Lovely start to the day, but supper cold and windy. Slept bundled up and could only get warm if completely mummies up, but it was worth it.
Got started at 7:00 am but soon got warm enough from hiking to take off my puffy. Steady climb from 3000 feet to 5000 feet. Rash not much better, and apparently it’s just going to hurt some. Is slowing me down slightly, but is still hikable
Made it to the real mile 500 on the trail. There used to be an official trail marker for 500, but since the trail moves a bit everyone in a while, it’s at mile 501.5 and has been removed.
Daneli waited for me at mile 500. Only 1.5 miles from camp, so not a long wait.
Made it to a cool cistern at mile 502. Met Bruno there. Really weird guzzler nearby, but it lookes gross. The Cistern was full to the brim with clean cold water. Yea!
Bruno. He ended up starting the aqueduct around 2:00 pm. Seems crazy to me, since it’s 18 miles all exposed hard straight no usable water hike. I’m gonna start around 4:00 am if able when I get there.
Lovely desert views. At night you can see all the red lighted windmills.
Nice
The required poles in the air photo.
Heading that way. Active gold mines across the desert use some materials that flowers love. This creates “miners lettuce” which is edible and supposedly tastes like spinach. Many hikers supplement their meals with this stuff.
Yes there is some snow. A week ago it was 2 feet deep for long stretches. A few flat spots with snow, but only 1 short semi interesting section.
Views
I think this is sawmill camp. Very windy and cold. Barely slept.
Tom hikes the PCT 