Welcome to desert finals class. The sun is on its way up over the mountains. I hope you all have learned how many liters of water you drink during an ascent and a descent from a mountain, how to create shade when there is no cover, and how to create a canteen from a rattler skin (thank you Dan for helping with that one in Austin). Your test will begin now and will continue for the next 200 miles.

Unbelievable! This is the fastest we have left our sleeping bags and headed to the trail to date. It is 4:22am and we are out the door. 24 miles of sweltering desert + 2 miles to the Andersons at Casa de Luna. We may make it there tonight we will just have to see how the sands treat us this morning. A ginormous thank you to the Saufley's for all of the hospitality. You guys are amazing!

The view of the desert on our way in. We are planning on heading out early (4am) tomorrow if I can wake Snow Turtle up so that we can avoid the heat. We have made it to the real desert now and it is crazy hot. Tomorrow we continue our march towards Mojave and then the Sierras. Will try to post most pictures soon if we have cell service though I am not sure there will be much for this next stretch. Talk to everyone soon.

Poodle Dog, Poodle Dog, Poodle Dog and this wasn't even the worst of it.

The view of the high desert from Gleason Mountain.

I know hold the current title of Largest Widowmaker Pine cone found in Southern California and we haven't even made it to the big trees yet.

You know what you do when you hit 400 miles? You get up and you keep on walking North.

Believe it or not this is the view from the trail. We had to take a road detour to evade the fire damage from years past.

The view of Windy Gap from above.

Snow Turtle at the foot of a 1500 year old tree near the summit of Baden Powell.

Snow frosted trees on Baden Powell

So I had a long 2 pg. post that I was waiting on to publish, but it seems like it will never go through so I thought I would publish some of these pictures before we head back out tomorrow. This is one of my favorite pictures so far. This shows the ascent to Mt Baden Powell after the 3000 foot climb up what seemed like 100 switchbacks. The view from here was amazing over the left side all you could see was clouds and a huge drop off 1000s of feet to the forest floor. To the right side were snow frosted trees from the storm the night before. If you live near this mountain it is so worth the climb.

The view of the mountains in the semi high desert coming in to town today with a Lord's Candle in the foreground. I just learned this plants name today and had to show off.

The sweetwater cafe which has the best milkshake in all of downtown Agua Dulce.

The view of the Honeymooner's RV from the inside. Looking for cousin Eddy from National Lampoons. This totally sold us on staying here tonight.

The honeymooner's suite at Hiker Heaven. It is so sweet to be a couple on the PCT.

The view of Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce, CA. Maximum capacity 50 hikers per night. This is truly an oasis in the desert. Showers, laundry, and music. Not a bad place to have a layover.

Drew teaching Barracuda some bad behavior. Barracuda is attempting to be the youngest hiker to complete the PCT at 8 years old. When asked what was his favorite part of the trail so far, he says " the freedom!" So wise for his age--- I told him to give my niece a call. ( in 10 years- don't worry Doug)

Just one more Cinnamon Roll

We woke up this morning to 29° weather not counting the wind chill and that somewhat kills the motivation to hurry back to the trail when you know you are immediately going 3000 feet higher than your current elevation and that the wind is still coming in at 30 mph. We agreed on one more cinnamon roll and then we are headed back out there on the way to Agua Dulce. Today we should be going over 9000 feet and we should break 400 miles tomorrow if all goes well. Time to savor this last bite and then go find a hitch back to the trail. Thanks for the grub and the good times Wrightwood. Just talked to a local and he said it was warming up from 24° up there this morning. Who needs 10 toes anyway?