This was one of my favorite sections of hiking. We had a really hot day yesterday and so we decided to try a siesta strategy to keep from walking in the hottest part of the day so we woke up at 4:30 a.m.
We were at the top of a ridge at 4,908 ft but it was still very warm out and beautiful. The stars were beautiful and still bright since the moon had set. We packed up and I ate a quick breakfast of bars and Sherpa wasn’t feeling great so she didn’t eat much. We started walking around 5:15 a.m. and were making amazing time.
As the sun started coming up we started hearing a lot of mountain lion chirping. They seem to be calling each other from different slopes. Sherpa went ahead at one point because I have been taking pictures of as many flowers as I can find, and she promptly waited for me when we heard some chirping nearby. We had heard that this section had some stalking reported. I have since done some googling on how to prevent an attack if you encounter one. Basically you stare them down, make yourself larger than life, and shout.
Fortunately we didn’t have to fight a cougar. After a couple miles we climbed into this forest wonderland. Pretty wild seeing such an environment change.
After a couple miles we encountered a sign to Mt. Laguna. We decided in Lake Morena that we would skip this town and go into Julian. After that came Burnt Rancheria Campground where we stopped and took a quick break and I took advantage of their privy! Sherpa was still feeling weird but tried to eat something without much success.
When we finally got water and got going, we hiked out of the forest and passed some striking views!
The desert is hot and unbelievable! It’s definitely easier for me to enjoy the scenery because the heat doesn’t affect me like it does Sherpa. She is constantly having to manage her system to stay at a reasonable temperature. Today was more manageable than the last two because we were hiking earlier and there was a breeze.
We hiked until mile 48.7 at Penny Pines Point Faucet and planned to siesta there. We met a few thru-hikers there: Sara, GG, and Shannon. We chatted them up for a few minutes then found an out of the way, shaded place to take a nap and eat lunch.
I made one of my dinners for lunch and passed out. When I woke up I was super grumpy and had to take a second to chill out. We decided that we hadn’t done enough to meet other hikers so we were going back to the faucet to find people to meet. There where two hikers at the pump, Bryant and Evan?? They were from Caly somewhere and pretty friendly.
We then saddled up for the final push and had a really pleasant last couple miles. We saw lots of wildlife and amazing views.
Our final destination was technically a picnic area called Pioneer Mail Picnic Area not a campsite. We were apprehensive about camping here because you aren’t allowed but when we arrived there were already 4 tents up. We found a flat spot and out up our tent then when to get water.
The water source was a horse trough that had two faucets. One on top and one on the trough itself. Sherpa, nearly a genius, started filling her bottle from the trough faucet which supplied life giving green algae, mosquito water. I quickly mansplained that the top faucet was clear so she dumped out her water but, to my consternation, left at least a cup of green water in the bottom. I convinced her to dump it out, saint that I am. We are working on her standards.
We went to bed and slept like little hiker babies.