Stupid pine cone tricks in the San Jacinto mountains, around 8500 feet or so.


Trekking across the slanted snowpack where the sun don't shine so well.


More stupid pine cone tricks. Why use paper to leave a note when natural materials are more visible and biodegradable?


Cool desert tree that we keep passing. The bark has a mixture of dry dead-looking wood and smooth brick-colored stuff, sometimes with green moss. They seem to look like trapped ghosts or something.


Probably my favorite picture of the trip so far. At the kickoff party all of this year's thru-hikers received complimentary Class of 2008 bandannas. I was sitting in the shade one day taking a rest and some hummingbirds thought that my bandanna, bright orange, was a huge flower to investigate. I guess this one is ruffling its feathers in response to learning it was just sweat-soaked cotton.