Day 8 (9 April) - Mile 68.43 - 79.37

Rodriguez Spring Road to Campsite in Sandy Dry Creek Bed

We woke at 7:00 AM to blue skies, but there was a lot of condensation inside the tent cause by the chilliness outside and the warmer air inside. That's OK, we are out here in this beautiful area and are looking forward to another day of hiking.

We were camping by a water source, so Barbra was happy she can use water for coffee this morning.

This is Barbra's happy coffee look

Today we were actually anxious to get started. Tim was meeting us at Sissors Crossing, 8.5 miles ahead, with famous apple pie from Julian, and Brad's mother, father, and girlfriend is meeting us there as well. Brad told his family to expect us at 1:00 PM, only 4 hours from now. That means we have to average over 2 miles per hour with these heavy packs...we better get hiking.

As we do with every day, we started our hike with a picture:

Eight fingers for 8 days.

Today's hike is really 3 sections. Section 1 is the walk down to the desert floor; section 2 is the desert floor walk to Sissors Crossing; section 3 is he hike up to our campsite.

First it's the 1300 foot drop onto the desert floor. The views, as usual were awesome:

Barbra enjoying the start of today's hike

Self-portrait with a view.

We are walking way down there

After 3 hours of hiking we made it to the desert floor around noon. We all were hungry and needed a break, but decided to continue the push to Sissors Crossing to meet the family. We had 2.2 miles and 1 hour to make it there.

The beauty of the desert floor.

Right at 1:00 PM we made it to the road and Brad's family was waiting with open arms. They were so kind to bring fresh fruit (including strawberries), water, and different kinds of granola and protein bars.

Brad's amazing family.

I called Tim to see where he was. He was still one hour out since he wasn't expecting us, based on miles, to be there till 2:30. While waiting for Tim we hung out under the bridge talking to Brad's family and other hikers stopping by for a break.

Sissors Crosssing is a know place to experience trial magic and today did not disappoint. When we arrived, there were 3 gentlemen there with a picnic blanket covered with food and drinks for hikers. While sitting there another couple brought by Mountain Dew and Skittles. Most importantly, under the bridge was a bunch of water to refill water bottles. This in important since the next water source is 15 miles away and the last water source was 8.5 miles away, making this a 23.5 mile dry stretch.

Trail magic and other hikers under the bridge.

Finally, over an hour later, Tim showed up and joined the party. As we feasted on tuna & crackers and fresh fruit, Tim brought his prime rib quesadilla.

Yummy quesadilla.

While Tim are his quesadilla, a 19-year-old hiker named Wildcard was watching him eat. Tim had ine piece left and was full, so he offered it to her and she could barely believe it. She thanked him and gobbled it down.

Finally it was time for pie.

Tim with famous Julian Apple pie.

The pie was delicious as expected. Tim shared it with Wildchild and another hiker from Sweden. Tim is turning out to be quite the trail angel.

After 2 hours of hanging out under the bridge it was time to fill up our water bottles (6 liters each) and continue up to our camp for the night. Tomorrow night we have to make it to what is called 3rd gate, the next place with water. 3rd gate is 15 miles from Sossors Crossing, so we have to put some miles in today to avoid a longer day tomorrow.

We said goodbye to Brad's family and to Tim. We have two more nights in the wilderness before we get to see Tim again.

Now starts the third section of today's hike, back up the next set of mountains. Our planned camping spot is almost 2.5 miles up the trail with 733 feet of climbing. That's a lot of climbing, but luckily the beautiful scenery made it bareable.

Daily sign with Brad and Barbra.

Cactus lining the trail.

Brad says this is an Ocotillo

The climb was pretty tough, but we pushed forward. I was actually concerned that someone might be at the campsite we wanted. This next 15 miles of trail stay on a ridge and not is really hard to find a campsite that is bigger than just a very small tent. If our site was taken...no we won't think that, we just need to push.

Luckily, we arrived at our planned spot and it was all ours. We set up our tents with enough time form them to dry out before we needed to use them. Then Wildchild showed up and set up her tent in the same area. Cool.

Around 6:00 PM we all got our cooking pots out and cooked and ate dinner together and hung out till it got too chilly and breezy. In our tents by 7:30 and blogging by 8:00 and now close to done just after 9:00. Another end to another perfect day.

Tent in sandy dry creek bed.