Today will have us leaving camp at 8am, about five minutes behind our trail family, with my body at a 6 out of 10. I see a California kingsnake but the non-venomous ones are usually in a hurry to escape or perhaps don’t care that I want a picture of them and are going about their day. I didn’t feel the same need for the rattler hiding in the bush but I did bother getting a peek at one of them.

We see gophers that destroyed part of the camp roads, caterpillars covering the trail, and a few horny toads sunning themselves on dirt and rocks. There is lots of sand and loose rock on our elevated climb. We were ready for the hot and flat desert, not the stabilizer muscles’ boot camp of the century. We find a beautiful shade tree and share our morning break with ants and caterpillars.

We brush the chunks off ourselves and our packs before becoming one again to limit blister development that we have avoided so far. I’m getting a triangular sunburn between my glove and watch, and my skin disagrees with the constant sweat levels, but otherwise, we are doing well. We hit a patch of trees and a steep decline to a water source. We drop our bags and Caleb makes the short trek and returns with a dirty water bag (that will be filtered) minus its handle.

We see a gopher snake as our third of the day, which reminds me why I like to be outside so much – more nature, less man-made issues. We stop for an afternoon rest with the scents of pine, skunk, fire, and ass accompanying us, according to Caleb. I agree that dirty trees smell better than dusty people. We’ve partially hiked on loose and uneven rocks before but turned back to give our feet a break. We don’t have that option now.

A woman approaches with her six-year-old horse and dog named Sky, who doesn’t want our sweaty hands on him, but the horse, the shades of butter, doesn’t mind a quick greeting before they, too, get ahead of us. Then the bugs come. Our clothes and tent are treated, so we’ve been lucky so far, but I have one flying with me trying to get into my left eye, and I don’t want them in my mouth as Rachel has encountered.

We are grateful for the shaded area and take another break in the high heat of the day since we don’t know what’s around the next turn or hill. We have about a mile to go until our planned stop at Mt. Laguna when I start getting snacky. Eric, our first trail angel, will satisfy that need before we reach our spot at the other end of the campground. We join him at a table for two Tillamook ice-cream sandwiches (vanilla and chocolate), two pieces of homemade brownies, a banana, and various electrolyte drink flavors.

Caleb is thirsty enough to forgive the coconut water. Eric keeps in touch with other angels and the hikers who come by and is able to let us know that Grandpa made it to Boulder Oaks before deciding it was better for him to fly back to Germany. We understand how many don’t make it through the desert. We let him know we’ll send him two more hikers when we catch up to Gert and Rachel who are already clean.

While they get pre-dinner treats we will use the $1 shower, thanks to Eric for exchanging my dollar for quarters, and then wash our clothes in the spigot and hang them to dry while we eat dinner and lay in our sleeping bags at 7pm. It’s a bit of work to set up a bedroom at the end of the night, but we’re getting into a routine. Today’s mileage was just ten miles to give our bodies a chance to catch up.