Today was a great day. Covered 12.8 miles, 20.5 km and climbed 3661 ft, 1116 m. Almost all day, we had clear and well graded trail to follow, and views which just got better and better.

Starting out, we climbed quickly from the creek bed. A fairly steep climb, but very rewarding. We could look back down after half an hour, and see the creek already a long way below.

The trail took us over a spur, and around the mountain towards another fork of the washed out creek. We continued around the mountainside, avoiding occasional washouts and windfalls, before climbing over another spur. From here we could see that the riverbed in this fork looked absolutely horrendous, it was full of huge boulders, and massive fallen trees which appear to have burned.

The trail briefly dropped into the mess one last time. We hopped over boulders and navigated fallen trees, carefully stepping over gaps and between chunks of gravel.

Once out of the creek, we climbed gradually towards a water source spring, which also had picnic tables. Here we enjoyed lunch and filtered water for a 16 mile carry plus dry camp. This meant carrying 5 L, and also drinking as much water as possible before leaving.

After lunch we continued our climb, out of the burn affected land and into healthy forest. The trail climbed to a high saddle, and we got one more view of San Jacinto fading into the distance.

Further up the ridge, we arrived at camp maybe a little later than expected. We quickly set up, made dinner and headed to bed.