Last nice we just met a nice Canadian hiker named Micah, who came in just as we were finished eating and getting ready to crash for the day. We talked about splitting a room in Julian the following day. We also met a couple of hikers named Purple and Carnivore, and only now I figured out that Roni, a friend of mine and Mega-Hiker (I just write that to see how he reacts to it) knows them as well. So next time I see them I will tell them we have a mutual acquaintance.

All through last night I had to fight with the heating in the room. It was either too hot to breath, or too cold to let my leg out from under the blanket. Either way it was dry as hell. In the morning we ate the yogurt and apple from yesterday and headed out. The weather was sunny and nice, and the trail was easy and graded. It was easy to forget we are actually at over 6000 feet (around 2000 meters), because of the nice weather. After a while we started hiking along the rim of a beautiful valley. Way way below us we saw some small hills and a lot of flat fields. It was quite awesome.

Today we had a nice and easy stroll into town. We only had about 6 miles to go from our camp site, and most of it was fairly easy.

The night was a bit chilly, and I remembered why I should have bought a beanie hat. I could feel the heart escaping me from my head while I was sleeping in my tent. Well, I’ll buy one tomorrow at Mt Laguna. In the morning many other hikers went over to the nearby deli to get some breakfast, but we preferred to eat out of our pack instead. It’s always better to lighten your load. We decided we’d rather make an easier day today, and not push all the way to Mt Laguna at 23 miles. We’ll get closer, and leave a short section for tomorrow, so we can reach it early on the day, and take our time to do some town chores.

I must admit that the start was a bit of an anti-climax. Maybe it was because I was at Scout and Frodo’s for two days, and the initial excitement wore off, or I was expecting too much. Anyway, we got to the border at around 7:30, took all the mandatory photos (we were 8 hikers starting today from Scout and Frodo’s) and then Idan said “let’s go”, and we went.