Day 45- June 3rd

The sun popped up so suddenly today. One second we were sound asleep, the next second we were hot. We packed up the tent and started our last 9.2 miles on the highway.

Along the way we passed a lot of ranches and saw many animals. Sheep, goats, cows, horses, mules, and even ostriches!

It was suuuuuuch a hot morning, but we managed to get to Hiker Town (mile 517), before noon. 

Just after we got there Bob was headed to the store (an actual store, not the one pictured above), so we went with him and got some mozzarella sticks and something cold to drink. We also brought back a nice snack for later...

We hung out at Hiker Town in the heat of the day. The room not much cooler than the 100+ degree day outside. But at least it was shaded indoors. We stayed there from noon until 6:45pm.

There were many other hikers there, and we didn't quite get the rest that we had planned on getting. A few of us headed out together into the lowering sun. The first part of the aqueduct was uncovered, as seen in the first photo of this blog entry.

We decided to do this portion of the trail at night because the LA aqueduct is notoriously one of the hottest sections of the trail, with absolutely no shade until 17.5 miles under a little bridge and no water for 24.5 miles!

The pipe-covered aqueduct was actually very nice as well! It was still about 80 degrees when we left, but soon it lowered to the 70's, the LOW of tonight forecasted for 72.

We saw a very pretty sunset and got a sweet picture of Claire silhouetted against the beautifully painted sky.

We walked and walked and walked, not stopping until midnight. We walked 20.76 miles total today, with a 7 hour break in the middle! We're really feeling good! Today is the third 20+ miler of the whole trail!

We plan to get about 5 hours of sleep, and then hike 12.4 miles in the morning to the water source or at the very least 5.77 to a water spigot that might POSSIBLY be on. We planned for the worst and will have plenty of water either way.

We are cowboy camping tonight on a nice flat concrete slab which the aqueduct runs under. We're out under the beautiful stars and the dark moonless sky.

Thanks for reading!