Mesa Wind Farm to Mission Creek Camp – 19 miles (30km) 232 miles total
Today was a fun day, she said sarcastically.
The day started out ok. It was about a 6-7 mile hike to Whitewater River which they say is a significant river crossing in Southern California. I stopped for a break at this point as it was already getting hot. It was nice to stop in the shade and soak everything.
The next section was another 6 mile stretch to the start of mission river which was up and over a mountain and back down the other side. By this time it was lunch time and one by one hikers trickled in to stop at the water source under the shade of the tree. We all sat around for a few hours waiting out the heat of the day.
There was another 6 miles to go following mission creek. We all thought that it would be an easy 6 miles. We were wrong. The trail was significantly washed out in many places. Often you would have to cross the creek and it would take a very long time to find the trail again or the trail was just following the creek. This took a lot of time and it was like I was back on the TA again, trying to find the trail and just walking up a creek bed.
Finally I came to a camping spot and I was very glad to see it as I didn’t want to walk any further today.
Today I am thankful for ample water sources.
