Day 5- Jenn

Day 5 began with a new pair of shoes in Julian which changed my life. It became really apparent right away that I needed to somehow get my hands on a pair of bigger shoes- so I had ordered them while I was in Mt Laguna to be delivered to Julian. I wasn't sure what day they would arrive but both Matt and I realized that a zero day would be really difficult and we wanted to get going ASAP. We walked to the post office after breakfast to get our food box and to our surprise my shoes were alreay there! We went straight back to the hotel to get organized and ready to go, which somehow takes an incredible amount of time- so when we were finally ready to go it was time for lunch. The wonderous Mom's Pie House offers free lunch to through hikers so we headed over there and met up with Cam and Caty for sandwiches, soda, and apple cider- all on the house. Before hitching back to Scissors Crossing Cam grabbed a 12 pack of bud light to refill the cache and Matt and I grabbed last minute grocery store goods. A wonderfully kind woman who had hiked the Appalician Trail gave the 3 of us a ride back to the under the highway hang out. She just bought the cabin that she had been renting until it was foreclosed a year ago and she had to move out. When her son asked why she would purchase a house that needed so much work at her age she replied "because I like adventure". After Cathie dropped us off we contemplated waiting out the heat before starting, but sitting under a bridge for a couple hours is so much less appealing than hiking up a mountain, so after waiting about an hour, into the furnace we went. We climbed up and up and up and passed Trail Sana Claus (a lovely old southern gentleman that looks just like old St Nick) and a few others on the never ending- but somehow our shortest mileage yet- hike to the Third Gate water cache. Guided by headlamps and thirst we made our way through cacti and sleepers to the most beautiful sight of dozens upon dozens of gallon water jugs nestled under manzanitas with a couple of plastic chairs for lounging. By the time we found a place to set up camp the wind had died down to a gentle breeze and the temperature had settled to perfection- we left the rain fly off and talked into the stars until we both fell asleep.