Day 9 - Trail Angel Mike's to campsite at PCT mile 144

Last night I learned the hard way that I can’t cook the Outdoor Herbivore meal in their bags. All I got was some hard wet pasta, and threw it away. This morning I discovered that their cold breakfasts do work in the bag, but are just not tasty. I’ll stick with Knorr meals and Quaker Oatmeal breakfasts from now on. #Fail.

Today was the hardest day yet, mostly because of our inability to take a break at noon, _an_d our head strong approach to reach the campsite as soon as possible. Big mistake. The trail was his usual semi-hard self, but the sun was merciless, and we just kept on hiking, and skipped the side trail to what we now discovered was a spring full of shade.

My first rattler. At least, I think it's a rattler. I am sure it is a snake, though. UPDATE: Just a harmless gopher (Thanks to Mark)

At least we finally saw a big snake just at that junction to the spring. That was a first for me.

We also had a short stop at the water cistern at PCT mile 139.5, but we should have just waited there two more hours. Instead, we headed out for the final stretch. That was the final nail. We were limping towards the water cache, and then from there, the final mile to our campsite. We got here early, but beat. Next time we will plan our day better.

I guess that's some kind of cactus with a nice flower

And here is the famous Paradise Water Cache

The campsite itself is rather nice. We got a good tight spot for our tents, and everyone else, who just came in lately, are cowboy camping around. But it is a very nice spot. Tomorrow everyone will be taking the detour hitch hike into Idyllwild, but I’ll continue further on the trail for 10 more miles, to camp just a few miles before the closure. The next day I’ll hike down from the mountain, around the closure, and hopefully reach town at the third day. Wish me luck.