Onyx Summit (Mile 252.1) to Doble Springs Trail Camp (Mile 268.6)
(16.5 miles, +1,500/-3,000 feet).

This is day one of a two day trip following catastrophic solo hiking failures for both BarnFinder and me.  Earlier this month I tried to thru-hike the Tahoe Rim Trail, but I got severely dehydrated after just two days and had to call it quits.  BarnFinder, meanwhile, did four monster days solo on the PCT and had a similar problem.  We both got sick, could not eat, and it spiraled down from there.

So this “comeback hike” is to prove to each of us that we can still do this.  We promise to take it slow.  And today we did.

BarnFinder drove us to Onyx Summit where we got started hiking pretty late for us, around 11am.  A water cache there looked like it had not gotten much use this year since the PCT is still closed south of here due to the Lake Fire closure.

We made it to Arrastre Trail Camp around 1pm and had some lunch.  It was kind of trashy, so I picked up some of the litter to pack out.

After lunch we continued our 2mph pace out of the woods and into more open chaparral.

One of the thru-hikers apparently knew some latin, leaving an obscure phrase on the side of the trail.

By 7pm we made it to our camp for the night.  We hoped there would be water here, but no such luck.  BarnFinder has enough to share until we come to our next water source in the morning.  In the meantime, we both agree that we (thankfully) feel great!