I was up before sunrise this morning to get as many miles in before it started to heat up. In addition to comfort, the next water source was 19 miles away and hiked by in the cooler temps minimizes the amount of water that needs to be carried.

Sunrise 🙂

Another Milestone…not sure why this person made it at 600.1 ?

It was nice to finally leave the wind turbines and scrubby bushes behind for the giant ponderosas and sugar pines.

An interesting but a area with crazy boulders and lots of flowers.

After a 30 mile day with only two water sources I set up for a little Cowboy Camping.

I have an extra early departure planned as the next water is 32 miles away. My plan is to head out around 4:30am get 20mi done before noon. Take a long siesta and do the last 12 after the sun drops a little lower (3:30?). There may be a water cache along the way some local trail angels maintain but you can’t really plan on it.

A short post today….not a lot of pics to share.

There was a big exposed (to the sun) climb out of town and unfortunately I miscalculated my water needs. Normally, when I leave for the day it’s cool out for several hours and I know I won’t need more than a liter for the first 3+ hours. Today I hit the trail ~11:30 as I was finishing things up in town. Between the midday start, the warm exposed climb and the 17mi to the next water, my 2-liters was feeling rather inadequate. I didn’t run out but I was definitely nursing the last liter longer than I would have liked. Lesson learned!

I’ll pretty much stay anywhere that has a make your own waffle-station…thanks Best Western!

More windmills 🙂
(I’m camped under a set tonight as well)

Water at last! This was actually a great spring fed pipe with cold clear water you could hold your bottle under…it then collected in the algae filled trough. It was nice to not have to pick out green slime from the water!

Good night 🌙