Day 13, Struggle to Mike’s Place

3/29/20, mile: 127

It was such a gorgeous campsite. Sandy floor, trees for shade, (if wanted), downed trees to sit on, and a creek for water. Joining us in camp is Matthew from Washington D.C. and Pippi Longstocking, someone I met when I walked into Mt. Laguna. We had a good evening talking about the trail, the rumors flying about, and our experiences in towns…and of course, what happens next.

And it wasn’t too cold last night. However, I had a ton of condenstion inside my tent. I need to open the front rainfly a little (if it’s not raining) to let it ventilate more. It took quite a bit of time to dry it out before leaving.

Well leaving at 10 wasn’t a hot idea after the fact. The next sections were hilly, putting us over 5,000 feet again, seeing patches of snow, and a cooler air. On top of that were some mean looking clouds. Water was a little bit of a carry today (espeially if you’re paranoid now), so I loaded up with 4 liters in case the water tank at Mike;s Place was empty (it was 10 miles from camp).

The boulder fields we walked through reminded me a lot of Old Rag Mountain in Virginia. Old weathered stones just strewn about. The path was sometimes sandy, sometimes rocky, and just a smidge muddy at the upper elevations where the snow just melted. The last couple of miles to Mike’s Place was cold and I was tired and my feet were sore. I was hoping against hope we’d get some type of shelter considering the clouds I was seeing.

It all worked out. I had a great meal time with Cannonbal and Matthew. These are a good group of guys. We have a couple of more days till resupply in Idyllwild and then the next challenge of getting up/around Mt. San Jacinto.

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