So many things happened today…
We hitched a ride from Julian to Scissors Crossing with a man who had a 3-year-old son who happens to be psychic.
At Scissors Crossing I realized I’d forgotten my hat, so we hitchhiked back into Julian. The desert sun without the shade of a hat is a no-go. This time the ride came from a couple of locals who seemed to know everybody, and told us all about the town.
Back in Julian, we took advantage of the free pie and ice cream for PCT hikers. And I got my hat.
We hitchhiked back to Scissors Crossing, and began our day after noon.
We started to see barrel cacti, alongside other new desert foliage.
Elizabeth started doing Zumba on the trail, to combat swelling fingers.
We collected water from a water cache. Somebody who lives out here trucks in water because it’s a long stretch between water sources here.
We saw clouds rolling in over the hills that had parched us just the day before.
We saw no viable campsites for two people on the step terrain.
So, we sped up, and continued past sundown to reach the next known campsite, Barrel Springs. On the way, we passed the 100 mile mark, but missed the monument on the darkness.
Finally, we reached Barrel Springs, and were struck by its otherworldly atmosphere. After days of dessication and scorching sun, we heard ribbiting frogs as we neared the camp. It was dark, but our way was lit by glowing tents – there were so few campsites, many had camped here. The beachlike sand bar that we pitched our tents on provided a comfortable end to a long day.