It rained most of the night so it was a damp pack up, but as we left our campsite, the sky started to clear and we headed off with a rainbow ahead.

We followed Deep Creek canyon for most of the morning until it joined another creek where there was a dam.

The trail crossed the creek and required our first shoes-off wade. Very refreshing.

On the other side there was a crew of about 6 volunteers doing track maintenance. A bit further on we met a guy out for a walk carrying a large white plastic bag – he collected rubbish from hikers (when you are through hiking you love getting rid of weight).

As we neared 4pm we were feeling a bit weary and it started to spit rain. The PTC joined a main road for a bit, and round the corner, there was a car parked with Fritz (trail name Lonely Turtle) with his dog Snapping Turtle. He opened his boot (trunk) and gave us each a slice of hot pizza and two cups of Pepsi. A great pep up to do another mile over the hill to our campsite, a very peaceful spot next to a reservoir.

What you can’t hear in the photo is the Spanish polka music played by one of the fishermen who are here for the catfish.

By the way some time today we passed the 500km mark – not sure where exactly – no stone markers because we are walking in miles.

The forecast rain eventuated, and we walked most of the day in light misty rain (or was it rainy mist?). So our wet weather gear and our ability to plod along without seeing too much have both been tested.

Actually, following along the creek sides, sometimes at water level and sometimes high up on the sides of the gorge was quite pretty.

We had lunch under a substantial bridge – so far there have been only a couple of small ones.

I think the reason for the bridge is to prevent disturbance to the habitat of a certain endangered species of toad. Apparently the bullfrog eat the toad tadpoles. Which is rather ironic considering that at home in Australia my sister has been trying to preserve the green tree frogs in her pond from the scourge of the Queensland cane toads!

We passed the 300 mile mark today, and also managed another 20 mile day.

Three cheers for Thelma! Today everything ran smoothly. The bus came at the appointed time and dropped us at Thelma’s Kitchen where we ate a hearty brekkie. I had eggs Florentine and a bottomless cup of coffee while Rob enjoyed a Californian omelet and biscuits and gravy (dry scones with a hot white sauce). Both brekkie came with a generous serve of homemade hash browns.

We were at the post office right on opening time, said goodbye to our parcel and promptly caught an Uber to the trailhead.

The weather was ideal for hiking – cloudy, cool and a light breeze – and despite our late start and bellies full of town food we made good progress down an easy path to put another 20 miles behind us.

Our first lunch out of town is usually some sort of bread roll with avacado, cheese and tomato. After that, it is usually squashed bread roll, etc, then after a couple more days, wraps with tuna.

Despite the ominous gathering grey clouds and the prediction of rain, possible storms, we felt only a few drops and we are now resting in our tent and the skies seem clearer.

After a very cold night we woke up to find the cloud had lifted and the sky was clear. Feeling optimistic we started off along a track bordered by a pretty lace of frost. We stopped at the sound of a woodpecker and watched him fly away from the blackened trunk.

We have seen plenty of squirrels but today we saw our first chipmunks. Sorry, too fast for a photo.

The trail was generally downhill so we put in 20 miles. Weather was mainly overcast so we made good time. Tomorrow we have about 6 miles to where a highway crosses the trail. We plan to hitch a few miles into Big Bear City and spend tomorrow night at a motel.

We have just passed the 10% mark!

We got a good night’s sleep and a reasonably early start. Once again the scenery changed, with more sedimentary rocks and different colors.I was a bit apprehensive about today, as we had heard that the trail (which largely followed a creek as it wound up into the mountains) had been washed away in many places, plus we would have about 5000′ elevation to climb.Both of these proved to be true, but we made good time and got to a nice campsite at about 1:30. We decided not to go on because the next section is 16 miles with no water.But at 7921 feet it promises to be a cold night!I just realised that in the past week we have climbed up and down the equivalent of two times Mt Kosciuszko.

Last night was rough. Beset by strong gusts of wind stirring up the clouds of dust from the desert floor we found dirt invading our tent, clothes and food and everything was coated in a layer of brown dust. Perhaps we should have taken a clue from the presence of countless wind turbines busily powering the valley.

With the flapping of the tent we both slept fitfully and woke still weary. As we hiked back uphill the winds calmed and again we had fine weather with cool breezes. We were following streams uphill in valleys that had been recently flooded and in parts the track had been washed away so there was a bit of bush bashing to find the path.

As always dinner was very welcome. We have been mainly eating Backpacker’s Pantry freeze dried meals, supplementing them with 2 minute noodles / couscous/ lentils or mashed potato as well as extra fat with olive oil/pine nuts/walnuts or coconut milk powder. This seems to be working so far.

Our campsite for last night was at 7786′. We started walking in perfect weather down towards the desert floor. The descent was gradual and steady. And down.

The photo above shows the valley floor that we had to descend to.

Eventually we got to the bottom of the valley, at 1200′ and trudged through the soft sand of a creek bed, fighting against gusts of wind until we crossed under the interstate highway. At that underpass we found a very kind trail angel with water and mandarins.

We walked some more miles and finally camped even though it was a bit exposed and very windy. The snow covered mountain in the background is the one we had just descended.

We passed 200 miles today!

We were driven back to the start of Devil’s Slide Trail and started the ascent at 8:20 this morning. With blue skies, cool temperature and barely a breath of wind we started off in high spirits. The slope which had seemed so steep on the way down 2 days ago was easily completed and we rejoined the PCT and continued on up a further steep section through sparse pine forest with twittering birds and scampering squirrels and lizards.

The snow covered mountain in the distance is Mt San Giorgonio, the highest mountain in southern California. The PCT goes close to it to about the 9000′ snowline (see future blog post)After stopping for a sandwich we moved on up the trail which we anticipated would be a gently meandering path, mostly downhill to our plannerd campsite.Instead we were greeted with a steeply ascending track, often covered with snow and our passage was often complicated by bad turns onto false trails as we mainly followed the footprints of hikers who had passed before.The sometimes deep patches of snow were slippery at times and then occasionally our feet made deep holes leaving us knee deep in snow.After what seemed like endless miles, we finally came to our campsite as the sun went down. Our shoes and socks were saturated and our feet quite frozen with the cold. Setting up the tent, cooking and eating dinner were completed in record time and no doubt sleep will quickly follow. The wind has picked up and is whistling through the trees outside but hopefully the tent will remain standing and perhaps even our shoes will dry a little through the night.