Daddie Gizmo:

Our sunrise came up through the mountains and windmills this morning. We may not see windmills for a while now as we get more remote and another day in the mountains toward Walker Pass. We were 14 miles away from our next water source, Robin Bird Spring. It was a 3000 ft total elevation gain today which seemed to come 1/2 at the beginning and 1/2 at the end. Very good luck today that we hiked in between 2 bubbles of other hiker groups and had the trail all to ourselves again. The middle of the hike was a very pretty and diverse since it went in and out of pine trees, rock canyon wall edges and grass meadows. Lots of flowers still blooming, too. We proudly crossed the 600 mile marker along the way to our camp site. Lacy was really looking for some place out of the way of and with a view. After our water fill, she scouted out a little hilltop, a hundred ft off and up from trail that was perfect. Just enough room for one tent and the sunset.

We got here pretty early in the day, 1:30pm so we had the whole afternoon to enjoy. We set up the tent and each had a nice tea. Something we normally don’t have the luxury of time or water to do. I cleaned out a spot between a trio of rocks and built a nice fire that lasted all afternoon and evening. We cooked sausage and mashed potatoes for an early dinner. Are you following the mashed potatoes theme? 🙂 Gotta have those carbs. For about 30 minutes we had to do a little rain scramble as an afternoon shower came in quickly. Now it’s gone, fire is rekindled and the skies are clear enough to take off the rain fly and stare at the stars until sleep.

Daddie Gizmo:
It was cool n still gray when we finally emerged from our cocoon today. It was also almost 9am. Sleeping in when we know the weather today would be cooler from the rain last night was the plan from the time we went to sleep last night. We had a big climb out of the high canyon we were in to another higher and then another higher canyon before finally dropping down to out target water source 12.5 miles into the day.

Along the way we were rained on again but this time it was from melting icicles at the tops of the pine trees along the trail.

We met a German girl going southbound and stopped to chat with her. She was on her gap year, traveling around the world. For 1 of her 4 weeks in the USA she chose the Walker Pass to Tehachapi section of the PCT to hike which is the most remote and longest water carry 1 week stretch she could have chosen. It’s a beautifully brutal 94 miles. Golden Oak Spring was a welcome sight after slowly using all of our water over the previous 25 miles. We took an 30 minute nap, loaded up again and aimed for a camp site 5 miles away to finish the day. Freeze dried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes followed by 2 Cupcakes for desert. Snug in our fluffy bags under a big bright moon. Tomorrow is going to be hotter even at this altitude so the alarm is set early.