Eeks Poodle dog bush run!!

Miles: 10.32
Start time: 8:32am
End time: 1:05pm
High / Avg / Low temp: 77.1F / 67.7F / 62.2F
Relative Humidity Avg: 36.1%
Injuries: none to report

Today we had a mile and half hike to water, which was good since we had maybe half a litre each after the evenings thirst, the desert makes your pretty thirsty all the time, the air just sucks the moisture out of you while you breathe

The water source was a trickle, but it was clear and cool and definitely awesome. There were about 10 other hikers there taking a break and guzzling water, as we do when we get to water.  The bees were all around, sipping at the water too, probably taking bathes and having a great time, they didn't bother us at all.

After we gathered our water we moved on, and finished the climb to the top of the mountain, and were rewarded with a view of the desert floor we are heading towards. It looked hot and dusty lol, but they all do from a distance.

We kept walking around the mountain and we saw the fire station we had to make it to for the next water today, was about 8miles from the new bath.  We had to walk cautiously at times because we started to see a LOT of poodle dog bush, named for its awfulness it shares with poodles I guess, anyways, it's in the forget-me-not family and burns worse that poison ivy or oak. It has billions of tiny hairs on it that stick to skin and clothing and make getting uncontaminated a significant challenge apparently.

As we approached the fire station we got a shred of service and checked the water and other reports, and noticed more severe warnings coming up after the fire station for the poodle bush, fun times.

It was however mostly downhill the last 6 miles towards the fire station, as the next section is taking us downhill to Acton, on the desert floor pretty much.

When we got to the fire station we decided to sit in the shade and sip water, review our plan and upcoming miles.  We decided that we are going to jump ahead some miles to arrive sooner at the Sierra mountains, how far we didn't know, but we needed time and internet to figure out some things.  We've been reading some disturbing commentary on the dangers of hiking mid to late October in Washington (snow danger) and we need to make sure we finish before that, we can always return to hike the desert miles later, but the Washington section has a pretty definate best by date.

So I walked a mile back up hill on the trail to get signal and get us a ride to the nearest town of palm dale.

Here we will sit and refine a new plan, to limit the dangers of desert and get us into the sierras, which has been our primary goal this whole time, it's a breath taking there.