The last week or so...

After leaving our lovely red house in Wrightwood, we climbed up to Mt. Baden Powell (named after the founder of the Boy Scouts) and hiked along ridge tops, past Little Jimmy Spring, and spent the night at this Boy Scout Camp.  Tim, our Eagle Scout, was right at home!

Indulge my love of plants and flowers ;)

We were rule breakers.

We hiked through burned areas.

And finally spent the night beneath the Vasquez Rocks. 

(Those who love Star Trek may recognize their outline.)

The next morning, we walked into Agua Dulce, a "sweet" little town.

And took the next day off to celebrate my birthday!  This was my birthday dinner... how I miss produce!

We stayed at Hiker Heaven, a lovely piece of property with shade, horses, laundry, showers and everything else a hiker could want!

Donna is the AMAZING Trail Angel who makes it all happen and is a trail mom to all of us stinky hikers!

The following day, the trail was marked with flour! 

(Here is to all of our hashing friends out there!)

This water cache is maintained by the Joe and Terri Anderson,

who are not only incredible,

but incredibly fun as well!

Then we get to hang out at their house, aka Casa de Luna and relax for a 2 day MINIMUM stay :)

Terri and Joker.  This is Joker's 4th time hiking SoCal!

But we hiked out after one night. 

Back into the hot, bug infested hills.  What were we thinking?

The next day we reached mile 500!

I was stoked!

Tim is tired.  BUT smiling!  Kind of.

The Mojave awaits us.

But we rest at HikerTown,

yet another hiker oasis in this hot section, where we get water and wait for the solar eclipse to help us hide from the persistent sun.

There are puppies to nap with.

And a miniature old western town to explore. 

(The property owner is in the business of making movies.)

Then we walk atop the LA aqua duct through a huge, dry waterless section.

Rather ironic.

We see where LA gets some of their power as well.

Tim is sleepy again.

I am ready to go!

We thought we were going to get blown of of the ridge tops this day!

There is a reason there are so many windmills in this area outside of Tehachapi!

Oh how I love lattes!

Goodbye old shoes.  You carried us over 558 miles on this trail!

Hello new shoes! 

Today we head back to the trail and will begin our climb towards the Sierras.  It is a long section, ~150 miles, at the end of which we will reach Kennedy Meadows, a tiny store and community that sits at the southern end of the Sierras. 

We will pick up our bear canisters, which we pre-filled with food back in Decorah, take a day of rest, and then head into the wilderness. 

We are SO EXCITED! 

Hasta luego for now!

Love and Aloha,

Kombucha