Wind, Wind, and More Wind

It was a windy night at the Pioneer Mail picnic area where about 30 of us camped illegally. Not much sleep. Got a fairly early start hiking. The wind was intense. Thankfully it was at my back for the climb first thing and it felt like it was pushing me along.

I hiked most of the day with Jeff and Katie. There are lots of people on the trail so I'm never alone for long. Met a guy who is on his fourth thru hike of the PCT.

Most of the hiking in the SoCal desert is on exposed hills so a breeze is appreciated, especially in the afternoons when the sun is hot.

Early in the afternoon a decision needed to be made to camp at Rodriguez Spur with an available source of cool water from a concrete fire supply, or hike an additional 9 miles to Scissor's Crossing. Going to Scissor's would put us in a great position to tackle the climb out of that area in the morning. I decided to go and Jeff was in as well so off we went. Unfortunately the miles were not as easy as we were lead to believe and it was getting dark when we arrived. Oh yeah, and it was windy--really windy. I hurried to put up my tent which was made difficult due to the lack of light and high winds. It was flapping and blowing around so badly that I was sure it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. Between the noise of the flapping tent and the fear of it falling on me during the night, I wasn't able to sleep. It was a difficult end to a tough day.