A cool windy night felt good to us, snuggled in our sleeping bags.  But today promised more tough, hot hiking, so we got up at 4:00 am.  There was fog down below in the Anza Valley at sunrise, but it disappeared quickly, and pretty soon we were hiking in and out of cactus-enhanced chaparral in the early morning light, anxious to reach our “breakfast goal” of Tule Springs.  It was a worthy goal!  Ahhhhh!  A concrete tank had a spigot coming out with TWO hoses attached–one for water in your water bottles, the other for SHOWERS!  Yes indeed, somebody ran a hose up a cottonwood tree and attached a shower head!  We thought about taking showers, but were concerned because we knew other hikers could come strolling in at any time.  But we did use the shower to “sloosh off” as best we could without taking EVERYTHING off.   It felt really good!

After that, it was lots more chaparral, a pretty canyon with lots of grass, trees and a creeklet where we met a fellow thruhiker getting water (pump, pump, pump).  Then we were headed up and up some more to a very dramatic section of trail with great views and precipitous dropoffs.  I am learning not to be afraid of heights, but I am very cautious in all those spots where you have a 3 foot wide trail and then a CLIFF!  We did meet one very polite rattlesnake who didn’t even buzz,  but hurried away.  (Fortunately he wasn’t at one of those “dropoff” parts of the trail!).

Finally we reached the “Hiker’s Oasis”, a welcome water cache where we loaded up enough to get us through 14 steep, hot miles ahead.  We are learning to be obsessed about water sources–you have to be when you’re a thruhiker.   Just ahead lay a climb of 1,000 feet in 4 miles, and it was a hot day. 

 But we chugged along till noon when we spotted a group of huge boulders just off the trail, and sure enough, they made enough shade to relax in and cook dinner (freezedried beans & rice).  I was also grateful that my sore ankle is better–many thanks to all our friends who love us and are praying for us!

By 2:00, there was a nice breeze and we pushed on into some very dramatic topography.  They should make this a field trip for a geology class!  After going down into and up out of  Alkali Wash, we found ourselves walking along the edges of some amazing cliffs.  Looking at the height of these obviously sedimentary formations makes you realize the immense forces of water at work during Noah’s Flood.  Very sobering.

Late in the afternoon, we reached Highway 74, and there resting by the trail was a PCT hiker waiting for his friend who’d gone down the road to a restaurant for a hot meal.  We decided to have an early supper right then and there so we could talk and eat.  Turned out the hiker was Swiss, from Zurich, and he was known on the trail as “Swiss Herbert.”  He was hiking the PCT with an American friend, and said that other than the heat, he was having a wonderful time. He had not gone to the restaurant, because, in his words, “Ven I hike, I only eat ze colt food.”  His goal was to hike as much PCT as he could before his vacation was over and he had to go back home.

Then Swiss Herbert’s friend arrived, dropped off by a “trail gorilla” who not only works on PCT maintenance, but also provides water caches.  He told us where the next one was–right across the road, actually, hidden by the monument to a trail worker who died while building the PCT.  So we strolled across the highway, stocked up on water, and headed for the Desert Divide.  We hiked as fast as we could till almost dark, following the trail as it wound among huge boulders.  We had just time to set up camp before it was too dark to see, and then we crashed.  Tiiiiired!