I woke around 530 and saw the prettiest sunrise from my sleeping bag. There were baby Joshua Trees all around me from a distance in the open. It was nice to see everything in the daylight. I finally went poop and it was so big. My tummy felt so much better. Something was definitely feeling weird last night. GI problems are no fun at all. I hiked out with GB in the morning and got to share some of my faith with him. We had a nice little chat about life and whatnot. Sometimes I really do feel like a huge outcast here amongst everyone, but I am not here to judge or convert anyone. I also think it's really good for me to be out here and not be in a Christian bubble, really testing my faith. I know how quick people are to judge Christians so I want others to get to know me first before assuming things. I know how I was back in the day, so I totally get it. I don't want anyone act differently around me either. I really love the people here though we view life so differently. We all have our stories and it's shaped who we are today.

Our feet were starting to hurt early on so I took a small break in the middle of the dirt road and then the others joined. Then we pressed on. We walked through this giant wind farm and it was sooo cool. Those things are HUGE. I took so many pics from every angle. I was getting pretty hungry so we started looking for a lunch spot and found one underneath a bridge. It was super windy, no surprise. We talked about doing a nero zero in tehachapi at the airport. We also discussed Sierras a bit. It's so funny, we keep saying to each other we're not committed to staying in a group but we all end up making plans together haha. I think we just really like hanging out and feel like a close family already and have formed a tight bond. But no commitment here. I am sure we will all have to split up somewhere in the next few hundred miles but I'm sure we'd link up again somehow. You really see a huge difference when you're seeing the same people everyday and then all of a sudden they're gone for days and it's hard to find each other again. You really start missing them. In other news, I think I will probably be crossing paths with Nate and Meg soon! She had some ankle problems so they had to get off trail for a few days but are getting back so now I think they're just gonna be a day or two behind me! I can't wait to see them. I'm sure we'll probably link up before sierras. I haven't seen them since big bear!!

We took a little siesta and then started getting really cold from the wind. It was times to press on and reach the water source/camp. I just wanted to go to bed early and catch up on sleep. We were all just SO sluggish even though there wasn't even much up hill. Our bodies were hurting. I think bc technically we did like 35 miles in just one day because we night hiked. That really messed up our schedule I think. There was a little climb to the small creek but not too bad. I found a big spot to pitch. It's always a relief when you find a big spot because usually my tent will hold up better since it's even. The others cowboy camped but I wanted to be inside my tent. We had dinner and went to bed early. I got to catch up on some blog entries.