Author Archives: Marie

Alarms going off at 2:30am and I am not ready to be awake yet. Very little sleep in a hot room does not make me excited to hike but we get up and get ready to go. I went to the bathroom before we rolled out and there was no TP and a giant roach in the sink, I am excited to leave this place. Ana stayed on the air mattress in our room and is going to hike with us on the aqueduct.

We start hiking at 3:15. The wind is still blowing but it has calmed a bit. Once we get to the aqueduct we started hiking on top of the huge pipe but I am quickly over it and tell Jake and Ana that I’m going to hike on the flat path below it. It’s fairly boring but once the sun starts to come up the sights are really pretty. Eventually we split from Ana as I wasn’t ready to take a break yet and she likes to take a lot of them. It was no problem since it was light out and the trail was straightforward for the day.

Our first break was on top of a concrete box to eat some snack and dump sand out of shoes. We got moving again pretty quickly to take advantage of the cooler morning. Several hours in we put in headphones for some distraction. Finally we reached the first water stop and a shaded spot under a bridge for lunch. We had a overly friendly squirrel try to hang out with us but luckily more hikers showed up so he could harass them instead. Only about an hour of resting there and we were on our way to camp.

We had to climb through a hot and crazy windy wind farm…I know, I know, it’s a wind farm but if it could be even a smidge less windy that would be fantastic. I had to put on some tunes to get me to the top of the climb, before I knew it we were at camp and water. We found some shade to hang in and chilled for a while. Soon we were surrounded by ants because, of course. We moved down to a different spot to set up our tent and there seemed to be less ants there. After making dinner I was curled up in my quilt and asleep by 6:30. Jake tried to talk to me a few times not realizing I had passed out.

The wind picked up through the night so we were again getting little sleep. Twice the wind ripped a line out of the corner of the tent and we had to get out and fix it. The second time a huge spider was crawling on Jakes leg as he was trying to fix the tent, gross! I’m so over the creepy, crawly, desert bugs.

Up early again to try to beat the heat of the day for the rest of our road walk around the fire closure. There were 8 of us hikers that were sticking together for this road section this morning. We don’t typically hike with a group so this was a fun change. A girl in this group likes to take a short break every hour so we did that too until we got to a water source we didn’t need and hiked on to the point we could get back on trail. A truck did stop to ask us if we needed a ride but we were only 1.5 miles out so we said no thanks and kept going. It was getting very hot by this point so the shade at the trailhead was a nice spot to have lunch.

We rested at our lunch spot for a while and then decided we needed to get these last few miles done to Hikertown so we could rest. It was so crazy hot when we headed out. Another couple hikers who had left before us were posted up in the tiniest bit of shade a mile in having underestimated the heat. We pushed on and arrived at Hikertown to find lots of hikers we knew. Our plan was to get a “room” and sleep until 2:30am before hiking the aqueduct. It appeared all the rooms were taken but Pricepoint helped us find the woman in charge to get the last room.

Our room was a weird, dusty, storage trailer with a sleeper couch and a blowup mattress. It was fine except it was at least 100 degrees inside this stuffy metal box. We tried to open the two windows and the door to air it out but the wind was blowing so hard it was knocking things off walls. We were able to rinse out some clothes and finally got to lay down around 9. I barely slept because of the wind, other hikers being loud, and the fact that the sleeper sofa was angled to the center.

We woke up around 5:30 to the sounds of the other hikers getting ready to hike and chatting loudly. I had to pee but we were surrounded by people so it was a little dicey finding a place that was hidden enough amongst the waist high bushes. I did find a place and then we promptly picked up and started hiking towards our water source. We got to the cache and filled our bottles while catching up with Maverick.

A few more miles before we got to the road where we would start our road walk around the fire closure. At the road I chatted with some hikers who were waiting for parents to pick them up to go to a house with a pool. It was pretty hot out so I was a little bit jealous of their situation but we were headed to lunch at the Rock Inn so that was a good enough alternative.

Walking up to the Rock Inn we saw dozens of bikes and knew it was probably going to be an interesting crew inside. It was crazy busy but we were able to grab bar seats and got burgers and beers. The place was full of hikers and bikers, it was a sight. After stuffing ourselves we got ready to do a couple miles of road walking to the ostrich farm. Jim & Ana found us and we all headed down the road.

The owner of the farm greeted us and we paid the $5 for a spot in her garden for the night. It was nice to chat with her and she even offered to marry Jake and I at the farm! We didn’t take her up on the offer. There were a few other hikers that we know hanging out so we caught up with them and then moved over to our camp spot to hang out with the crew that were staying the night. It was a really chill afternoon.

We finally turned in around 8 to the sounds of salsa dance lessons being given by Ana to anyone who wanted to join in.

We had a short day planned so there was no rush to get up early. I peeked out of the tent to find we were above the clouds, it looked really neat. We had dry camped so our first stop was the piped spring a mile from camp. We each only grabbed a liter because we had enough to get us to the water cache or fire station 5 miles ahead.

We were seeing trail runners and day hikers and remembered that it was the weekend. Soon we found the cache and decided to get water there instead of trekking over to the station where we would potentially have to treat and filter the water. We took a little snack break and just hung out because we really didn’t have that far to go.

Onwards for some climbing to lunch. I was feeling good for most of the morning but towards lunchtime I was crashing hard. We came upon two nice little tent sites in the trees so we chose one and spread out. After eating I decided I needed to close my eyes and promptly passed out. It was chilly in the shade so I got my quilt out and took a proper nap. While I was napping several people we knew passed by and chatted with Jake. Once we got going again we got to a memorial bench where hiker were hanging out and chatting. We found out several other groups were aiming for the same camp spot.

We moved along quickly and got to camp super early. It was nice to be in camp early but the sun was still super hot and there wasn’t much shade. We set up the tent and tried to relax in the bit of shade we had created but it was still super hot. Soon several hikers started showing up and setting up around us for the night. We chatted with everyone for a bit and then I got in the tent and fell asleep at 7.

We left the KOA as early as we could manage so we could get to Agua Dulce for lunch at the Mexican restaurant. There were lots of hikers just hanging around being loud at 6:30am. I’m sure all the people camping there who aren’t hikers were thrilled. As we got back to the trail and started hiking Jake noticed all the footprints were headed the other way. We were headed in the wrong direction! Since we had gotten a ride all the way around the closure nothing looked familiar and I took us the wrong way. Once we corrected ourselves it was smooth sailing.

We wound our way through Vasquez Rocks, taking plenty of pictures and reading all the educational signs. We learned the names of a bunch of the plants we had been seeing. Vasquez Rocks has apparently been the backdrop for many tv shows and movies. A little bit of a road walk and we had made it to Maria Bonitas, yay lunch!

We ended up spending a couple of hours eating all the chips and salsa we could manage and drinking huge beers. I didn’t intend to order the biggest beer they offered the server just brought them. We were both uncomfortably full when we left and I had to loosen my hip belt for our afternoon hike.

A little more of a road walk and then hiking through a burn area to find a camp site. The burn was actually very pretty with yellow poppies all over. We were climbing all afternoon but it wasn’t too bad because it wasn’t blazing hot. We found a campsite right next to the trail but it had great views and was mostly flat.

We woke up pretty early so we could gather all the things for the bounce box and shower before heading over to the post office. Luckily we had figured out a way around the fire closure, unfortunately it meant skipping some actual trail miles as well. Not a big deal though, we aren’t purists and just want to get back to the trail. Once we dropped the bounce box at the post office we decided we should grab some breakfast burritos from big foot bowls. We headed back to the hiker area behind the hardware store to eat. Not even halfway through our breakfast our ride, Brian, texted that was out front.

Brian, a Wrightwood resident who is very adamantly not a trail angel, was nice enough to give us and one other hiker a ride all the way to the Acton KOA. The hour long drive went by quickly and before we knew it we were saying our goodbyes. Thanks for the ride!

We promptly found some shade to finish our burritos under and got prepared to hike some afternoon miles. The KOA had WiFi so we decided it would be a good time to figure out some of the upcoming sections milage. This sometimes takes a lot longer than you think and before we knew it time was getting away from us. We realized we were ahead of schedule by a few days and had some time to burn. Soon we just decided to spend the night at the KOA with the large group of hikers. It did get quite chaotic in the common area so we had to find a quieter spot to finish our planning. It is fun to hang with big groups of hikers but also gets overwhelming pretty fast.

Later there was talk of getting pizza orders together and we talked to one group about combining orders. After talking to them it sounded like they were trying to make things a lot more complicated by trying to hitch into town for beer so we just did our own thing. We sat in the shade doing a crossword puzzle while waiting and then took our pizza to the gazebo. It wasn’t the most relaxing zero we have had but it was nice to have some more time off our feet.

I didn’t sleep well because of the party the neighborhood dogs decided to have until 1am but I still woke up around 6. I made myself stay in bed for much longer because I knew I needed rest. Soon Jake was up and we made a plan to go get breakfast and head over to the hardware store to check it out.

The hardware store in Wrightwood has a little area out back exclusively for hikers with benches, shade and hiker boxes. The hiker boxes are places you can drop off stuff you no longer want and see if anyone has dropped anything you would like to have. Inside the store they had a good selection of hiker food and supplies. We signed the register and got our PCT pins, now we are officially official or something.

Back to the room to do laundry and some snacking. There wasn’t a machine so it was hand washing in the bathtub for us. Washing clothes by hand in bathtubs definitely doesn’t get all the dirt out but it does get the smells out.

Our dinner plan was to get steaks but again we weren’t able to. The only restaurant in town serving steaks apparently wasn’t open. We drank some gin next door while we were figuring this out and also figuring out rides around the fire closure we can’t hike around.

Waking up around 5:30 to the sounds of other people rustling around in their tents I knew I needed just a few more minutes of rest. We had 17 miles to do all uphill but at least the temperature was supposed to be cooler. We got to eating and packing up around 6:15 and rolled out of camp around 7.

Of course since it was cooler I wore a jacket and soon was way too warm. We had quite a few stops during our morning but none were long. The group we had camped with were ahead of us but not by much because we turned a corner and they were all sprawled by the side of the trail discussing where to stay in Wrightwood. We decided to take advantage of being in service and book a room. Once everyone moved on from this spot we didn’t see them until the end of the day.

A few more miles and then we reached the place we were going to have lunch. Turns out it’s near a place called Gobblers Knob. We hung out for a couple hours and then got moving again to continue the climb to camp.

The temperature wasn’t bad, I was even getting cold a few times in the shade. Climbing was exhausting and I finally had to stop for a snack but it was great timing because Jake needed one too. We just ate and walked to avoid getting too comfy. There were a few different groups aiming for the same campsite so we also wanted to try to find a good spot, not knowing what we would be getting into. Closer to camp we found a nice bench and both of us almost took a nap. We were so close so we had to just keep on pushing.

About .1 miles from camp we pulled over to let a couple come down the hill and the gentleman told us all about where they had come from. He mentioned the road was closed up ahead and said we would be hard pressed to get a hitch. I was really, really looking forward to town so I was hoping he didn’t know what he was talking about. At camp we asked around to find out the road issue and it turned out the road was open to the point we needed to get picked up from so all was well.

It was crazy windy at the site but we managed to get the tent set up and tied down enough to make us feel comfortable. There were even pit toilets here, so fancy! We made dinner and chilled in the tent. Jake went out to see the sunset but I was too cozy to get out. The wind got really scary at a few points but we didn’t get blown away and I managed to get some sleep.

Up early again even though neither of us slept great on account of the wind. I wanted to get to the bathroom before all the car campers got there but I was still too late, even at 6am. A lady kept trying the door and then loudly called “are you going to be long?” …chill out lady, I just got in here! Only one of the bathrooms was working in our area of camp so we decided we would hit up a different sections bathrooms on the way out. That turned out to be a much better, calmer idea.

Big news here…we have trail names! I kept thinking about what Hoops said to us yesterday and he was right, we just need to give each other names. Jake is “pole drop” or “Drop” and I’m “Drip”…Drip & Drop!

It was cool and misty in the morning so I wore long pants and we both hiked in our rain jackets for a while. Once we started climbing we decided to take them off because we were hot. The wind didn’t quit though and we were eventually hiking in the clouds so I stopped to put mine back on. We then came across hikers taking a break, snowflake, Bill Nye the hiking guy and Flyin. It was so exciting to see Flyin! We hadn’t seen him since he took an early hitch into Idyllwild from Paradise Valley Cafe to heal his bum knee. We all discussed our plans to hit up McDonald’s today and said see you later.

More windy ridge walking made up our morning miles but we were making great time. We ended up doing 14 miles by 12:30 and we didn’t roll out of camp early at all. McDonald’s is located .4 miles off trail so almost everyone stops in if only for the novelty. We hadn’t stopped for lunch so I was hungry when we arrived. Even though it was windy our only option for eating was under some trees lining the parking lot. Brightside was already posted up and said earlier there were about 20 hikers with him. I inhaled my fries so quickly Jake asked me if I had even gotten any. Since it was windy and cold we ate and got back on the trail, only 6 miles to camp.

We walked under the highway and across some train tracks. Watching the trains was pretty fun and we wound our way up and over the hills to Cajon Pass. I needed to make an emergency pit stop but the whole ridge was very exposed so we had to keep hiking to find a place that was hidden enough for me to feel comfortable. We were only 1.2 miles from camp but I needed to stop. I’m glad I did because camp was packed! All friendly faces who we had been hanging with since yesterday and more people showed up later.

We set up our tent in the bushes and just barely made it fit. The spots are all pretty tiny around here but on soft sand which is nice. We sat around and ate dinner at the water cache with everyone. It’s nice to hang with this group, hopefully we can stay pretty close to them for a bit. Another big day tomorrow so everyone was in bed by 8.

An easy day was planned to let our bodies recover a bit from the last two days. We rolled out of camp around 7 to try to beat the heat and just casually made our way around the trail. I was feeling the last couple days catch up to me so I was going slow.

Water was 4 miles from where we camped and we made it there in good time. The stream was flowing pretty slow but there was plenty of water in the spots that weren’t weird looking. Lots of bees wanted the water and to hang out on my pack too. After water we planned our next break spot under a bridge where apparently the frogpocolypse was happening (according to some people who had camped here earlier).

At the bridge we decided it looked a little weird and pushed on to a nice shaded spot near the road to watch traffic. We decided to just eat lunch because we were hungry and it was a short day. There were rumors that the place we were ultimately aiming for was able to get pizza delivered and we decided that was likely in our future. We’ve been kind of between hiker bubbles so it was nice when we heard a voice behind us. He looked lost because the trail kind of disappeared behind a tree and it’s a huge lot for some industrial stuff so we waved him over. We met Hoops and chatted about getting pizza later and how we didn’t have trail names yet. He pointed out that the two of us know each other the best so it would make the most sense that we would bestow them on each other. Soon after he parted Forest showed up to hang in the shade and we were on our way to the lake.

The hike to the picnic area was really pretty as it wound around almost the entire lake. It was a little torturous to look down and see this inviting water but still be so far from it. Since it was Saturday there were plenty of people out on boats fishing and just riding around having fun. We probably could have made our way down to one of the beaches but by this time we were just focused on getting to be in camp super early.

Just as we got to the road to go down to the picnic area Hoops came up behind us. He had gone down to the lake to get water and reported that it was disgusting and we again hadn’t missed anything. We all walked down together and discussed putting in a pizza order once we got to the pavilion. There were three other hikers already there who said they already ate their pizza and it was amazing. While we waited for our delivery I washed socks in the camp sink and we all just hung out chatting. Finally the pizza showed up and just as quickly disappeared into our bellies. It was fantastic.

Since we were staying here we eventually got our things and figured out how to get to the ranger kiosk up the road. We took a detour that didn’t help us at all but eventually we made it, paid our camp fee, and the ranger gave us a “shortcut” to the hiker sites. She must have gone to the same “shortcut” school as my dad because that wasn’t a dang shortcut at all. Back down the road to the bike path and the up a steep hill on the bike path winding around through car camping sites until we made it to the hiker area. We got the tent set up and could just chill the rest of the evening. The rest of the campground was partyin but our area was quiet. It was another windy night but luckily we were protected in a little circle of trees and bushes.

I slept poorly last night, probably because of my aching feet and body. I took some ibuprofen around 1 am and finally was able to relax. Up at 5 again but I forced myself to shut my eyes a little longer and woke up around 5:45 to start getting ready.

The morning miles were pretty easy but it started to warm up fast. We saw our first fancy bridge with water deep enough to swim in the creek below. No stopping for water here because we had plenty. Another 3 miles and we took a break in a sandy, beachy area to get water and eat a snack. This place is close to a forest service road and there was trash & tp everywhere. Jake was feeling yesterday’s miles pretty hard so we took a longer morning break than normal.

It was so hot already at 10:30 which meant the rest of our day was going to be pretty brutal. We pushed on through the canyon along Deep Creek to find a lunch spot near our next water source. We got near the source and could hear the creek flowing and decided to go rest there. As we were bushwhacking down to the water Jake noticed that the area we were standing in was covered in poison oak. Not good. He had gone through and I was in the middle of it so I just pushed on to the end. I immediately washed my legs off and wiped them down. I have no idea if that did anything but in my mind it helped. We decided not to stay in this spot for lunch but I really needed to get in the river so we stripped down and got in as far as we could manage for a bit just to cool off, it was glorious and cold. After afternoon swimsies we went back up the hill a bit to a shady spot for lunch. It ended up being about a 3.5 hour break. After yesterday’s big miles we needed it.

Onward towards the hot springs and further to camp. The hot springs was a party but we didn’t stop to check it out. From the stories of other hikers we missed out on naked old dudes and party tunes until 1am…so we didn’t miss anything. I had originally thought we could find a spot to camp before we reached the dam but I didn’t realize we’d be walking the edge of the canyon so we pushed on to find a spot out of the Deep Creek area.

We got to camp late for us as the sun was starting to go down. The spot was very windy so we tried our best to get everything tied down right. We ate dinner pretty quickly and tucked in for the night. Parts of the tent were flapping around all night but I finally passed out. Jake said he was up late listening to the wind and fixing parts of the tent that had come up.

I woke up at 5 and definitely didn’t want to be awake yet. Jake was still sleeping so I curled up and tried to go back to sleep for a bit. We both got up around 6 and started to get ready to hike. It always takes a while to get everything together and this morning was no exception, the only weird thing was we were the first ones out of camp.

We took a short morning break around 10 for some snacks and a few hikers passed us. Most of the morning was in the cool forest with views of big bear Lake below.

Lunch was near the stream which was just small puddles of water with a little flow. We managed to get enough water out of it and then went a little further up trail to try to find shade. We did find a spot but the sun quickly moved and ruined it. Luckily we both fit it short naps before heading out to do our afternoon miles.

It was really hot and exposed for a better part of the rest of the day. We were dealing with it but I could feel it just draining my energy. The first camp we were aiming for happened to have people already set up and they didn’t look like PCTers so we moved along to a spot just a half mile down the trail. This spot at Bench Camp turned out to be close to water, quiet and we had the whole place to ourselves. We were able to get water for the next day and rinse some clothes before settling in. It was a long day but the miles came easy.

I woke up not feeling great with a little bit of chills and queasiness. This was a bummer because it’s not the first time this has happened right before we head back to trail. We didn’t even eat anything too crazy this time in town. Lots of veggies and fruits and we didn’t even get ice cream!

I thought maybe breakfast would help so we went to the bagel place down the street to grab something. We brought bagels back to eat in bed. I got an iced coffee but barely made a dent in it. We had taken it easy this morning so we had to scramble a bit to get showers in and all packed up before 11.

We decided we would take the bus to the farthest point and then try to hitch a ride to the trail. It worked out perfectly. We had to wait less than 10 minutes for someone to stop for us. A very nice woman who works in town at the Grizzly and her daughter were headed to the next town over to get pedicures on their day off and graciously dropped us on their way.

Hiking started around 12:45 but it wasn’t too hot out so we didn’t need to take long breaks. Camp was only 9 miles in, we are trying to do some actual nero’s this round. We were in camp before 5. There were a lot of hikers hanging around when we got to the spot but almost everyone moved along rather than spend the night.

Sleeping in just a little felt so awesome. We did all of our laundry last night so all we really needed to do today was hit up the grocery and get fuel for Jake’s stove. First we needed breakfast so we headed to Teddy’s. While we were eating we planned out the hiking for the next 6 days and figured out how much food we would need to buy. A lot of my shopping list ended up being medical supplies for my janky feet.

After we left Teddy’s we hopped on the bus that would take us to Von’s, the grocery. While it was great to have such a good selection of foods it was almost too many choices! I spent way too much time in the rice & pasta aisle deciding between knorr sides, ramen and a million other things I had never even heard of. The snack selection was the most exciting and believe me, I know what you’re thinking…how exciting can snacks be? Very, the answer is very exciting. Von’s must be owned by Safeway or they are sister stores because my Safeway card worked to get us discounts.

We walked over to the bank so I could get some smaller bills than I had been carrying and then I got Starbucks while we waited for the bus to the sporting goods store. That store was interesting but they at least had the fuel Jake needed. We saw a few other hikers there and talked to FedEx for a minute about his plans for the day.

We headed back to the hotel to organize our goods and laze around. I called my dad and then we just zoned out to some bad television, it was very nice to just lay around.

Dinner time was a fun game of calling around to places just to find out they aren’t doing take out right now. I have no idea how that’s working for them but it was pretty annoying. Finally we found a place and they could have our food ready very quickly. We walked the block or so it get to pick it up and ate dinner in bed while watching more mindless tv, luxurious. Later we both took epsom baths and then promptly passed out. Tomorrow it’s back to the trail!

It was a quiet night but neither of us slept great. The morning was chilly enough that we hiked out of camp in our puffy jackets, at one point I tucked my trekking poles under my arms so I could shove my hands in my pockets. There were only 13 miles to go to the highway and it was mostly downhill so we were cruising through miles.

We stopped at a spring that was right on the trail to fill up on one last bit of water. I didn’t get quite as much as I thought I would need and ended up drinking a little of Jake’s extra water towards the end of our miles. We leapfrogged with some different hikers today, some friendly and some focused on getting to the highway.

We rounded a corner about 2 miles from the highway to see firefighters on a hill rolling up hoses and a fire truck on the dirt road. Some of the hikers we had seen before had stopped for a break near this and we asked if they saw a fire. They told us it seemed like the firefighters were out here doing training exercises and they hadn’t seen any smoke. Great news for such a dry area that has already been hit pretty hard by past fires.

One last mini break to rehydrate and we made it to the road. We just missed someone giving out sparkling waters to a few hikers. Seven hikers ended up on the side of the road trying to hitch into town which can be daunting for drivers so several cars passed by, one guy even audibly sped up. Soon a Bronco stopped to get the three hikers who were ahead of us. I was mentally preparing to wait for a while but was pleasantly surprised when a few vehicles later a truck pulled over for the rest of us.

Our driver was nice enough to drop us at the grocery in town where Jake and I grabbed some snacks for town. We then had to figure out the local bus to get us to our hotel 2.5 miles away. There wasn’t an official stop so we just stood on the side of the road by the Starbucks hoping it would stop nearby. It did stop and we were soon at the hotel.

We got to check in early and headed to the brewery for lunch and beer. The rest of the day was spent showering, relaxing, and just enjoying all the comforts of town.

I slept through a mouse attack last night! Some little monster was trying to gnaw at the tent, luckily Jake scared it off because I didn’t even know it had happened. I’ve been taking a benedryl before bed to help calm the heat rash so I’m sure that had something to do with my being out of it.

We were up around 5:45 and hiking in about an hour. It was nice and cool for a bit and we were headed for a reported good water source only 4.5 miles away. Once we were at the spring i started to try to get water from the million tiny drips that were coming from the spring through overhanging tree roots , it was taking forever. A large bucket was there so we could dip into that to make it a little faster to get water.

We headed towards the Coon Creek Cabin for lunch. The temperatures were cool and we were having fun chatting on the 6 mile hike. The cabin was a little creepy, with a lot of graffiti and some broken floor boards. Some hikers stay the night here and report having fun mice friends who chew through their things. No thanks to that. I found a nice shaded spot near a log to set up for lunch. While we were hanging some women showed up down the way with trail magic but didn’t stay very long and we missed out.

A few more miles to camp, past a creepy former private zoo and some water caches that we didn’t end up needing. Our site for the night was near a dirt road and after we had already settled in a guy showed up and yelled “Hey hiker trash! Anyone want a beer…or a soda?”. We didn’t respond but a couple of our neighbors took him up on his offer. Gotta love friendly locals!

We weren’t the last ones to roll out of camp but the sun was already getting warm as we climbed up out of camp along the ridge. All day we were following Mission Creek so we had very short water carries which was a nice change.

It was planned to be a fairly short day so we were feeling good about taking a few longer breaks. Little did we know we would be losing the trail all day long. The rocky sand we were walking through would look like the trail and then quickly we were definitely not on the trail anymore. This continued until after lunch when we started climbing again up to our campsite. It’s incredibly frustrating to have to check the map every .1 miles to make sure you’re still headed in the right direction. Lunch was nice under some big trees by the water but we lost our shade fairly quickly.

At our last water stop before camp I was feeling good and we were talking about maybe going a few extra miles to make the next two days a little easier. A couple miles later the sun started to really get to me. My heat rash was still mildly bothering me and the heat was draining all of my energy.

When we got to the campsite we found it quite different from the picture on Guthook. A huge tree had fallen across the site cutting down the amount of space there was to camp. We had enough room for our tent and maybe one more small tent but not much more. Luckily we were the first to decide to camp here and got a good spot. There was also a nice little stream flowing below us which was unexpected but welcome. I went down to the stream to get water to rinse out my clothes. Sweating day after day in the same clothes is just unpleasant.

After I got back from clothes rinsing I hung my clothes all over the downed tree and I told Jake it looked like we were shipwrecked. It was quite the sight. I walked over to another nearby tree to pee and quickly found out that I was standing on an anthill of biting ants. Luckily one only nibbled at my finger and I was able to stomp the rest of them but ugh, ants!

We rolled out of camp late today and the sun was already hot. We took some time to talk to a hiker who was having a bad couple of days and walked with her a bit to the road where she was planning on getting a hitch to Starbucks. Whatever helps get you through the days out here. All three of us watched a big rattler slowly cross the road into someone’s front garden. We wandered further down towards where the trail picks up and found some trail magic by the gate! Jake and I both grabbed fruit snacks and mini snickers and I ate a piece of italian bread. A very random assortment but it was delightful.

We needed to get to the underpass so we started through the rocky sand towards the highway. I was apparently still beat from yesterday because I was just stumbling through and could not walk fast. Jake was really far ahead of me.

Continuing on we went through the edge of the wind farm. They are very hiker friendly at the office but we didn’t stop. The climbing was kind of brutal because of the heat. I kept having to stop in any bit of shade I could find just to feel like I could make it.

More hills to climb and ridges to almost get blown off by huge wind gusts. Then it was down towards the Whitewater Preserve. It says it’s .5 miles off trail but it didn’t seem that far. I got some water and ate lunch at the pavilion with some other hikers. There was even a bathroom there with a sink, it was amazing! As I was leaving a couple of old guys stopped me to ask questions about what I was doing. They asked to take my picture and I agreed, a little strange but whatever.

It was a short hike to the river where we had planned to camp. When I got there I needed to rinse out some socks so I did but then the wind gusts got intense. Sand was getting in everything. We decided we needed to camp elsewhere for the night so we packed up and headed on, just a mile or two more. We found a nice protected spot near the group we have been hanging with and had a quiet night.

My alarm going off at 5:30 was incorporated into whatever weird dream I was having but I did eventually come to and turn it off. It took so much effort to get up because we had both been awake a lot since 1:45 am when the wind got crazy. The tent side kept smacking me in the head until I woke Jake up to ask for the extra stakes to help. He got the tent all squared away while I went pee and stared at the stars for a while. It was a bummer we didn’t get better sleep because today was planned to be our biggest day yet.

We managed to be hiking by 6:30. It was a climb up to the stream where we would get water but we made okay time. It was going to be a long, dry day so we both decided to leave the stream with 4 liters of icy water. Heavy bags back on we took off through the cool morning forest. There was lots of snow around which was again a welcome sight after being in desert conditions.

We knew we were going to have a long, exposed hike along Fuller Ridge but spirits were still high. There is very little shade along the 17 mile descent but we managed to find a little spot beside some large rocks to have lunch. Halfway through out break we heard what sounded like a bag rustling and a lot of commotion. Jake went around the rock and saw a guy we had seen last night sitting under the next rock over. He said the biggest rattlesnake he had ever seen just came from behind him and went down into the bushes. I’m glad it wasn’t next to us!

Onward to the bottom we continued in the blazing sun. I almost stepped on two snakes, one was a small rattler, it curled up under a bush and we were able to safely pass. At least two other hikers saw snakes near us on the way down, one of them screamed like it bit her. I’m glad she didn’t get bit and I understand it is surprising but it scared everyone on the ridge that something was actually wrong.

We were getting really close to the bottom when I felt a stinging sensation on my calf. I looked down and both legs were completely covered with a rash. I immediately panicked and asked Jake if he had seen any poodledog bush today but that wasn’t it, thankfully. I just powered on hoping that I could figure something out before bed.

Finally we made it to the bottom and the water spigot! We found a tent spot amongst all the other hikers already there. It was already a little windy so we staked down every possible section of the tent and put rocks along our tyvek. We filtered water and I used the small bar of soap I carry to wash my legs a little. We had service so I did a little symptom googling and figured out I likely just had a heat rash. At least it’s just that but the real remedy is to just quit sweating…probably not going to happen in the desert. For now I will just try to rinse my legs throughout the day and pop some benedryl at night.

We tried to sleep in a bit but of course that never works when you want it to. We walked over the the Red Kettle for breakfast and had a delicious, huge meal with lots of coffee for me.

The outfitters was our next stop for a few things we needed to replace. More relaxing and catching up with parents was on deck for the afternoon before we headed to the brewery for beers and snacks.

Grocery shopping was up next. It appeared as though we had gotten there after the hiker rush and were left with some odds and ends for meals. We made due and also found time for some dancing while we shopped.

After we went back and dumped all our food around it was time to eat again. Back to the pizza shop because it was delicious the night before and one of three open restaurants in town. We stayed up way too late repacking and lounging around but decided tomorrow would be a slow day.