Today was seriously hot, I don’t have a good way of knowing but it could easily have been high 30s or 40 °C. I went through about 8 L of water, hiking 13.2 miles or 21 km. At the end of the day I ended up about 2 hours from the Acton LA RV Resort.

I woke up this morning at 5 am to try beat the heat. Several others were already packed and leaving by then which had my wondering if I should have woken even earlier. I got on the trail before 6:30 am and even then, the wind had warm pockets in it.

Straight out of camp I hit a steep climb exposed to the newly risen sun, it was already hot out there. I stopped in the shade whenever I found a good patch, which was every half an hour or so. After 3 miles I stopped for breakfast at a camping area with picnic tables, shade, and trash cans.

After breakfast, I continued to the only water source of the day. I decided it was best to double my water carry because of the heat; normally 1 L for every 4 miles is about right, but today I expect that to last just 2 miles, or 1 hour hiking. I also need to allow 2 L to camp tonight, which had me leaving the water source with over 6 L strapped to my back. I also drank as much as possible before leaving the water source to give myself some extra time. After leaving the water source, I came across a snake every 15 minutes or so, they were all baking in the sun along the trail.

Two hours later I arrived at another shady picnic spot. I ate lunch here and rested through the hottest part of the day, from about 1:30 pm to 3 pm. It was still very hot when I left, but I knew I would find shade and cooler temps as the sun lowered.

I made it to a beautiful camp spot near the bottom of the mountains, just two hours walking from the RV Resort. I can’t wait to get there tomorrow and spend time in the pool with an ice cold drink.