November 6

Last night was warm and it made getting an early start easy because there was no need to hide in a sleeping bag. Tonight will be colder being that we're camped at 6,463 ft. We hiked about 24 miles and knocked out most of our 8,000 foot climb before deciding to camp for the night. We are on a 20 mile waterless stretch with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain. We cooked meals at the base if the mountain so we didn't have to haul water to cook at our dry camp tonight. This is a climb that would be nearly impossible without the physical condition I am currently in. I heard from northbound hikers that people get evacuated by helicopter coming down this mountain. It is entirely exposed climbing and is a monster of a mountain. It sounds like we're going to summit the San Jacinto peak tomorrow then drop into Idyllwild to resupply. My legs are feeling the downhill from a day ago, but should be ok for our drop tomorrow. It's only 7 more miles to water in the morning too which will be perfect for a big breakfast before heading to the summit.