This morning we packed up out of Agua Dulce and hit the trail north by 8:30.

View back on Agua Dulce

We followed this reservoir today 

We were banking on the fact that there was still a trickle of water 7 miles out so that we didn’t have to start the day with 4 liters of water each. At 2.2 pounds per liter that makes your pack feel like you just shoved a baby in it. Heavy! The trail to Bear Spring, where we would learn if we were stupid or not to only carry 2 liters of water each, was straight up.

Signing the registry

It was already getting hot and combination of the steep elevation slowed our pace a bit, but we were rewarded with the tiniest trickle of water! We also saw more of those weird statues.

This trickle will work!

What is with these…?

We spent 90 minutes relaxing and filling up before getting back on trail to complete the last 8 miles of the day. It was at this time that we ran into Larry. He is hiking from Agua Dulce to Tehachapi and prepared for battle with bear spray and all. He met up with this later where we camped and we all shared our frustrations that we carried full water the last 8 miles, but there were plenty of flowing streams. We heard that those streams haven’t flowed in years and locals were surprised that they have water now. They probably won’t flow for much longer, but it would have made the last 8 miles of the day more pleasant had we known that beforehand. So…to help the people behind us, we update the water report as soon as we had service again. We had a dinner of function, not taste – instant mashed potatoes with a summer sausage. The highlight of our not was drinking got chocolate in our sleeping bags and eating cookies 😊.

I guess they have a problem here with dropping animals…?