Our day started off halfway down the northern side of San Jacinto. From our campsite we sat and overlooked the I-10 and the numerous swirling wind turbines that cover the area. As a kid I always would remember the drive to LA and knew exactly where we were because of those turbines. It's one of the most distinct memories I have of childhood road trips. It's also one of the few parts of the trail I actually know and can say I've been to. So needless to say this was a cool place to spend the night.

After hiking down to the interstate all morning and spending the day hitching to the only In N Out on the PCT we ate voraciously. We ordered, ate, ordered again, ate again, then got food to go. As of a few day ago I've officially acquired what we call "hiker hunger" and it consists of a never ending appetite. I know this may sound great but it's actually not so fun. First of all, we don't have that much food with us to satisfy this primitive kind of hunger. Secondly, its incessant. You eat and then maybe an hour later you get more stomach pains until you can eat again.

The afternoon portion of our hike was one of my favorites thus far. The turbulent wind in the area made it quite cool and the rolling golden hills reminded me of something out of John Steinbecks "The Red Pony". Just real beauty. We had a blast hiking and were planning on reaching the White Water Nature Preserrve to camp for the night. Word was they let PCT hikers camp for free in their park and has real toilets and a wading pool! With such posh accommodations beckoning we hiked into the night to reach it. Little did we know this preserve also is home to herds of big horn sheep and the predators that feeds on those sheep as well.

Now every hiker ghost story is that of rattle snakes, bears, and mountain lions. But the thing is no one ever really encounters mountain lions so out of sight out of mind. Anyway, as we are walking into the preserve there is a maze of small river crossings and streams. We lost the trail more then a few times and it's not so easy to pick back up. Once into the preserve we wandered aimlessly in the dark for this so called PCT campsite. No where to be found. Just as we were getting ready to set up camp in the next field of tall grass we were marching through brett spotted something in the distance. We looked and looked and used our headlamps to distinguish two large eyes and a large black mass whom they belonged too. It caught Brett's attention but I quickly told him to keep moving as I was tired and it was late. But upon further examination we soon noticed that whatever this thing is was slowly creeping towards us. And it was big! That's when we saw its cat like haunches slowly stalking towards us from no more then 20 yards away. We quickly went into defense mode and banded together with our trekking poles (so scary, I know) and headlamps fixed on the lion. We slowly backed away as to not triggers its feline instincts to chase its prey. And headed toward the only part of the preserve we had yet to walk through. Once out of sight we picked up rocks to add to our arsenal and debated our options. Option one set up camp somewhere, not happening! Option two, keep hiking. Well it was nearing ten at night and we had already logged more than 20 miles. That didn't sound pleasant either. Or three, try and locate some other humans to fend of the wild beasts. Finally we were able to locate the campsite and were overjoyed to see a few other hikers. Feeling confident they would be eaten first we set up camp for bed.