20240516 Julian to I-10 (mile 209)

Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever heard a rattlesnake use its rattle in anger? I have, and it is LOUD. It doesn’t sound like it does in films, like a delicate castanet, slow and threatening. It is a harsh whirring, a vibrating, oscillating, terrifying VRWRWRWRWRW sound that fills every empty inch of air. I have seen plenty of rattlesnakes by now, but all of them either juvenile or so sedate that I was never in any real fear of danger. Coming down the north side of the San Jacinto mountain though, having just sailed over the mile 200 marker, I did hear one. And it not only scared the life out of me, but I jumped so high that I lost an earbud.

20240504 Campo to Julian (mile 77)

Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Writing this from the tent about three miles up from ‘scissors crossing’, a place name which meant nothing to me a week ago but which I now know well. It is eerily still, though just an hour ago it was gusty and the sky is threatening rain later. Big clouds are mounting up on the horizon. We abandoned one potential campsite earlier in the evening due to it being in a flashy looking gully and not wanting to risk getting washed down the mountain in the event of a storm.

Julian on dkcrw

20240516 Julian to I-10 (mile 209)

20240504 Campo to Julian (mile 77)