Wrightwood to Agua Dulce

The hike out from Wrightwood is gorgeous and strenuous. It takes you up Baden-Powell, which is a beautiful climb. The switch backs are for days; they seem never ending but make it a gradual steady endurance race. My friends and I decided to summit, it's only 300ft off the PCT and totally worth it. Limber pines curl up everywhere making the views quite surreal. People don't know places like that exist. It's not tall enough to be considered a peak you would bag, but the 1500 year old tree and 360 amazing views make it well worth the effort.

From there the trail goes like a roller coaster until Little Jimmy Spring. 

This spring had seats and a pipe and a trough and a huge red cedar that you could stand in. I loved this water resource.

From there we started our long decent into the more arid regions. There is an endangered species closure, most people walked the road. If you continue walking the road past Three Points Campground down HWY 2 a mile you will reach the best burgers on the trail so far. Newcomb's Ranch has been open since World War II and does there burgers the right way, over a fire. Don't miss it, but call and check the hours. They close at 6pm.

We had a bit of a stormy day headed out of Three Points. The cloud cover was a relief, these sections through the burn areas are very exposed. From the ranger station, most people took the road detour around the poodle dog bush warning. My friend and I just wore long sleeves and pants and decided to do the trail. It was mostly avoidable and actually my favorite section of trail so far.

The mountains kept rolling and the wind kept blowing and we made our way to Agua Dulce.

I was happy to see the rocks popping up in the background, knowing these huge sedimentary rocks were a sign that the section was coming to a close. Let's just say I was pretty excited to see Vasquez Rocks.

My crazy friend and I decided to hike from the KOA (where we stopped for hot food, now serving until 8pm) to Vasquez Rocks. At 9pm making that day a 27 mile long walk around. The moon was bright as the temp was perfect. Two more of my friends hiked out at night and camped before the tunnel under the Hwy. We continued and got to see sunrise over Vasquez. Something I would highly recommend.