20th May 2025

The hiking today was tough. On an emotional level we felt the absence of Drizzle, and for Sweet Rolls, the lost comforts of being at his sister’s dampened his mood. On a physical level, the sun burnt down on us, unrelenting with its intensity. The path demanded steep ascents from us and our recently supplied packs threatened to pull us back down. Any shaded areas were occupied with poison oak leaving limited break options. After 15 gruelling miles we arrived at Green Valley Fire Station, broken and miserable.

However, awaiting for us was Kaleidoscope, a hiker from our original trail family, who we had not seen since Julian. We sat under large trees during the midday heat and updated each other of trail events. Shortly after Dan and I noticed the couple we met at the San Diego REI. We had been chasing them down for some time and finally we were able to hear about their experiences.

While it was great catching up with everyone, the effort of the day had zapped all my energy. The lowest point of the day, and perhaps an example of how tired I had become, was when I accidentally tipped my gallon bag of snacks into the trash mistaking it for my rubbish bag. There were my nuts, cookies, candies and bars swimming in garbage juice. Tragic.

At rock bottom and feeling unmotivated to either hike further or set up camp we decided to leave our packs and hitch to a gas station a mile or two down the road. Here we sat outside eating ice cream and drinking iced coffees, my trail snacks now replenished. We returned to the fire station with a regained a sense of purpose.

The sun was beginning its decent, and we had full bellies and were pumped with energy. We agreed to hike another three miles in the cooler  hours and set up camp at the top of the climb. Back on trail we joked and chatted, a sign that spirits had been regained. At our campsite we had a large cistern of water which we sat on to make our dinner under a field of stars.