This post originally appeared on The Trek, which you can read here.

*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*

Day 25: May 2, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Holcomb Crossing Camp – 294.0
End: Deep Creek Hot Springs – 307.9
Miles: 13.9
Ascent: 1167 | Descent: 2851
Sleep: Tent

The day overall was pretty bland, but the ending was fantastic! We knew we only had about 14 miles to the Hot Springs, so we decided the sleep in until around 7am. I didn’t think I would sleep that late and was surprised when my alarm woke me up. It felt nice to take our time getting ready for the day. It was actually warm this morning, it’s the first time I haven’t been bundled up in all of my layers coming out of the tent in what feels like weeks.

Hangman and Pinky were ready to go before us, so they hiked ahead of us. Truffles and I left camp around 8:30am. The terrain was really easy all day so we just moseyed down the trail. We met another couple, Espresso and Dung Beetle, who did the AT in 2023. We hiked with them for a ways and found out that they also are not disc golf players. Espresso was nursing a hurt ankle so we slowed down to chat with them before they took a side trail to get a hitch into town.

Truffles and I kept cruising until we eventually caught up with Pinky and Hangman for lunch. The trail the majority of the day was close to water, but it was usually high above the river. We crossed several bridges over the water, and found Pinky and Hangman at a junction down to the river.

On our way to filter water we saw another rattle snake! Thankfully it was minding its own business, but it still put me on edge. We ate lunch on some benches and then kept hiking.

The remind of the day was really burning and monotonous. We only had about 6 miles from lunch to the springs, but time drug on. It would have helped to listen to something, but I’ve been trying to conserve battery life because I didn’t get to fully charge anything in Big Bear. Truffles and I talked some to help the time go by, but we both agreed we were bored and ready to get there. We did hit the 300 mile today which sparked some excitement!

When we finally did arrive around 3pm, we were a little overwhelmed. There were day hikers everywhere and about half of them were fully nude. The FarOut comments had prepared us, but it was still felt shocking to see. We quickly picked a campsite away from the crowds and then proceeded to make our way to the springs.

There are 4 springs here, all next to the flowing river. We figured out how nice it feels to do a cold plunge and then immediately get in the warm water. Pimento got a ride to the trailhead and hiked in to meet us, so the 5 of us were all reunited. We swam to our heats content and alternated between the different springs. We got out of the water to go back to the tents to cook dinner, but then we were right back in the pools.

One other funny thing about this campsite are all the ground squirrels. The comments warned against them pesky buggers, and they absolutely are as bad as described! We saw multiple squirrels holding rummaging through people’s bags, so we opted to hang our food.

While we were eating dinner, some other thru hikers showed up. We all ended up relaxing in one of the pools together for a couple hours. Once it got dark, though, we all got sleepy and slowly started making our way to the tents. Looking forward to relaxing more tomorrow!

Day 26: May 3, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Deep Creek Hot Springs – 307.9
End: Joshua Tree Inn – 314.3
Miles: 6.4
Ascent: 633 | Descent: 1053
Sleep: Tent

Today was another weird day. It started off fine at the Hot Springs. I slept better than anticipated (thankfully the rowdy crowd wasn’t as loud as I anticipated) and was able to sleep in until around 8am. I got up and made myself hot coffee and drank it while chatting with Pimento, Hangman, and Pinky.

After breakfast the 4 of us decided to get back in the water. Truffles was in a bad mood and didn’t come out of the tent all morning. The rest of us alternated between swimming in the cold river water and lounging in the hot springs. It was lovely! Since it was Saturday it definitely started to get more crowded and the people that camped overnight got louder and louder as the day progressed. I wished we had been there in a week night rather than the weekend just because of how crowded it got. I’m glad we stayed there but the day hikers really took away from the relaxing experience.

We got out of the water around 11am to have lunch and decided that we should start packing up. We left around 1pm. Truffles and I got ahead of the group and our plans for the evening changed when we got a message from Hangman on the Garmin saying they had decided to cut the day short and go into the Joshua Tree Inn. Truffles and I agreed to meet them there and hiked hard for the 6ish miles to get to the road crossing.

Once we arrived we called the bar and they sent a shuttle to pick up hikers at the trailhead. Alan gave 6 of us a lift and we were at the bar around 3:30om. Truffles and I got meatball subs from their deli and washed them down with beers from the bar. I took a shower and set up the tent just as the others were arriving from the trail.

Since we’ve done fewer miles than we planned out of Big Bear, everyone is running low on food. There is stress and tension in the air because we can’t all seem to get in the same page with daily mileage. Hopefully we can get back on trail early tomorrow and get a good chunk of the way to Wrightwood.

Day 27: May 4, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Joshua Tree Inn – 314.3
End: Tentsite – 335.6
Miles: 21.3
Sleep: Tent

Today was hands down the easiest day of hiking that we’ve had! We woke up around 6am at Joshua Tree aim unsure how/when we would get back to trail. Thankfully Alan, the shuttle driver for the bar, was up bright and early and took the first load of hikers back to trail around 6:30am. We packed up, enjoyed the flush toilet, and even got cups of hot coffee before we hoped on the second shuttle back to trail.

Alan drove a Nissan Leaf (a small 4 door hatchback) and had a trailer hitch with a small trailer he said he built himself to haul packs. We were able to fit 7 of us in the car (Truffles, myself, Hangman, Pinky, Michelin, Pathfinder, and Stryder). Pinky, Michelin, and I rode in the trunk, thankfully it was a short ride!

Pimento’s foot/ankle is still bothering him. He thinks he has achelies tendinitis and unfortunately there isn’t much to do be done that other than rest he decided to take it slow these next few days and plans to meet back up with us in Wrightwood on Tuesday.

Alan dropped us off back at the trailhead and we were hiking by 7:30am. We had a little bit of climbing in the morning, but for the most part the trail was pretty flat and smooth. We passed a handful of other hikers but for the most part it was just Truffles and I hiking hard and fast. We weren’t really trying to go fast, it was just easy to put it on cruise control and fly.

The trail eventually dropped down the road and we walked around an industrial site. Later on we figured out it was sort of the Silverwood Lake dam and the Mojave Siphon Power Plant. We went uphill away from the road and were rewarded with views of the lake once we crested the ridge.

We hiked around the dam for the rest of the morning. It was so scenic and unexpected. We were thankful for the sun because the wind picked up and made it chilly. We decided to prolong our lunch until one of the state park picnic areas. Truffles read a comment on FarOut saying you could have pizza delivered to the picnic area, so once we got service we started making phone calls.

The staff at Road House Pizza were super friendly and helpful, they seemed genuinely pleased to have our business and even got a delivery driver to come in early to get us our food so we wouldn’t have to wait. We got to the Rio Baranca Valle group campground right at 12:15pm and met the driver at the road. Turns out he hiked the PCT in 2018 and was super sweet.

We ordered an extra large pepperoni pizza and an extra large cheese pizza. We got two with plans of splitting them with Pinky and Hangman. The group camping area where we stopped for lunch was lovely, it had a large covered pavilion, power outlets, bathrooms with flushing toilets and toilet paper, and water faucets. Pinky and Hangman arrived after 1pm and chowed down on their pizza.

Hangman told us that he had been experiencing some foot pain for the last few days. He did some research online and was concerned he may have the beginning of a stress fracture. He and Pinky decided to hitch to Cajon Pass in order to get a hotel room for the night and let his foot rest.

Our plan is for Truffles and I to hike to Cajon Pass tomorrow morning and meet back up with them, then the four of us to hitch into Wrightwood. We’ll miss about 10 miles of trail, but a section of that is closed due to previous fires. We figured this would make logistics easier and give us a little bit more time in town and Hangman longer to rest his foot.

After Hangman and Pinky left to head to the road, Truffles and k packed up and headed back to the trail. The weather changed pretty dramatically in a short amount of time. It had been breezy and cool but the sun was shining in the morning. In the afternoon the sun disappeared, the clouds rolled in, and ever gust of wind brought a spray of mist and rain. We were very fully of pizza and didn’t hike fast, but we still made good time.

We filtered water from the only non dry source in this stretch and then hiked another 2ish miles to a dry campsite. Right as we set our packs down in started to rain in earnest, so we pitched the tent quickly and dove inside to seek shelter. I was so thankful to be in the dry tent listening to the patter of rain on Dyneema. We didn’t leave the tent the rest of the evening and have just enjoyed relaxing in our second home. Looking forward to the infamous Cajon Pass McDonald’s tomorrow morning!