The full moon was so bright I had to cover my face with my hat to sleep.

I pack up and hike out of camp by 7:10. I wave good bye to Burbon. I wonder when I’ll see that group again.

The trail quickly decends down a steep incline. The bushes thin, the grass gets dryer and cactuses hide around the rocks.

A tall hiker covered from wrist to toe in all white underarmer hikes past me as I take a photo of a cactus. He caries a small brown umbrella to shield his bald head from the hot sun. Liters of water hang from all over his pack.

“Where you headed?” I ask.

“Water” he marches past.

“Right, duh” I say to myself.

He disappears down the trail. I eventually get to the next water source. It looks deserted. I approach the spigot and hikers sit up from under the bushes all around me.

“You made it!” “And there’s no extra mile to hike to the spigot like the water report says!” “Yay!” “Welcome!” “It’s cold!”

I hangout in the shade with a girl from Australia. Everyone is trying to figure out what to do next. The next on trail water source is in 32miles….. There’s an RV camp 11 miles down the trail + a 4 mile road walk….. And then there’s the option to hitch a ride into Julian in 14 miles…..

Most of the hikers huddled in the shade decide to hitch to Julian. I wasn’t planning on going to town, I was just in town. I need to stick to my schedule so I can see Doug. I look at the water report really closely. There are a few caches between here and the next water sorce. They say to not rely on water catches, and for good reason too. I’ve seen them empty, bottles strewn in the wind. The desert is not to be messed with, especially when water is conserned. I consider this real hard.

Okay. So, I like to have at least 2L for every 10 miles. That’s 6. Then one liter for camp at night (to cook, drink and clean with). 30 miles will take me 2 nights so make that 8…. And then it’s been really hot and I’ve been drinking a lot more than usuall so add one more for a total of 9liters! Phew. Okay. Wow. I’ve never hiked with that much water before.

Guess there’s a first for everything.

The girl from Australia watches as I assemble my pack. I hang two litters from my shoulder straps in the front, every pocket has a full bottle, even the main body of the pack. Now how do I get it on. I hoist it up onto one knee and spin it around onto my back. Yes! The two liters on the shoulder straps pop off. Crap. This is going to be hard, but I really want to stick to my schedule! Plus I’ll be dinking most of this as I hike. It can only get lighter right?

I say goodbye to the group and slosh out of the bushes down the trail. Good thing it’s a gradual, sandy decent. The trail narrows and the left side becomes a steep drop off. I worry one of the shoulder strap litters will pop off again and fall un-retrievable with every step I take.

It’s like that for a long long way. I’m going at a turtle’s pace but I get a kindof rythum going that works. Dodge cactus, make sure stick isn’t snake, don’t slip on sandy rock. I think to myself how different this world I’m in now is from the world I was in just a few weeks ago. At Bricksburg I don’t think I ever thought about water once. Now I’m having to carry 9 litters of it through the desert to get to a town on time.

Some how I manage to take pictures though all of this. It’s so hot. Even the cactuses are dead through this section.

I pass a few couples hunkered down in what little shade there is. The trail winds around and around. So many switch backs! Eventually it takes me even lower. I start to see a few really tough cactuses.

  
The trail then compleatly levels out leading to Scissors Crossing. I see another hiker braving the heat ahead of me.

 His bandana whips in the wind. I feel like I’m in the movie Laurence of Arabia. I catch up to him. What a tough man, he looks to be in his 70s. He plans on going into Julian for the night. We hike with each other through the wind and sand. It feels like forever.

I decide I’ve taken too much water. I’m hiking faster than I thought. I offer Laurenc some but he has enough. I reluctantly dump a litter next to an ant hill. The ants stop everything to drink it. It feels like sacrilege, but I hope it helps the ants.

We get to the road and there’s a car parked where the trail crosses. A lady gets out and walks towards us.

“Need a lift to Julian?” She beams.

My first trail angel! (trail angles are people who volunteer their time to help hikers. Driving, resuplying water catches, giving out food, opening their homes, etc)

I politely decline and shout back at my Laurence of Arabia buddy, “hey! Found you a ride!”

The look of relief on his face. These people truly are angels.

She looks at me, “you going to the bridge? The trail goes there, it’s just up ahead, I can drop you off” she points up the road. I can see it, it’s not far at all. I hesitate. My feet make me say “okay.”

Laurence and I hobble into the car. She drives us maybe a quarter mile to the bridge and drops me off. I thank her profusely and say goodbye to Laurence.

I find a group of hikers I havnt seen since Cribbet Flat! They just got back from Julian and look refreshed and clean. They plan on hiking about 15 miles tonight and invite me to join. That’s cool, but I’m too tired I can’t. 30 mile days some day sure, but not today. I decide to hike two more miles to a small spot in a dry creak bed. And it just so happens to be all up hill. The things I will do to not camp by a road. Switchbacks for dinner.

I look back over the crossing.  I came from way over there.

The trail winds through the most beautiful cactuses. The guardens at the Getti Museum would be jealous.

  
  

Yes cactuses, you are very pretty, but I’m super ready to set up camp. These last two miles were really hard. I’ve never been so happy to find a patch of dirt in my life.

  
Camped at 79.37mile of the pct

Total miles hiked today: 19.9