Today we covered 17.1 miles, 27.5 km. We climbed out from the hot pools and finished our hike through Deep Creek. After exiting the valley, we continued toward Silverwood Lake around hot and exposed hillsides.

The climb out of Deep Creek was fairly gradual, but still gained us some height quite quickly. We had good views back into Deep Creek, and of the mountains surrounding the river. As the morning went by, the temperature rose and we could tell it was going to be a hot day.

The trail meandered along the true left of Deep Creek for a couple of hours. We could see campsites and a built up trail below us on the other side of the river. We’d heard from one of the locals at the hot pools yesterday that the valley used to be a hippie encampment. It’s interesting to think what these parts might have looked like a few decades ago.

The trail dropped down to the river, and we crossed to the other side over a bridge. Once on the other side, we joined the built up trail and continued downstream. From this point, the trail was very flat, wide, and level. Soon we got a view of the valley exit, and out to the plains beyond.

We descended from the mountainside onto the Mojave Forks Dam spillway. From there we followed the ridge to the south of the West Fork Mojave River. The section was long, exposed, hot and winding. My sun umbrella helped make things much more comfortable.

We stopped for a long lunch at a water crossing, filtering water from the stream and relaxing in the shade. While we were here, a California king snake passed right through the middle of the water source and caused a stir among the two groups of hikers here. We enjoyed lunch and a thrill at this spot.

The trail continued on the same hot ridge, winding in and out of valleys cut by seasonal streams, now dry. We had views to mountains ahead, and back to Deep Creek where we came from. We enjoyed dinner, a sunset, and then set up camp quite late in the day.