It rained over night but stopped just as we were getting up. Good thing too, as we had a lot of mountain to climb and the opportunity for nice views! First we dropped way down to a “ford” that we were able to stay dry by rock hopping. Then the climbing started, first up Saddleback Junior, then the Horn, which we had great 360 views from in the sun. One of our first real vistas since the first day of the hike.
Find Ryley!
We then got to traverse a ridge to Saddleback Mountain, all above treeline, ending with even better views. We enjoyed the scenery on the way down until it was swallowed by the trees, and a knee jarring descent into camp. Once again shared with Robin and Funemployed, plus Vanilla Thunder and A-Town. Vanilla is pretty creative with food – right now they have powdered peanut butter to add to Ramen, plus parmesan. They carry butter as well to add to everything (including coffee). It’s always entertaining with this crew…