Kind of an uneventful day today…after grabbing a bagel breakfast at the kickoff we packed up our gear and headed back to the trail. The party goes on for another day but we are anxious to be hiking and away from all the people. Many of the presentations are repeats of yesterday.

Thanks to the handy ride board, Helicopter (a thruhiker from last year) offered to pay the trail spirit forward by driving us back. We had a great conversation along the way about the logistics of hiking in a low snow year, since this year’s coverage is similar to last. She knows a lot of the people whose trail journals I followed last year.

Once back at our jump-off point, we wetted down our hats and hair in anticipation of a hot afternoon and set off north. The trail wound over wide plains just as it had on the way into town. We passed a small airport where they were flying gliders. Along the way we met a trail maintenance crew leaving from their worksite. We appreciate the hard work they did on a hot day!

The trail entered tree cover and scrub as we crossed back and forth over Agua Caliente creek. At the last crossing we stopped and had a lunch of sweet potato and ham. The only hikers we encountered all day weren’t thruhikers – they must all still be at the kickoff.

After our last creek crossing we started up, a trend that continued for the rest of the day. We were entering the San Jacinto mountains. The trail wound up and around ridges that got taller and taller. We had a great view of the plains and basin we had climbed out of earlier. The manzanita shrubs were blooming and they were beautiful. They remind me of lilacs – some bushes have dark pink flowers and some are a lighter pinkish-white. They buzz like beehives as we pass from all the pollinating insects.

Our camp is in a big boulderfield tonight. As it gets dark it’s strange to see large chunks of the night sky blotted out around us. Tomorrow we’ll start by making 3 miles to the first water since the creek. Even though it’s not classic desert terrain up here, it is still very dry and we have to remember to keep an eye on how much water we carry. If we make big miles tomorrow we’ll set ourselves up for great burgers on Monday at the Paradise Cafe.

– Posted from the PCT