April 28

Mile 109.6- 132

22.4 miles

Burritos were delivered as promised. I eat 1 and pack out 3. This is a burrito based resupply, a burresupply.

We walk out of Warner springs through another gorgeous meadow spotted with towering, ancient, oaks.

We learned at many are dying due to borer beatle infestations. I think about that for a while and it makes me sad. I have been attempting to not listen to a podcast or music until noon. We wake up before 6am, so that is a full 6 hours without consuming some sort of media. I spend the time thinking about my life, singing to myself, and trying to pay attention to the sights and sounds of the trail. I realized that in my normal life I never go a full 6 hours without consuming some sort of media. My tendency is to distract myself. My tendency is to numb. These six hours in the morning seem like a good first step to changing that.

We climb up from the meadows and follow agua caliente creek- a beautiful riparian paradise in an otherwise dry area. The day is already getting very hot and I douse myself in the creek a few times.

We keep climbing and follow ridge lines in sparsely vegetated desert mountains.  The sun beats down on us and the hiking becomes more of a zombie walk. 

We come to a water source-  a tank off the side of a 4×4 road kept full by a very kind local and grab 3 liters each before embarking up our final climb of the day on the shoulders of combs peak. 

Luckily we hit the climb at 6pm, when the sun has lost most of its’ bite. We have great views of the surrounding hills and upcoming Mt San Jacinto, where we will combat our first snow of the trip.