Up and packed early - big mileage goal for the day. Hiked at sunrise - beautiful colors.

Views in almost every direction. Velley below and mountains all around.

Trail is very overgrown - lots of bush pushing today and downed trees across the trail climbing/crawling required to get over.

Stopped on trail for breakfast - found a tick on my pants 🤮.

Water stop at a beautiful creek. Start the hike up and over the mountain.

More overgrown bushes obscuring the trail - bushwhacking required and more trees down on trail - creativity required sometimes to get up and over!

At a snack stop both Devon & Paul found ticks crawling on them - this put an end to our break and we packed up and moved on.

Made it to the top of our climb - down feels like a dream. Next stop water and lunch at a creek.

Hot and getting hotter - soaked shirts in the creek to cool down.

A few miles after the creek everything opens up and the ground is covered in white sand and short shrubs. We hike up and around a pass - layers of mountains visible in the distance - very hazy/smogy too!

A few more miles and a couple thousand feet descent on the side of a steep mountain - with plenty of overgrown shrubs to push through.

Devon a little heat sick - wet a bandana and pushed the last bit to a nearby ranger station for some shade and a very long break. Shoes off laying in the shade drinking water and snacks. Bonus: the ranger station has pit toilets and trash receptacles!

Feisty bluejay hanging around the picnic area - hoping to get some snacks. Beautiful bird!

Cricket & Una showed up just as we were leaving - discussed plans for the next few days - hope we see them again!!

One last push (4.3 miles to go) to camp. The trail is visible in the distance - cut into the side of the mountain. White sand and wonderfully short and cut back shrubs line the path. We’re (mostly) heading down - mountain views for miles in the distance.

Setup camp near a creek and hung out with another hiker. Devon made rice and beans for dinner + cheese stick and Fritos and hot sauce 🤤

Falling asleep to the sound of running water and frogs chirping. Rain fly open on the tent to see the stars 🤩

Theme of the day overgrown shrubs to shove your way through, downed trees and wood ticks.

@ 2575 ft. Elevation