October 20

We got up and started hiking this morning following Tom's tracks to town. We both were surprised to see two sets of footprints on top of Tom's prints. Two people were between us and him, who we had just been hiking with 12 hours before. We just met them and they turned out to be flip flop hikers that were up in Washington that were sick of the snow and cold so they came to hike SoCal. 

Our hike was hot and dry, but the water source that was listed as dry was flowing quite nicely this morning. It was great luck to have some bonus water on this waterless section and we both downed a liter or more. My feet were sore by midday as I am walking on foam at this point and no longer on any rubber sole. It all is worn off and I think I can say that I got every last dime out of these shoes. They are completely destroyed from the snow in the high country and the mileage they have done. At lunch, we visited with some hunters that were impressed at the mileage we were doing as they saw us go by in the morning. We weren't able to yogi any food from them, but are so close to town that it doesn't really matter. We hiked a road tonight to get closer for our hitch into Mojave and are currently camped in some farmer's cow pasture. I'm tucked in some sage brush cowboy camping inconspicuously to get out of the wind and avoid awkward conversations about why I'm here. Louis is not far away and we plan to be up and hiking by 6:30 so I can get my McDonald's breakfast I have been craving.