November 5

Distance: 25.5 | Ascent: 4670′ | Descent: 4180′

Mile marker: 2455.3

Lunch: J – beef stew (A), A – chicken taco (A)

Lunch 2: J&A – cheeseburger (A+)

Dinner: J&A – mac n cheese (A, B-)

---

We were not swept away in the washout. It didn’t rain. It probably hasn’t rained in weeks. It never rains in California.

We climbed out of the valley and down to the next valley! Which was also washed out!

We soaked out feet in the water flowing through this washout. This is probably our last chance to enjoy soaking our feet. The rest of the desert is pretty deserty.

Climbing out of this washout, we saw Jason’s favorite thing on trail: wind turbines!

Interstate 10 was in the pass below. We were told an In-N-Out was nearby. This piqued our interest and quickened our pace. Burgers awaited us! As we neared the highway, we got enough cell service to order a ride to the next exit.

Even tough we’ve hiked almost 1500 miles in California, we haven’t had In-N-Out. This was our best chance to correct this mistake.

After our quick stop to get real town food, we got a ride back to trail. There was a neat curved cloud or contrail in the sky.

We walked under the interstate. This was the start of our climb to Mount Jacinto and the San Bernardino wilderness. We planned to get good chunk of the climb done at night under the full moon. We barely even touched our headlamps, the moon was so bright. The trail, though, was a bit rougher than we expected: steep, rocky, and overgrown with pokey plants. We got to a good campsite by 9:30 pm, and committed to a short night’s sleep to finish the climb in the morning.