quarter mile cut steep and loose gravel and dirt. I shoulder carried him down but he suggested he would hike back up. That was so thoughtful. When carrying the water back up it was much easier since he hiked on his own. And he crushed it. Then I shoulder carried him to camp.

We got to camp at 5:30 or so. Natasha cooked cheesy noodles and I set up the tent. Toothless played. We ate cookies and dinner. Then went inside the tent.

It was a good day. We had plenty of snacks – we had little bags of mixed candy and cookies that I sorted out in the morning and tuna and cheese for lunch. We hiked like 8 miles on trail after getting dropped off at like 1030am. Dinner was good. Toothless was friendly all day. Lil Flier was in a good mood. The water carry was reasonable.

Tomorrow will be more complicated. There are fewer marked sites. Some blow down. Some snow maybe. We aren’t sure if it will be a 6 mile day, 10 mile day or a 12 mile day. Let’s see!