And I Would Climb 5000 Feet

Mile 371 – Just west of Wrightwood CA

Climbing out of Cajon Pass was a lot of climbing. The trail would take us from 3000 feet to over 8000 feet in 20 miles. There was a sneaky part to it as well.

McDonalds hosted us one more time and then we left at 2:30pm. Interesting as we took flood tunnels under the freeway, a very large culvert under the railroad tracks, and finally carefully crossed over a very active track.

The afternoon was windy and we had to follow narrow ridges with drop offs on both sides. Later we crossed the valley floor and started to climb steep ridges. Our decision was go part way and find a camp about 10 miles along. Camp was set up on a flat ridge top in a cloud. In the morning everything was wet.

Continuing our ascent toward the 8000′ mark, we came upon an amazing view of Palmdale and Edwards AFB in the distance from 8000′. It’s in the picture at the top of the post.

The sneaky part of our hike today was that it had twice as much elevation gain as yesterday-5500 feet!

We made 19 miles on our 23rd day. Camp feels pretty good tonight. We’ll sleep well in our cozy tent for sure.