Day 35 - Tuesday, June 1

Cowboy camping in a windy saddle (mile 674.1).  Walked 22.8 miles today.

Our campsite was visited by a little mouse this morning.  Frank named him Miles.  I guess for the miles we're doing today.  Started out with a climb up a bare hillside.

Luckily it was still in the shade until the very top, but it was still early, so it wasn't too hot.  That gave way to a desert pine forest.

Wound around a mountain to complete the big climb then dropped down to Joshua Tree Spring where we ate lunch and rested for about 2 hours.  We've hit a number of big milestones lately and today, we reached mile 662.5.  This means we're 1/4 of the way done with the trail.

After our break, we made the mistake of heading out in the heat of the day.  Very quickly I realized I needed to ration my water.  I got two liters for 5 miles, but had gone through 3/4 of a liter in just over a mile (I'm still learning...).  Kept climbing before finally dropping down to a creek that crossed the trail.  Here we found Sisyphus (He is probably the only hiker I'll meet out here from West Virginia - we had a slight disagreement about which Virginia is better), Slayer, Forrest, and Arugula.  Dean, the Israeli guy we had dinner with in Wrightwood, sat talking with another guy, Tom, who was very loud and never stopped talking.  Frank wondered if he would die if he stopped talking.  We hung out for a while until the talking became unbearable and then quickly packed up and moved on.  Frank was energized by the annoyance of the talking and the fuel of her newly-discovered energy concoction: cold hot chocolate (a hot chocolate packet mixed with unheated water).  She hiked faster than I've seen her go so far.

Got to a creek a mile later and loaded up on water.  At the spring, Sam, Rambo, and another hiker who's name I forget was there getting some water.  I put some band aids on my heel as the skin seems to be rubbing off (not really forming blisters, just rubbing off).  This is the first foot issue I've had since Tehachapi, so I'll consider that to be not too bad.  Ended the day with a massive climb up to about 7,000 feet.

Pine, Spruce, and Oak dominate the landscape here which feels more like the Sierra than any other place on the trail so far. Photo: Sam admiring the views out toward Ridgecrest and Death Valley somewhere beyond that in the distance.

We found a pine-sheltered spot in this saddle between two mountains and got to see an amazing sunset, the best one on the trail so far.