Day 34- May 23rd

This morning we woke up bright and early, even though we were in a house with walls to block the light. Our natural clocks are set!

Heather offered us coffee and her boyfriend Johnny offered us waffles! We said goodbye to McKenzie (Heather's daughter) and then she was off to school. Heather came right back to pick us up and take us out to the trailhead.

Heather, Claire, and I

We were out on the trail again by 9am. We felt pretty good with our decision to stay in town instead of camp out up on the trail. Our blisters were still bugging us, but Claire finally has her poles!

We came across a campground area and sat down for a snack. There was a large group of children in a field trip and the leader came over to ask us a bunch of questions. When we told the group that we had been out here over a month, one boy replied in shock: "And you're still ALIVE?!?!"

The first few miles of trail flew by. We descended down to highway 2 and prepared to climb Mt. Baden Powell, a 2,817 foot elevation gain in just 3.7 miles!! The climb was grueling and intense. Slowly but surely we approached the summit. 

Near the top we admired the Waldron tree. Named after a boy-scout leader, the twisted and gnarled tree hanging on to a wind blown dirt cornice is estimated to be 1500 years old!!

The summit 0.1 miles off the PCT, so we decided to skip it and keep going.

...

Of course we didn't skip it, are you crazy?! After that long climb?! We went up to the top and were amazed at the views. It would've been a 360 degree lookout point, but there was a sea of clouds to the south. But they still made for some awesome photos'

We had lunch with a few others up top, spent a good while airing out our feet, and then started our long descent. The trail had gone up from the highway very quickly, but from the summit we could see that the way down North roller-coasted up and down gradually along a high ridge.

Surprisingly the top of the mountain was nice and sunny and warm compared to the rest of the day. All the clouds from the south were constantly creeping over the  mountain ridge right through us hiking. Going down took a very long time, and was very hard on Claire, even with the poles :(

We did see some beautiful things though!

About an hour before sunset, we came across our home for the night. Little Jimmy Campground. There were a bunch of hikers there, and some who we haven't seen for a long time! It was a big reunion! 

Firstly, we saw Josh!! We had left him at Cajon Pass when Helen had picked us up at McDonald's. Then there was Becca and Andrew. We hadn't seen them since the day we met them: Coming down Mt. Jacinto! We also saw "6", someone we had met in Idylwild, and "42", the one who impressed Floyd Mayweather and crew in McDonald's. Also Duckman who we met a few days before. Lastly there was Bj and Metro, as well as  Salsberry and Dang; both couples we had met in Wrightwood.

Well, today was a day, we climbed 4017 ft and descended 3987 ft in only 14.55 miles!! Super pooped, going to bed, it's probably below 30 degrees outside! Brrrrr!

-Thanks for reading!