That was a rather hard day.

Ah. Easy days into towns are nice.

It was hard getting up from that soft motel beds, knowing we have a hard day of climbing ahead of us. But I managed to pull myself up at the end, and start getting ready. The included breakfast was more than enough - they had this waffle batter dispenser, which you then put in the waffle machine, and get waffles 2.5 minutes later. I managed to eat only one. I also had a fresh orange, and a bagel, and was full. So that was a good start. We then just hang out in our room, hoping the cold grey weather over the mountains would lift. We tried leaving as late as possible, but finally we made ourselves go at about 9:30, hitting the trail just after 10:00.

We had a nice quick and easy day today. Only 14 miles to get to end of our day. We made it all in just under 5 hours, getting to the promised McDonald’s at 13:00. I had my usual big eyes, and got a salad with big fries. I couldn’t finish the fries, but Idan helped after finishing his.

That was our longest day yet - The plan was to try and get a bit further today, so that tomorrow’s hike into Cajon Pass will be a bit shorter. We were aiming at a water source 18.5 miles away from our start position, with an option to push a bit further once we get there. The day started easy enough, once we climbed out of our campsite, and back into the trail. After a quick 2 miles we got to the hot springs. Many hikers were aiming here yesterday, with a dip at night as an incentive. We just passed through, and I took a short 10 minutes, dip in one of the hot pools. It was very nice indeed.