June 27 day two
We awoke to a beautiful sunset and began packing up our stuff. Ryan does his “mountain video“ each morning for his memories, today he talked about how he was almost ready and I still hadn’t started. Of course I know he is the king of the “dink around “ and I pack up fast. I am now packed up, sitting on a rock and waiting as he stands looking at his gear.
As we get higher in elevation, we start to see the first pine trees. The California Ponderosa are starting to grow on the hillside.
If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know that I like getting shadow pictures. This one is appearing on a bush below me.
As we progressed along the backside of one of the hill sides, we found our self in shade. While short-lived, it was nice to be out of the sun for a bit.
Right in the center of Trail is a rattlesnake poking its head out of a hole. It is steep on both sides and there is no way to walk around it. We found a flat rock close to the hole and used our hiking pole to slide it over the top. Once we safely fast we push the rock back off of the hole and continued on.
Both Ryan and I are dehydrated and we know that we are short on water for the rest of today. We are taking a few more breaks. This campsite along the trail had a nice shaded spot with some logs that we could use as a backrest. After about 20 minutes, we were feeling good and continued on.
We are back on another Ridgeline looking over both sides of the valleys. The view is beautiful.
The Shy Mariposa Lili is a beautiful flower in this dry atmosphere.
While planning this trip, one frustrating aspect is there was a new fire closure that had been extended just last month until the end of the year. The closure itself only covers 1 mile of the PCT and the trail down into Wrightwood. However, you have to exit the trail 5 miles before at the closest road that gives access to the town. God is good. The closure order was lifted one week ago! I get to finish this whole section of Trail.
I have arrived at acorn Trail. This is a major milestone for me. In 2023, this 21 mile section of Trail that I am completing at this sign was closed due to a fire closure. It is the only section of Trail that I did not actually put feet on and it has been bothering my perfectionist side. I now can officially say that I have walked the entire length from Mexico to Canada with no interruptions in between!
From here, we will leave the PCT and hike 1500 feet in elevation down to the town of Wrightwood over 2 miles. We have another 1 mile road walk to get to the cabin that we are staying in tonight. Today’s mileage is 14.3 miles with an elevation gain of 3386 feet.
