Seven days in and we were up at sunrise again near the Third Gate water cache. As we broke camp, Troll was on his way out and wished us well, and Rob, Michaela and Happy feet were all waking up and taking down their tents as well. Michaela came over to say good morning with a gallon size freezer bag full of oreos for breakfast, perfect hiker fuel. We had some water to get from the water cache before heading toward the next water source at Barrel Spring. While at the water cache we met a new crew of guys and a gal that cowboy camped near the water. They were nice and greeted us and suspected it was the crew that rolled in late the prior night. They had just finished the Appalachian Trail and were very lively.

Micaela with her Oreo breakfast

Hiking out that day had a climb out and back to the trail that skirted the San Felipe hills until dropping in elevation down to Barrel Spring. We passed a few people on the way, some weekenders that had some dogs and some people we camped near at the Third Gate water cache. Before hitting the water source we passed our first important milestone. The 100 mile marker!!!

100 Miles! Woo!

At Barrel Spring we filtered a few liters of water ate some lunch and met up with some people that we had met on the trail and we even met some new people. It seems like everyday we’ve been on trail we have had the opportunity to meet some new people, and they have all been great.

After about an hour lunch break we started to head onward to Warner Springs for the night,which has a Community Center set up that helps the thru hikers with Breakfast and Lunch, Laundry, Showers and a place to set up a tent for the night. The scenery really changed from the San Felipe hills with a steep drop to rolling grass hills with oak trees bordering the edges. Some hikers have said that this was their favorite part of the trail. It had beautiful flowers, and a really cozy feeling. We hit Eagle Rock about two hours before sundown and decided to wait for Rob, Michaela and Rocket Llama that were just a little behind us. Eagle Rock is a big rock outcropping that when you walk around the backside of looks like an eagle with wings outstretched.

The flowers in the rolling hills

Lingo hanging out in front of Eagle Rock

Warner Springs!!

After our break at Eagle Rock we started the last of our day to the community center to set up camp and we started discussing the idea of taking our first “Zero Day” the following day to rest up a bit. The last few miles felt like they took forever to get to camp and we made it their with about half an hour to spare before the sunset. We were greeted by Troll at the community center with a box of pizza and offered us all a slice. We got to finally meet Medicine Man, who hikes with a full Wilderness EMT first aid kit and is a hiking machine. We set up our tent, made some dinner, took a bird bath in the restrooms and chatted it up with the others camped in the lawn outside the community center and were done for the day by 9pm.