Hard, hot and heavy.

i have been hinking for about 4 days since my last post and everything has been going realy good. the hiking has part has been hard but rewarding the last few days. the desert mountains are awsome and there have been a lot of great look out points along the way. matt w. almost steped on a rattle snake the other day and jumped about 5 ft. in the air. he was in front of me so i got a big kick out of it. (hahahah) EXTREAMLY HOT! the heat has been so bad the last few days that we had to pull off the trail and take a day to rest, hence my updating this now. and being that it has been so hot we have been carying about 6 lt. of water, which is realy heavy and not what one wants when faced with a climb of 3000 ft. but whatever, if there no chalenges in ones life, there can be no victory, and a life without victory is empty and blank. so we will drive on in this brain-boiling heat with visions of the sierras dancing in our heads. only 560 more miles of the desert...

Last night in Fresno

Here are a couple of pictures of my going away dinner with my family. First one is me and Matt W. My sisters, Rebekah (in pink) and Leah. My parents, David and Linda. My whole family including my brother-in-law's, Steve (in red) and Danny. And my awesome nephew, Logan.

and here we go...

ok, matt W.'s pack came in and now we are waiting for the heat to die down and we will be hitting the trail around 4:00pm today!!! YEAH!!! 6 days in julian has left me extreamly ready to get back on the trail, booth in mind and body. i'm nolonger sore at all and am super amped to be hiking again. don't get me wrong, julian is an awesome small town, and everyone here has been super kind to us. i guess if we had to be stuck somewhere, this is a great place to be. we will probably hike 14 miles today/night and stop at a water cache and make camp. as soon as i fill up my memory card i will send it to my sister rebekah so she can upload all of the pic.s so far. hope everyone is doing great and i'll write more when i have somthing cool to talk about. peace--M.J.

stuck in the middle with you

ok, where do i start... day one: woke up @ 4:00am and matt w.'s friend becky drove us down to the u.s/mex. border. took all the standered photo's and started our hike. we went 21 miles the first day. that was hard. no blisters at this point, so that was cool, just a little sore. day 2: woke up at 6:30am and hiked about 18 miles. the desert is awesome! yeah its hot(94-105 deg.s) but the hills and mountains are really cool, we have been up to 7,000 ft. so far and the vista views are awesome! everything is still kind of green as the rain season has just ended and there are lots of cool purple/yellow/blue flowers everywhere! i have seen allot of snakes sunning right on the trail. I'm in Julian ca. right now waiting for matt w.'s new pack to come in the mail(ALL of his gear got stolen 3 days ago, but that is a long story and i only have 10 min.s left on this computer at the library,) we should be heading out some time this afternoon! i can't wait, we have been stuck in this town(a real-life maybury r.f.d., we now know all the locale's, great people) for 4 days and i cant wait to get back on the trail! I'll write more soon and send it to my sister Rebekah for her to post, along with new photos! sweet, i just got 30 more min.s on this computer! ok, so matt got his pack with ALL of his gear stolen the other day. he talked to the police and they went all over town looking for it, but to no avail. the pack is gone and has been morned. so a lady that works for the local police department really felt for matt and what had happen, so she called the manager at the local R.E.I. and told him what had happened. he thought that was awful and said to come in and he would hook matt up. so she drove us an hour down to the r.e.i., and he let matt go thru all of the used and returned gear that they keep for a twice a year sale and gave him more then 50% off of the sale price on everything!!! he was able to get almost all of the things he needs for around $500. (probably saved $1,500 thanks R.E.I.!!!) he also called the guys at six moons who make the back pack that matt had and told them what had happened, and they shipped him out a new pack just like his old one and gave him 50% off! thanks Six Moons!!! so now we are just waiting for it to come in and we will be outta here and back on the trail WOOO HOOO!!! the trip, up until the great Julian backpack theft( every one in town knows about it and its all the talk around here) has been really great! only one blister so far and i was quick to wrap it up and now it is no more. i've been super sore in the mornings, but that has been going away after about one mile.( when i say "go away" i mean it goes from sharp-bash your brain on a rock to make it stop pain, to a deeper/duller pain that is more tolerable) the day before we stoped here in Julian, i was walking down the trail when a chipmunk ran out in front of me and into a bush that i had just brushed by. that was a big mistake for my litte furry friend , for apon entering said bush, a rattle snake bit him and he came running out screaming and flailing about like a drunk man until he fell to the ground and, twitching, died. then that old snake came out to collect his lunch, put half of "chip" in his mouth, and went back to the bush to dine. (as all of this was happening that song from the lion king "the circle of life " started to play and i cryed one salty tear and morned my fallen, furry friend.) gotta go, write more soon. peace--M.J.