Today was Natasha and my 9 year wedding anniversary. We have been together for nearly 15 years (holy shit) and Secret is nearly 5 years old.

Today we left the trees and ended back up in the hot, water scarce desert. I was sooo optimistic for trees as we are nearly out of the desert on the PCT. But it keeps coming back.

This morning Secret was very disregulated and hit me so we just started hiking (Natasha caught up). He chilled out once he got moving.

It was very nice hiking with him in the morning. It was shaded, cool and he just pounds ahead and stops for photos together. He just tallllks and talllks. It’s amazing how much his language skills have improved. He tries new words constantly and asks what words mean and checks how to pronounce them. It’s a huge improvement.

We had lunch with gummy bear and possum. Gummy bear is another kid on trail as long as she can be – similar constraints for the end. She starts her next school year in Sept. Secret spent lunch climbing boulders. He’s going to love the Sierras.

This section relies on water cache.

After lunch at some point I just pushed ahead while carrying Lil Flier. We ended up at the water cache with a bunch of hikers including History and Gummy Bear and Possum again. They hung ground sheets on a Joshua Tree to make shade.

Secret and Party City came a bit later. We wanted to hike ahead a mile or two so we waited there pretty late. It’s a big water carry tomorrow. We are going to start early to beat the heat and get to the next water source to camp.

We cowboy camped a bit ahead in a sandy gully where there were a billion ants. Lil Flier fell asleep in my arms and I had to lay with her while Party City did bedtime routine with Secret.