Day 6: (04/05) 59.7-75.5 :: 15.8 miles

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We awoke inside of a foggy cloud and it was cold and windy and we were unmotivated to get out of the tent, but we forced ourselves and soon we had descended out of the cloud and into the sun. All day we descended off Mt Laguna toward the highway junction known as Scissors Crossing. The lower we got the more we began to see cactus. I LOVE cactus, especially now when they have new growth and are blooming. 

In the afternoon we took a break on top of a cement water cistern. It’s amazing how special it feels to sit on top of a truly flat and dirt free surface!! The water cistern provided only a slow trickle of water that dripped into gallon jugs that littered the area. Luckily one jug was partially full when we arrived and we were able to filter it and get a couple liters, just enough to get us through the day. We will be coming into a long waterless stretch, because of this, there is a water cache at Scissors Crossing and another about 15 miles past that. Water caches are large collections of water jugs, usually gallon bottles, that are maintained by volunteers. The hillside surrounding the cistern were orange with poppies and we had views of the upcoming mountains. Like most breaks we would have loved to stay awhile longer but we had to get up and keep going.

The rest of the day was spent slowly descending and traversing around Granite Mountain. The trail went into every fold of the mountain. We could see the highway junction from high above for hours and hours, but we won’t reach it until tomorrow. We are taking the scenic route!


















































Comments

  1. JGJune 3, 2020 at 3:53 PM

    Amazing pictures, as always. But the one wad of prickly pear is spectacular.

    ReplyDelete

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