Not much to write about today, other than that it was beautiful, tough and full of elevation change. We did over 3300 feet of gain and 5700 feet of loss as we went up and around the mountain ridges of the Desert Divide. That’s not even counting the 600 feet each way and extra 2 miles to hike off trail to a scummy water source. I shouldn’t complain too much because it stopped us from having to visit Apache Spring, which is 1/2 mile off trail but an incredible 700 feet down the mountain. Water was on our minds all day.

The wind was relentless last night and all today. Every time we crossed a saddle or came around a ridge it threatened to knock us over. I slept badly last night because of it, but not as badly as I would have slept if we were in a tent that was flapping all night. Tonight we managed to find a spot that was a little more sheltered.

The best thing about today were the views – we looked down on Palm Springs and the desert all day and now that it’s dark we can see the town from our campsite all lit up. Rolling peaks and rocky ridges as far as the eye can see…it was beautiful to look at but rough to hike. The ascent of Spitler and Apache peaks were especially steep, and as we hiked the last few miles to the campsite it seemed that the grade would never get gentler.

The good news is that we’re close to the next on-trail water and we only have four miles to our turnoff for town. On days like this we’ll take what we can get.

– Posted from the PCT