Town day in Julian meant meeting a 2.5 week old litter of puppies at the trail angel’s house, a huge breakfast that we demolished, a large food resupply, 8 miles of hiking at dusk, and a trail birthday party with hiked-in wine, cupcake muffins, pop rocks, and dunkaroo icing. We topped the day off with our first “cowboy camp” (sleeping without a tent) and stargazed until hiker midnight (9 pm).

It’s hard to tell from the photo but today we hit 100! Only have to do that 26.5 more times.

Today packed many milestones from panoramic sunrise views to our second and third close-calls with rattlesnakes to a dramatically changing environment to Eagle Rock (aptly named). I’m loving the grassy fields, and the landscape is feeling more and more like the California I’m used to and love.

Our little group of friends who all started the same day has gelled and we are excited to be crushing big miles together. Tim and I are now looking forward toward our next resupply in Idyllwild and passing through the (possibly snowy!) San Jacinto mountains.