I opened my eyes around 2am last night and saw the Milky Way so clear above me! I woke up and tried to take some night pics but I couldn't get it to manual focus. I got the exposure right and everything but not to infinity focus. :( and a tripod would be nice too. I'll have to research if I can take star pics with this camera. Because I was up in the middle of the night, I was the last one to pack up since I overslept till after four. Even GB was packed before me and totally spooked me in the dark when he walked by. The morning was so lovely watching the sun come up over the Joshua trees. It was nice to get some climbing done when it was still cool. There was this one forever uphill beach walk that was brutal.

I've been noticing I'm starting to lose motivation in the mornings to get up or just hike. I think I'm just over the desert and heat. We all can't wait to get to the sierras. 700 miles of this sand stuff in my shoe is starting to get old. I'm not trying to complain bc it's been so beautiful and amazing but I'm ready for some change and alpine lakes/forests. I got to bird spring pass and found a water cache, we were so happy! It's crazy that we've actually depended on them for the first time. And it's kinda like we REALLY need them or else we'd be effed in this 42 mile dry stretch! We took a small break and carried out 4L. There were fire ants everywhere so we didn't stay long. I started climbing the next hill at around 10am, already SO hot. It wasn't too bad though. The incline was gradual and I think my umbrella saved me. I got to the top and wanted to find the tent site to break and found Rusty there in the small spot of shade. He had been there since 10am and couldn't believe I just climbed that hill in the heat. It honestly wasn't too bad and 4L feels great these days and my food bag was halfway gone. A few moments later, GB shows up completely drenched in sweat.

We made some shade once the sun was high and the trees itself no longer covered us.

We were going to siesta till 4pm we decided. There was no way we were going to hike midday. This was the longest siesta I've ever taken! We had to rig some shade since the sun kept moving on us and eventually we moved to another spot. It was nice to hide from sun for the hottest part of the day but it was still hot. We were so sticky and sweaty. We finally got moving at four and wanted to make it 8 more miles. It wasn't too bad bc we moved under trees and on the ridge behind the sun. We made pretty good time since there wasn't much climbing. We found another cache after a few miles and chugged a liter. It was about 6pm and my stomach was growling. I wanted dinner so bad but luckily I found Rusty already breaking and thinking the same thing so I sat down and ate dinner with him. We then pushed on another two miles to camp. I wanted to set my tent tonight. I kept hearing all these bugs in this stretch and it freaked me out. We are all camped right next to each other for the first time, it's so cute. Two of the four nights I've been out, I've cowboy camped. Tonight I am so happy to be in my tent away from bugs. Tomorrow is the hitch from walker pass. I hope we will find a hitch. I also have this bug bite on my belly that's really red. It doesn't hurt or itch and I don't remember getting it but it's been there for a few days now. I am paranoid it might be a tick bite so I'm going to go to the dr when I get into town.