November 10

Distance: 19.6 miles | Ascent: 1180′ | Descent: 3250′

Mile marker: 2578.8

Lunch: J&A – chicken salad (A, B)

Dinner: J – apple cherry pie with cinnamon ice cream (A+), A – apple pie with cinnamon ice cream (A+)

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It was really desert-y today. After the gentle meadows of yesterday evening, we could finally see what we were climbing up and over when the sun rose. It was finally the desert as we imagined: cacti, exposed, hot, sandy.

So many different cacti have appeared!

We spent most of the day ducking in and out of shallow, scrubby, and exposed canyons, not gaining or losing much elevation until we plunged down towards the highway crossing. A shrub provided a delightful patch of shade at lunch.

A well stocked water cache let us fill up halfway through the day. It’s wonderful the effort people go through so we don’t die of thirst. Thanks, strangers!

We got to Julian via a hitch from a local couple who were in the midst of a family emergency and racing a clock. They said they could use the good karma today. The kindness of strangers continues to astound us, and we really hope everything resolved okay for their family today.

The couple delivered us right to the post office where our final resupply box had been delivered just earlier that day. The box got slightly delayed, but arrived nevertheless on time. We’re 28/28 for successful resupply boxes! This kind of perfect shipping record is unheard of on the PCT.  Thanks to the mighty work of Jason’s mom.

Julian has a lot of pie shops, probably more pie shops per capita than anywhere else. We went to Mom’s Pie which offers a free slice to PCT hikers. We also got apple dumplings, not wanting to only get free stuff and wanting to support their generosity to the PCTers.

With less than 75 miles left, we feel ready and excited to finish.