Woke up with the sun poking into the river valley. The windmills had all started turning during the night. It was the first morning we did not need to be bundled up from the cold. It was pleasant.
I’m thankful for Cottonwood Creek on this long, waterless stretch. It provided a nice campsite.
We set off amongst the windmills, heading down trail and will slowly wander our way into the mountains. Today as will be an uphill climb for most of the day
And yet another kind of pipe gate.
We once again are walking through fields of beautiful wildflowers, like the Bristly Fiddleneck, with long stems and yellow flowers , Red Stem Storksbill, and California Poppies
California Juniper and Yellow Dobie Pod with the occasional Joshua tree, beginning to flower, and Purple Star Gilia.
The branch on this Joshua tree is cool, it almost looks like the face of an animal.
The flowers and the colors just don’t stop today with all of the green, yellow, and purples
Looking midway up the mountain directly in front is an awesome display of sedimentary layers with their multiple different colors.
We caught up with Old Goat for lunch along this Mountain Creek great place for a little rest and food.
As I walk down the trail, I see the windmills far below where we started this morning
We’ve been watching this multi colored mountain off in the distance as we’ve circled about 3/4 of the way around it
Had to go across this super short snow patch, but it is all alone by itself in this mountain draw
At the top of our 4 mile uphill push we came upon this trail angel water cache with some chairs and a trashcan. The little things that are taken for granted like a trashcan. It means we don’t have to continue to carry all of the wrappers from the food that we’ve been eating. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but it is Major. THANK YOU TRAIL ANGEL!
Just shy of a mile later we made it into camp today. The last 4 miles were an absolutely grueling, uphill climb, but we made great time and feel good.
We quickly got camp set up and had dinner with Jeff Ellen, and old goat who all stayed at the same campsite.
Today’s miles 14.8. Total trail miles 250.4. PCT mile mark 549.7 due to Flip of 299.5
Weekly Friday weight loss
