Just another picture of my “home away” for this evening. The tent looks a little sad but my clothes are airing inside on my custom clothesline I installed.
As the day began, Dani and I were able to have breakfast with Laura and Emily just before heading out of Julian this morning. They opted to start later in the day to beat the heat. Dani and I were on the trail by 9am after a super easy hitch from the post office. A nice man by the name of Clint was on his way past Scissors Crossing for a hike of his own. We chatted for the 12 miles back down to the trail. He was eager to hear our stories as one day he’d like to hike the PCT himself. Dani and I made a plan to meet at the water cache and possibly camp there. When I rolled into the stopping place I was greeted by Paul who I hadn’t seen since Thursday. Then Chris came out from his stealth campsite and Dani was just on her way back from the cache. I was so excited to see them all. Even tho Dani and I started hiking together this morning at 9, I slowed way down as it was hot and I was carrying 4 liters of water.
That’s what a “water cache” looks like in Rancherita. Not sure who maintains it but they keep it well stocked. That’s Chris on the left, he lives in San Rafael and Paul, from Monroe WA. They are hilarious to camp with.
We all cooked dinner together as other hikers walked through our “happy hour”. Some of the recipes people create are genius. Everybody always has a new spin on an old favorite. Dani makes a “ramen bomb” with dehydrated potatoes and vegetables. I just had cold-soaked ramen as I didn’t want a hot meal today.
We also had a newcomer named Sarah who is from Idaho as well. Emily had messaged me and o write this, she and Laura are settling into their own tents and making dinner. Annnnnd the gang is back. We all plan to get up tomorrow fairly early to hike 18 miles to Warner Springs. Should be a fun day. The weather looks like it’s cooling down a bit for tomorrow’s miles.
Today wasn’t all that exciting of a hike. All desert, lots of chollas and rolling hills. Every turn looked the same. And it was hot. I never saw a hiker behind me all day. So pretty much 14 miles to myself was how the day went. I did see my first garter snake which, sorry Glen, he was too fast for a photo but I did see two horned lizards. I was also buzzed by two F-16s on a training mission. That doesn’t happen every day.
The cactus are just about to bloom out here. In a few more weeks it’s going to look so beautiful.
Pretty chill day overall. Looking forward to tomorrow for sure. Goodnight.
KLubs on a Long Dusty Walk 
Thanks for the pic of the Horned Lizard(we called them Horney Toads) grow up in Arizona but I haven’t seen one in years!!
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They were super cool. I’d much rather see them than the snakes 🙂
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Mason enjoyed the pic of the horned lizard. He wants to know if it shot blood out of its eye…according to Mase, thin blood vessels around the eye of the lizard rupture under pressure to squirt streams of blood at predators! Who knew?
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I actually had to google that yesterday cause someone told me the same thing. So yes, he’s right. But I didn’t pick him up so he wasn’t feeling stressed.
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So, those are San Diego coast horned lizards (Phrynosoma coronatum blainvilli). Great find. They are declining throughout their range.
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Loving the posts! Do you have coffee in the mornings? I hope your knee is feeling better! Give me the address of the next place you can pick up, I want to send you some AMAZING cream that I use for any pain. Stay cool out there! Happy Easter!
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My coffee habit has been sliding unfortunately. It’s a lot of “work” and I’m trying to minimize fuel as I’m not cooking too many meals, especially breakfast. Honestly by the time you hike all day, set up your tent and do any other chores a “cold soak” meal is way better than a hot one to me. But on the chance that I do make dinner using fuel, I found some Mexican got chocolate that is AMAZING!!!!
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❤️
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