Had a good first night on the trail and get started around 5:30 in the morning. Love the mornings. Full of energy and generally cool weather. The sign below is really quite nice. Almost looks new.

After about 2 hours I think I might be emerging from the barren desert and coming into some high desert that will at least afford some shade. Nice to see the big trees

Another hour later I come to this little stream that has a trickle of water. I can put my glass down there and leave it for awhile to get filled. Only takes a minute. Then I can use my life-straw to drink it. The lift-straw is very handy as I can use it to get water immediately and don’t have to wait the 30 minutes it takes for the purifier to work.

About 30 minutes later a rattlesnake slithers across the path and down into the brush. He was pretty loud and did not appreciate me at all. Coiled up a bit while I was looking at him and while I tried to get his picture.

The rest of the day was not all the eventful. Pretty much all uphill and I was passed by many locals out for walk. None of them were equipped for overnight camping and so I was not worried about getting a camp site. There are no PCT hikers here this time of year. They are generally in this area in late April or May.

Got to a good place to camp and it started to rain very lightly while I was setting up camp. This was a pleasant surprise as I did not think it ever rained in California. I got a double rainbow just beyond my camp site. You can tells I’m still pretty much is a desert environment.