Some late night hikers woke us up but otherwise I got decent sleep.

We made breakfast wile we dried out our tents. I had instant carnation breakfast mix combined with instant coffee and some belvita cookies. Dixie ate some delicious looking warm oatmeal with a side of hot coffee. Yum!

The sun came out and helped dry our gear.

We hiked up towards Eagle Rock. The trail was still pretty overgrown but not as much as yesterday’s climb. It’s so neat watching an area transition over time. The last time I was here was with Sooyeon and the hills were covered with white flowers, now they’re covered with yellow!

We pause at Eagle Rock to enjoy the views.

The ocean and downtown LA can be seen in the distance.

We decide to hike down into Temescal Canyon instead of ending at Willrodgers. It’s logistically easier for our plans (and thankfully less overgrown).

We pass some crew workers fixing the fire road before descending into the canyon. I’m very excited about this haha. Yay trail maintenance! Thank you for fixing the washed out sections!

What a great trip! I feel so lucky to have awesome friends to explore these trails with me!

Some things I learned from this shake down hike:

• My plastic spoon is not great. It’s light weight but also hard to clean, bendy when hot, and melts. I’ll be going back to my metal spoon. Lighter isn’t always better.
• I’d like to try something I can cold soak meals in that I can also sanitize with really hot water. Going to give silicone bags a shot.

• My iPhone and inreach drained my anker power battery pack to half with just one charge each… rut row. I’m going to look into getting a solar charger to supplement the battery pack for those longer stretches between charging opportunities. (Got any solar panel recommendations???)
• The larger Zpacks duplex tent does better when you can stake out the extra guy-lines on the sides. You technically only need 6 stakes to set this tent up, but it’s more comfortable head space with the 8. Especially if it’s windy out.

• I’m keeping my pack towel. I was thinking of not bringing it to save weight but I used it too much on this trip. I’m sold on its usefulness.

• I brought a small stick of sunscreen and used it all up in two days haha. I’ll need a bigger container of sunscreen, especially if I’m wearing shorts….

• I think I’ll try those zip off pants instead of shorts to give my legs a break. (I’m imagining I’ll run into a lot of downed trees at the start of the trail. Also pants = less sunscreen)

• Also! Also! My knee didn’t bother me once! Hooray!

I’d say this was a pretty successful shake down trip.

Thanks for following along!