Date: May 11, 2017
Miles: 14 miles (22.5km), from Devils Slide trailhead to mile 187.8. 
Health: Blisters are gone, the new shoes are amazing. Legs are toast, the climb up was brutal.

We woke up and I took a quick shower before heading out for our ride to the trailhead. It wasn't a long drive but we got to see the town of Idyllwild again. I wish we would've stayed here for another night. I really want to come back to Idyllwild with more time!

Once at the trailhead we waited for the others and I took the chance to use the toilet facilities one more time before heading out to wilderness for five days. Some had already left but we waited for the second wave and then started our ascent to 10,834 feet (3,293m). 

The thin air in this elevation quickly worked its magic on me and I was lacking way behind. Luckily Blü was still reeling from all the red wine last night and kept me company for a while.

The further we got up, the more beautiful the scenery got. As the sun rose higher it was nice hiking under the shadows of the large pine trees. The small breeze that kept blowing also helped.

We stopped every now and then to take photos and the theme for today's photos was "touristy". It meant that every time we took photos, everyone tried to look as touristy as possible.

I caught up with the others at 8,000 feet (2,438m) and we diverted away from the PCT towards the summit of San Jacinto. I tried to keep up with the others but soon the elevation was too much for me and I had to slow way down to crawling speed. I felt like I could hardly breathe. 

Once above 9,000 feet (2,743m) we ran into our first on-trail snow. The trail kept disappeared at times but we soon caught up to it. By now I was staying way behind and had to stop every 200 feet to catch my breath. Riley joined me and together we made the slow hike up to about 10,000 feet.

I made the last push to the peak alone and was met with cheers and a lot of familiar faces. The scenery from the top was simply breathtaking. I wanted to take the mandatory photos put was simply too tired and just laid down and rested.

After some food and a short nap I started to feel better. We found nice spots a little down from the peak, just enough in shade from the wind, and me and Justine fell asleep again under the warming sun. After about an hour, I woke up just in time to see Blü's naked summit photo session.

It was so warm and beautiful at the peak that me, Justine, and Blü stayed up while all others left. Soon we had the entire peak for just the three of us. We used the opportunity to have a euro techno dance off at the summit. Toy-Box's Best Friend still rocks, even after all these years. Thankfully no one was around to see us!

After a while we gathered all our gear and started our descent down to the PCT and towards the valley floor. This descent is the longest on the entire PCT as you descent from over 10,000 feet down to almost sea level. If the climb was brutal, the descent is going to be at least as rough, if not rougher. 

We made our way back from the summit and found the trail. We started descending but the snow made trail finding difficult. The trail would disappear under the snow and as we'd follow the direction of the trail on top of the snow, to where we thought the trail would continue, it just wasn't there. We'd wonder downward and soon pick up the trail but soon it would disappear under the snow again. Sometimes the trail would just vanish into thin air right in front of us. This made the descent frustrating.

After a while of scrambling down the mountain we found the trail again and followed it for a long time. It was nice to be on a solid trail again.

We made some way down and then the snow made a comeback. We traversed on top of the snow for a long while, trying to stay on the trail. We followed the tracks other hikers had left before us. All of a sudden we came to a spot where the tracks ended up going to every direction. We followed the ones that seemed most travelled.

Suddenly we realized that we must not be on the trail again and the footsteps on the snow kept getting less traveled and less traveled. Quick look at the GPS told us we were off trail by several hundred feet downhill. Instead of climbing back up the steep hill, we decided to head down to a stream that was some way below us. According to the map the stream should take us right back to the PCT.

After some time we found ourselves on top of a waterfall, looking down on the PCT from up top. We couldn't go down from here but Blü found a new route between some rocks that got us back down. It was good to be back on the trail!

We crossed couple more waterfalls and kept laughing how good it was to have water everywhere. After some time the scenery changed and I checked the Guthooks app just in case. Ups. We had missed our last water source over a mile uphill, and the next one down was in over 14 miles (22.5km).

We took a quick tally of our water situation and decided that we could make it to the camp and then down to the water by tomorrow with what little water we had.

Hiking at dusk was simply breathtaking. The scenery in front of us was simply out of this world. A thin fog had come up and was covering the mountains down below and we could only see the tips of their peaks sticking out through the gray fog. At the same time the setting sun painted the entire landscape with bright orange and purple hues. With the three of us, and the display that Mother Nature provided in front of us, this felt as close to perfection as one could get.

It was starting to get dark as we got to the campsite. The site was nestled between trees on a ridge line, facing a city somewhere far below us. We set up our camp, made food with our headlamps on and then went to sleep. I was so tired I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Tomorrow's going to be a long and strenuous hike down to the water source. I have less than half a liter of water left.

Date: May 10, 2017
Miles: 6.4 miles (10.3km), from mile 145.4 to Paradise Cafe. 
Health: My legs are a bit tired but feeling good. Few small blisters but nothing bad. 

The storm never hit us, but we spend the entire night and morning inside a cloud. Everything was covered in a fine mist. Everyone woke up slow and late. The short hike to Paradise Cafe meant that we didn't have to hurry in the usual manner.

While others left, I stayed a little behind as I wanted to dry my tarp out a little. It was covered in sand and I didn't want to put it in my pack like that.

Soon I was on the trail hiking after the others. I left with a Korean hiker called Choy. We generally hike a very similar pace but this morning I was having trouble keeping up with him. Not long after that I was passed by Hercules. While he's a fast hiker, I knew he left way after me and shouldn't have caught up to me this fast.

Wondering why me legs didn't work, I realized that I hadn't done any stretching in three days. I stopped, did a quick stretching session on the trail with my backpack on, and started hiking again. What a difference! I was pack to my old pace.

I ate few crumbled fruit bars and noticed I had cell coverage. I hadn't talked to my parents for a while so I called them a FaceTime audio call. We talked for so long that I made it to the junction where you hike along the road to Paradise Cafe.

After a short road walk I met with others inside. I sat down at the counter. I guess you smell bad when the gentleman on the counter, over two seats away, moves his seat further away from you. And after a while moves even further away.

I'm so happy to get to Idyllwild today and to be finally able to wash my clothes.

We ate a big breakfast but sadly couldn't wait for the famous burgers as they started to serve them only after 11am.

It was time to hitchhike to Idyllwild. We were told, and seen from the Cafe, that people usually get a ride in less than five minutes. After about 20 minutes and no luck we called for a "taxi". A local gentleman gave us a ride in his pickup.

Once we arrived to town, others had already arranged a lodge for us. A lodge with two adjoining parts. We soon opened the door between the parts and had one large lodge with girls and Blü on the other side and us guys on the other.

The mission for Idyllwild was simple: wash clothes, get a shower, resupply, and eat real food. We took showers and send all our dirty, smelly clothes to laundry, and then headed out wearing what ever we had in our bags that wasn't dirty. Some wore trash-bags as a skirt, some towels, others wore their rain gear. People around town didn't seem to mind though.

I needed to visit the local gear store to see if they had the Altra's in my size. Fyre joined me and we went up the hill to the store. Luckily they had my size, so now it was time to go down to the post office to ship my old shoes, and the new ones I bought from Warner Springs back to Mikko in San Diego. Now if my feet still grow, I have the Altra's in half size larger.

The rest of the day was just spend on doing town chores and getting ready to head out tomorrow. We needed to resupply five days worth of food to make the over 90 miles to Big Bear.

At five we all congregated to the pizza shop where we got our photos taken and pinned to the PCT 2017 wall. I accidentally ordered a way too large pizza as I'm still not good with inches. I carried the rest of the pizza back to the lodge and we opened the huge box wine Blü had bought. He was going to carry the rest of it tomorrow up to the summit of San Jacinto. His strategy seems to be to carry more and more gear as the trail goes on, I want to go the other way around.

At the lodge everyone worked on their gear, then others went to sleep or enjoyed the complimentary wifi. I worked on my site to get up to speed with all the posts as I was lagging behind. I finally finished everything at 3am and got to sleep for few hours before the wake up call and our ride to the trailhead the next morning.

Date: May 9, 2017
Miles: 18.5 miles (29.8km), from Mike's to mile 145.4. 
Health: All the blisters have either healed or are not an issue anymore. Legs feel strong while climbing. 

The mornings are kind of hard. You wake up and it's still dark and cold and your legs hurt. You get out of your warm sleeping bag and start packing in the dark. You don't want to take off your warm puffy because you get cold instantly, but you can't hike in it.

After you're all packed up, you try to leave camp with as little clothing as you can as you'll be too hot soon. This means you're shivering for the first 20 minutes. As it takes a while for you body to warm and your muscles to kind of start up, I find these first miles the hardest. Breathing is hard, my nose is still stuffed and I just find myself forcing me onwards as I know it gets easier as my body slowly wakes up. 

We woke up at the patio of Mike's house after cowboy camping. People started to slowly head out as they got ready. Blü left right as I was getting ready and I headed after him. I needed to filter some water for the 10 mile (16.1km) hike to the next water source. As I was filtering the water, most of our group passed by as they had done their water duty the night before.

After filling two liters of water and cameling up one, I headed after the others. The hike out of Mike's was just beautiful. I kept stopping constantly to wonder at the gorgeous scenery. I caught up to Pin and Theo soon, but stopped to take photos of them across the mountain and stayed behind again.

The miles were going by so fast that we soon caught up to the others who hiked out from Mike's last night. They had slept at a beautiful but windy saddle that was very exposed. 

I caught back up to Pin and Theo and hiked with them for a while. I laughed so hard at Theo's jokes that I almost fell off the mountain. After a while Theo stayed back and I hiked on with Pin. It was funny as I've seen her everyday from the start, but we've never actually talked one on one. We had a long discussion about work, life, and our future goals. I found myself nodding along to a lot of the things she was saying. It's great to have these kinds of connections on the trail. Miles went by fast.

Even with the late start we made ten by ten easily and got to the next water source where others were hanging by the trail. The water was about 1/4 of a mile off trail down in the valley. These trail gatherings are the best part of the day. I laughed so much again. There are so many great personalities on the trail.

After some early lunch it was time to head out again. The next water source was in 8 miles (12.8km) so I needed about 2 liters. I made the short hike down the steep hill and found Blü hanging back down there. He was waiting there for others and we had stayed up at the top.

Blü pointed me to the direction of the water but I think I got the directions wrong and ended up at a spot where it was a bit hard to get to the water. I started going down this steep sandbank and got about half way through when I stopped and looked around to see where I'm going. I looked down and the path looked good, took a quick look up and stopped right at my tracks. About 2 feet up above me on the slope right next to me was a black rattlesnake that I hadn't noticed before. My heart stopped.

I've heard that their striking distance is two times their body length and I was about less than one times her body length from her. So I really needed to get out of there and fast. I stayed still to evaluate the situation and the rattlesnake wasn't coiling up. I kept one eye on the snake and looked down so that there weren't any snakes there and quickly dashed down from the sandbank. That was way too close for comfort!

I watched the snake slowly slither away and kept my eye on her to see where she was going as I had to go up the same route.

The stream was shallow and with only little flow so it took a while to filter 2 liters. I was so shocked from the snake encounter that I forgot to take a photo both of the snake and the water source.

I took my bottles and made my way up from the river as carefully as possible, keeping my eyes out for more snakes. Boy was I happy not to meet any more.

As I got up, others had already left and I hiked out with Pony Express and Otter. Pony was keeping the pace and she was charging it up the hill. I had trouble keeping up and Otter called it, saying she'll see us later.

We talked about all the regular trail stuff, like what did we do before the trail, work, life, and what our plans are after the hike. She's making an documentary about the PCT and you should definitely check out her website and Instagram.

After a while we got to what was described as a questionable water source at the water report. Everyone was skipping this one. The reason, it had a dead mouse floating in it.

While we were photographing the water and the poor mouse, Otter caught up to us. We hiked on but Pony had to pee so she stayed behind and I hiked on with Otter. It was fun hiking all day with different people and getting to know them better, on a more personal level.

Pony caught up to us on a long climb. We took a rest after what felt like an never ending climb. I was running out of water, but luckily the water cache wasn't far off. While hiking to the cache I realized that I had only eaten 2 bars today during the whole 16 mile (25.7km) hike, I was seriously bonking.

Once at the cache I put some food to cold soak and ate few tortillas to gain some calories and energy. We continued to the next cache soon but I couldn't keep up with Pony and Otter. They blazed on as I was having problems with the lack of energy caused by not eating properly. This is why it's so important to eat constantly.

Luckily the hike was short and all of us met at the 145.4 mile water cache. Most of us decided to spend the night here as the hike to Paradise Cafe the next day was only 6.5 miles (10km) so there was no reason to push on at this stage. Also the other campsites from here on had no water so it meant dry camping which I'm not a fan of. 

The Cafe opens at 8am and even if we sleep late, we'll still be there way too early. Tomorrow will be resupply at Idyllwild. I need to wash my clothes, get a shower, ship out my old shoes, and restock some items like Leukotape and baby wipes.

We talked and laughed late in to the night, coming up with goofy trail names and laughing at all the funny trail stories that have happened so far. At the same time we kept our eye on the approaching storm in the horizon. Hopefully it won't rain tonight.  

Date: May 8, 2017
Miles: 17.4 miles (28km), from Warner Springs to Mike's.
Health: Feeling good. Legs feel strong and the few blisters I have are a none issue. 

The morning was cold and wet. My sleeping bag was moist and my tent still wet from the rain. I was looking for Justine who was sleeping in the tent next to me for the "let's go" time as we had agreed to head out in a group. As I saw no movement in her tent I assumed she was still sleeping and I didn't make any attempt to hurry out.

While slowly getting my things together, all of a sudden everyone shows up ready to head out. Apparently everyone had slept inside the Community Center as they had left the doors open for us hikers over night due to bad weather. Others headed out as Blü waited for me, making comments about how I'm always late.

The morning was again cold and wet. It wasn't raining anymore but everything was still wet. The trail out of Warner Springs was flat and beautiful. We made miles quickly. Blü stayed behind and I put on my earphones and some cheesy rock and hiked on.

I made roughly 10 miles and stopped for a breakfast next to a river where the trail was covered by poison oak. I'm slowly learning what plants and animals not to touch on the trail. Poison oak has been plentiful but no sight of the infamous Poodle Dog Bush.

After the relatively flat beginning the trail started to climb up again. At some point of the climb I came upon Justine, Theo, and Andrew taking a break. Andrew was snoring while we laughed about how Justine had just lost her nibble on the trail. She meant the nibble of her Platypus water hose but forgot to mention that when telling the story. 

After few hours of climbing we saw our first snow on the trail. We were doing such a good progress that we stopped often to just marvel at the scenery opening up in front of us. Others used these breaks to climb rocks.

Once we reached what looked like the top, we stopped in the sun to dry out all our gear. The scene looked like a yard sale at the middle of the trail with all the gear spread out. 

The rest of the hike was quite uneventful and we made it to the Mike's on time. As we got there we learned that Mike wasn't there but his buddy Joshua was taking care of all the hikers. Mike's is a trail angel who's house is in what feels like a middle of nowhere. They organize trail parties and barbecue sessions there. Hikers can also fill up their water bottles few hundred feet outside his house.

After a lot of back and forth and strategizing we decided to not push ahead as we had planned and instead stayed at Mike's for the night. The reasoning was that we had only about 25 miles (40km) to Paradise Cafe from where we'd hitch to Idyllwild. We could make it there by pushing further today and doing a long day tomorrow, but that would mean we would be in Idyllwild by late evening, forcing us to stay for the night. If we instead stayed here and did about 20 miles tomorrow, we could make it to Paradise Cafe early the day after tomorrow. This way we would have the entire day to spend at Idyllwild and still have time to make it out before the night. We already had a zero at Warner Springs so we don't want to take another this soon.

Joshua and few other hikers made a huge barbecue fest where we were offered chicken and potatoes. It was so good!

As the weather was getting worse again, we headed out to the patio and claimed our spots for tonight. It was so cold that I just climbed in to my sleeping bag as soon as I got everything ready. It sure hasn't felt like Southern California recently with all the rain and cold weather.

Date: May 7, 2017
Miles:  0
Health: Well rested. 

I had already decided that I really didn't want to hike out to the mountains in a storm so today would be a good day to spend a zero. Most hikers had thought the same so not many were leaving out today. The constant rain also kept people from heading out.

As the Community Center opens at 9am, and most hikers are awake by 5am, it was a long morning of waiting in the rain trying to find ways to spend time. A lady with an RV had shown up and she was making pancakes for breakfast for all the hikers. More trail magic!

I just can't believe the goodness of the people around the trail here. People take so much of their own time to do nice things for a bunch of smelly hikers.

After the Community Center opened everyone made their way inside and it was soon quite a scene. People were raiding and going through the hiker boxes. The boxes were plentiful as most hikers send too much stuff here on their first resupply package. I scored some trail mix and bars, along with the condiments Blü gave me. He had scored big yesterday and was now carrying way too much food.

New shoes

For the past few days I've had more and more trouble with my feet not fitting in my shoes. Being on your feet for 8 hours, hiking, and the heat had made my feet so swollen that my pinky toe was being crushed against the sidewall. This wasn't something I could just walk through. I'm fairly certain I'm going to lose the toenail soon, and the toe was about to turn black.

I needed to do something and my options were clear: either cut a hole to the side of my shoe to give my toes more space, hike without socks, or I need to get shoes with a wider toe box.

Right next to the Community Center was a small gear store where they carried the Altra Lone Peaks, a very popular model on most long distance trail because of its very wide toe box and other thru-hike optimized features.

I went in and tested the shoes. I was a bit skeptical as the Altra's are a zero drop shoe (meaning the difference between the toe and heel was 0mm) and I'm accustomed to shoes with a bit more drop. My Cascadias have a 12mm drop (if I remember correctly). But as soon as I got the shoes on, they felt great. My toes were free to move and there weren't any strange pain points.

I wanted to get these shoes but the only problem was that they didn't have them in the size I wanted, which was size 10. They had them only in size 10,5. As I needed to head out tomorrow and therefore couldn't wait until Tuesday for the size 10's to arrive, I went with the 10,5's. Figuring that if they're too big, I can make it to Idyllwild with them, get size 10's from there and ship these further on the trail for when my feet have swollen more.

Most of the day was spend inside the Community Center playing, talking, and eating. A lot of trail stories were swapped. I, like most other hikers, had a footpath to sooth our hurting feet.

Later in the evening the local school at the other side of the road opened their doors and fed us with spaghetti for the price of $6.

We made plans to hike out in the morning but as we had no idea what the rain would do, we just agreed to play it by the ear. This zero was great.

Date: May 6, 2017
Miles: 18.4 miles (29.6km), Third Gate water cache to Warner Springs. 
Health: Tired but healthy. Got few new blisters during the last few hours last night but nothing bad. 

I woke up later than usual and after getting a liter of water from the cache, me and Jordan got on our way. I can't tell how grateful all us hikers are of the wonderful work the people who maintain this cache are doing. We heard that it takes a full day for 4 persons to get the water, drive it close by, and then fill the cache, take out the empty containers and to keep it as clean as it is.

Without this water, many hikers would be have a very hard time crossing this section. Thank you for all the work you're doing just out of the kindness of your heart!

We had 18.4 miles (29.6km) to make it to Warner Springs, and about 10 miles (16.1km) to the next water source. I left the cache with 2.75 liters of water which should be more than enough.

The air was still a lot cooler and the wind added to the cooler feeling. It was a lot easier to hike in this kind of weather than when it's hot.

After about 5 miles I started to feel really good and started to up the pace. Jordan stayed back and so I hiked ahead passing other couple on the way. I've had one Eagles song stuck in my head ever since day 4 when Blü played "Take it easy" on Ukulele. I put the song on and soon I was flying down the mountain side playing air guitar with my hiking pole and singing aloud.

I was feeling really good and the miles just kept going so easily.

At one point I started approaching other hikers from behind and noticed they didn't hear me coming so I yelled out "coming from behind!". They didn't seem to notice so I yelled again. No reaction. By this point I was right behind them and as I got there I noticed they had earphones on and they were listening to music. And not only listening but singing along out loud. Right as the last hike was getting in to the chorus he noticed me and obviously jumped as he didn't realize I was back there. I apologized and said I had yelled. They just laughed and let me pass.

At one point I was looking at my mileage and noticed I was approaching the 100 mile marker (161km). Soon the trail turned and there it was, 100 miles. Now I only need to repeat this 25 more times.

I took a quick photo and continued down. Soon after that I reached the next water source. The German hiker from last night was there, as was an another hiker called Snake Eyes. We were all about to eat. It was much colder down here than up in the mountains and I needed to put on my puffy.

Just as I got my food pack open and a nice tortilla done, a couple section hiking the PCT came to the water faucet and told us there was trail magic just 100 feet away. Some one was making hot dogs for hikers. For a second we wondered should we go or eat first, as we had everything out already, and go then. But at that moment the predicted rain started and we quickly packed our gear and headed to the direction of the said trail magic.

At the trailhead the was an RV and an nice couple who made hot dogs, had ice cold beer and sodas, and let all us hikers to use their motor home to sit in and to protect us from the rain.

Again the kindness of people just blows me away. The trail angels had driven their RV to here just to give hikers a Cinco de Mayo fiesta. As they had ran out of fajitas and other food, now they were serving hot dogs that they had brought as a backup. This was their first time doing trail magic, but they said they had enjoyed it so much that they would come back next year and even try to follow the herd up north to an other location to do more trail magic.

As the storm was getting closer, I wanted to get to Warner Springs as quickly as I could. Others were thinking of staying here but Snake Eyes said he'd join me. As the rain subdued a little, we got our packs and hiked on, thanking our dear trail angels as much as we possibly could.

The scenery changed heavily. As we were down from the mountains, now we were crossing grass plains that were swirling in the wind, looking like rivers of gold. It was fun hiking in an new environment.

Miles went down quickly but the wind kept my legs cold the whole time. I was worried that my muscles would start to cramp.

The Eagle Rock​

After a while we reached the famous Eagle Rock. I had completely forgotten that it was on this section. How fitting that I had just earlier listened to Eagles. We took our photos quickly as the storm front was gaining on us fast. As we saw the clouds roll through the plains, we knew it was rain gear time. Not long after that the rain started.

We hiked on as the rain and wind kept coming and going. Soon Snake Eyes wanted to take a break but I was still feeling it so I hiked on alone. Not long after that I reached Warner Springs and was greeted by familiar faces. It was good to see them again.

Neal had hiked ahead but I understand that as he only has two months to spend on the trail.

I quickly got the law of the land and setup my tarp under a large tree where a small tent city had already formed. All hikers were huddled up in the nearby Community Center where you could buy some drinks and snacks and sit inside warm.

As the Community Center later closed, the lady gave few of us hikers a ride to a restaurant a mile down the road and I hopped on. I'll happily eat real food every chance I get. For of us smelly hikers crammed in to her car and we were on our way.

After the dinner we walked back and as the hiker midnight was approaching, got in our tents and started to go to sleep. Before turning in for the day, I noticed Jordan, Snake Eyes and the group from last night had all made their way to Warner Springs. I keep wondering where Rebecca is, and hoping everything is fine with her.

There is surely going to be a ton of snoring this night.

Date: May 5, 2017
Miles: 13.9 miles (22.4km), from Scissors Crossing to Third Gate water cache
Health: Flu is gone. Feet are really starting to swell in this heat. Legs are getting stronger and well rested after the rest in Julian. 

Woke up fresh, in a clean bed, took a shover and went down for the breakfast. The plan was to head out soon after that and try to make it as far as possible to catch Blü and Neal who didn't stay for the night in Julian and instead hitched back to Scissors Crossing and hiked some way up the mountain.

It was going to be an 13.9 mile waterless hike up the mountain with no shade. While having the breakfast I got a message from Blü that they had reached the cache, and that there was water there, and also that the hike up was a loooooong climb.

I wasn't quite sure what to do. While the weather report had said that today should be a bit colder day, it was still very hot outside, even at the elevation where Julian is. And it's probably way hotter down at the valley.

I ditched the morning hike out plan and decided to hang back, checkout at noon, and then hitch to Scissors and wait out the heat under the highway bridge.

I went back to my room and finished uploading rest of the blog posts and scheduling them so that they would go live even if I had no internet connection for the next few days.

After checkout I headed to Carmen's to see if there were any hikers going down and if I could hitch out with them. As I got to Carmen's they were just taking orders and had the barbecue sizzling. Of course I couldn't say no to a pepper jack cheese burger so I put down my pack and delayed my departure a bit more.

There was a group of hikers leaving to Scissors at 4pm and we decided to hitch out together. It took us about 10 minutes to get rides. We got in two different cars. Ours was an Audi and we got a quick ride down the mountain road, the others in the older pickup had a more eventful ride. Apparently among other things, the steering wheel had fallen off while they were driving down the swirling mountain road.

At Scissors a bunch of us hikers waited under the highway bridge for the weather to cool down. One group headed out earlier, and me and Jordan, a hiker from Alaska, left together about an hour later.

Almost immediately the trail started to climb up hill. And it didn't look easy. We hiked up the endless switchbacks, slowly climbing higher from the valley floor. The wind had picked up, and with the setting sun, made for an nice and cool hiking weather.

We settled for a slow and steady rhythm. On an up hill, speed kills.

Rattlesnakes and spiders

We took a 5 minute break every hour and a half.  After one of the breaks we got to a section where the sun was still warming the mountain side and as I walked looking at the scenery, I got interrupted by a very familiar and unnerving rattle right next to my left foot. I jump forward to get away from the snake and probably screamed like a little girl. I warned Jordan who was only few feet behind me.

The small rattlesnake was curled up on the side of the trail, right on the blind side of an bush, and I had walked right next to her. Thankful she didn't want anything to do with us and we respected her wish. We marked the trail a little down from the snake with a warning and went around her,e leaving her to enjoy her evening basking in the sun.

Yeah, my first rattlesnake experience. I was hoping for more of an "seen from afar" experience, not "almost stepped on one", but nevertheless. My heart was racing as we hiked on. Now I was on extra lookout for snakes as this was their prime hunting time and I really didn't wish to meet one any more closer.

After about an hour it started to get dark and we stopped at one of the switchbacks to get out our headlamps. At the same time a German hiker, who had been trailing us but was a much faster hiker, came over and we changed few words. I was sitting down, redoing my shoelaces. As I got up, felt something tickling behind my right knee, like movement going up towards my shorts. As an instinct I did a quick brush and felt my hand hit something that fell to the ground. I looked down and it was a spider.

My first instinct was to ask if Jordan new the species and if by any change it would be a poisonous one. He took a better look at the spider and said that, yep, it was indeed a poisonous spider. His words were, I think, "not the kind to kill you, but you'll lose a leg".  (It was a Brown Recluse for those who're interested).

After some spider discussion and stories that were too detailed, the German hiker continued upwards. We trailed him by maybe 100 feet and switched on our headlamps.

The trail turned right and I stepped between two bushes and right at that moment my headlamp hit a figure right in front of me on the trail, another rattlesnake! This one was in the middle of the trail, smelling the air to the direction the other hiker had just gone.

As she was on such a narrow spot, we couldn't get around her, so instead we tried to talk to her to get her to more. She was big enough that we really didn't want to get any closer to her, and we were afraid that throwing rocks would get her angry and to curl up, prolonging her stay.

After a little while, she turned and disappeared in to the brush and we could continue our hike. Night hiking sure can be interesting!

The rest of the climb we just marveled at the beauty of the nightly desert, every now and then switching off our headlamps and looking at the stars.

Few hours in we met with the other group that had started before us. We joined forces and hiked the rest of the way up to the Third Gate Cache as a one big group, forming a line of lights that wiggled up the side of the mountain.

Near the end, the winds really picked up and it was getting strenuous to stay on the narrow path in the dark. The big drop to the darkness on the left of us made things even more interesting. With tired eyes and legs we finally reached the cache and setup our tents. The heavy gusts that kept swirling from all directions, made pitching the tent interesting. I've also been having a ton of trouble with my stakes not sticking to the ground and this was no exception. I need to buy different stakes.

I fell in sleep while listening to the wind blowing against my tarp. Tomorrow would be a push to Warner Springs.