Mile 179.4

Idyllwild was decent-sized tourist mountain town. It had great food and an outdoor store covering all the needs for mountaineering and hiking. 

Lisa and Kate dropped off Tanya and me at Fireside Inn cabin. They took off to a State Park for their RV. Tanya needed the rest and I needed a proper shower. 

We settled for the night pretty quick because everyone was tired. After the amazing shower, I was laying on the sofa trying to catch up my blogs. Tanya seemed to have a difficult time with her cold and coughing nonstop. It was close to 11pm and she felt really really bad, almost like having a mini heart attack. 

There was no 24hr medical center around. I couldn’t get a hold of Lisa and Kate. They were out of cellphone service range. I tried to call my doctor-on-call, they refuse to help patience other than me. Tanya tried to call her insurance in New Zealand, it didn’t work out since she was calling from the US. I reached out to one of my doctor friend, Kai-Wen, just wanted her to go over the symptoms with Tanya to make sure I didn’t have to call 911. Kai-Wen didn’t think she was having heart problem, more about her lungs. In the mean while, Tanya got her husband in New Zealand to have the insurance company call her. Her doctor also gave the same diagnosis, but instructed her  to see a doctor as soon as she can. 

In the end, I called the fire department just in case. 4 young and handsome firefighters and paramedics arrived around  midnight with a fire truck and an ambulance. They did a EKG and checked out her lungs. They said it was not as bad as we imagined and we should just go to a doctor in the morning just in case. Thank goodness that it wasn’t a heart attack!

The next morning, Kate and Lisa arrived early. Lisa took Tanya to nearby town for urgent care while Kate, Sonsie and I stayed in town to do laundry and shopping! 

We walked around the town, picked up my package at Post Office, went to the pharmacy, supermarket and several local stores. It was a lovely town. Dog, gay and hiker friendly. Sounds like a great combination, right?

In the afternoon, I met Michael again in front of Higher Ground Coffee. He just pulled in to town and stayed at the campground. He looked fine. We got to catch up a little bit.

Later Lisa and Tanya were back. Just in time to see the Mayor of Idyllwild, a handsome dog, Max. Sonsie didn’t like him that much. We shopped for dinner. Tanya and I went back to the cabin. I cooked my tomato onion soup because I began to feel sick. I knew a cold was coming. 

I did get sick the next day. I haven’t had a cold for over a year. I knew this one would be a bad one.Tanya and Kate decided that they would take extra days in Idyllwild just for Tanya to rest. I felt anxious to get back on the trail because Andy and Kevin planned to visit me in Big Bear Lake, which is 6 days away from Idyllwild. It was Sunday already. If I want to meet up with them, I should get going.

So Kate drove me to the Deer Springs trailhead,  3.4 miles to get back on PCT. I said goodbye to my hiking friends and started the journey by myself.