Tuesday April 28, 2026. Light clouds and 36 going up to 70. Minimal wind.
Up at 6:15. It got very cold last night. The cold woke me up several times. We both had a thin layer of ice in our tent rain flies due to condensation freezing.
Packed and on trail at 7:15.
Stopped at 4.95 miles at 9:10 to get water and take a break . Nice water pipe with high pressure in the desert. Lots of hikers here watering up.
Back on trail at 9:35. Only carrying out 2 liters of water as there is water in 6 miles. It’s getting hot due to the constant sun.
This is the terrain today. Mostly heads down to avoid cactus encroaching on the trail.
Got to the big water stop in the hot, shadeless desert at mile 11.1 at 12:35. Lots of hikers here resting and getting water. Most are going all the way to Julian today, but we are only going 5 more miles today and Neroing in Julian tomorrow.
Lots of people headed into Julian. It’s either a cot at the American Legion if they don’t fill up or a pricey hotel room with a bath and AC. Guess what I made a reservation for 🙂
Hung out for 45 minutes, ate, filled up 3 liters of water, and headed out at 1:20. We have 4.5 miles to camp where there likely won’t be any shade.
Hard afternoon hiking. Lots of steep downhill and several annoying steep climbs. Dry hot and dry. Nursing my 3 liters of water so that I have enough for dinner tonight and tomorrow morning’s 5-mile hike.
Stopped at 3:50 and 14.73 miles. Good campsite for 2 tents. We both took a break in the shade until after 4:00 before setting up camp.
That’s me on the left.
Both shoes really falling apart ! I’ll contact the vendor from town tomorrow.
We have 1 poor bar of cell service. I can barely text and nothing else. Wrote today’s blog then made dinner at 6:00. Spam, ramen, and hot pepper flakes. I forgot how much I love that meal. Still a bit hungry though.
Got settled into my tent at 6:30 and watched videos I previously downloaded. Hope to get to sleep by 10:00.
Technical Notes:
- Pop Tarts 340
- Jerky 100
- Jerky 80
- Propel x 2
- Ramen 370
- Spam 260
- Fritos 500
- Water liters: 4
- Miles: 14.73
- Time: 7:45
- Up: 1565
- Down: 3281
- Calories consumed: 1650
- Calories burned: 3041
- iPhone battery used: 40%
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