Wednesday October 2, 18.7mi/30.1km

Ridge above Hanaupah Spring (16.1/5046ft) to Trina-Wildrose Rd (34.8/2510ft) (CA)

I was up early, to catch the sunrise from my tent. This was a great campsite!

Sunrise occurs pretty late here in October, so I didn’t get moving until 7:30am. Morning hiking is my favorite.

These trees are everywhere up here, Junipers I believe.

I spent all morning climbing up this ridge, from 5000ft elevation up to 10,000 ft.

It was slow moving, as it was steep at times, and there was no trail to follow, so a few times I hit a dead end in thick brush. I was so happy to see a wide open scree field!

Finally, at 11:30am, I had gained the top of Telescope Ridge, and was back on a maintained trail for a short while. Looking back east from where I had started:

And then, as I was finishing my lunch break, I hear a “hello”, and I’m surprised as hell to see another hiker out here!

Her name is “Not a Chance”, and she has hiked the PCT four times, countless other long trails, and this route (L2H) three times. Not surprisingly, after walking and talking for an hour together, we realized we know many of the same people. What a cool coincidence!

After an hour, I said goodbye and turned off the trail, down into Tuber Canyon.

I dropped 2000ft into the canyon, and followed a wash all afternoon.

There were speedy lizards everywhere, I finally caught a photo of one sunning itself.

As I got lower in the canyon, it became drier with more cacti, and opened up wider.

At the bottom, I found a very old car, and some old mining equipment.

The final two miles were on a dirt road, and I hiked until sunset (6:15pm), to the spot where I had cached water a couple of days ago.

I refilled my six water bottles, drank another liter on the spot, and setup my tent. It was becoming windy, so I’m assuming all my stuff will be covered in a fine desert sand in the morning. Oh well. A tiring day!