It was warm overnight, the first actually warm evening on the trail, which made it a little easier to get moving faster. From the water faucet, the downhill from San Jacinto continued, as the trail followed an access road for the water agency, before turning into a sandy trail that passed through more sub-desert landscape as it headed across the valley towards the Mesa Wind Farm. Along the way, I ran into two rattlesnakes.
The first, I heard before I saw it, and once I was able to see it, saw that it was slowly slithering away as it shook its rattle at me. The second one, smaller and almost sand colored, I saw before I heard it: it was coming right towards me.
Fortunately, I was able to fling it away into a bush with my trekking pole. The first stop of the day was under the I overpass, where it was cool, shaded, and there was a nice trail magic cache of ice-cold sodas, fresh fruit, and unfiltered water, provided by a number of trail angels. According to a sign there, this location at feet is the lowest until the Columbia Gorge, in Oregon, over miles ahead. There, I met Rowdy, and we continued north on the trail, as it skirted a residential development and began climbing to the wind farm.
Rowdy said he thought he knew who the phone belonged to, so he picked it up and we continued on ahead. After only a few minutes, we ran into Hopper, whose phone it was: it fell out of a pocket when she stopped to tie her shoes. The several of us continued on, soon entering a gated part of the Mesa Wind Farm facility, and beginning Section C of the trail in California.
A series of three signs led to an area shaded with a wooden structure, with a package of water bottles inside. The roof on the structure slightly deteriorating, dried palm fronds were being used to cover part of the roof that was missing wood.
