We climb up into the San Felipe hills. I say hello to my old friends the barrel cactus and the Ocotillos. The Ocotillos look burnt and dead, but explode into fiery flowers at the end of their stems.

Someone left rash cream in Julian, and Shake’nBake runs ahead asking complete strangers if they left their ass cream behind. We find this hilarious. We camp high on a ridge. The wind picks up, but I am safe, cowboy camping with my trail family. I drank too much coffee in Julian and I can’t sleep. I’m staring at the sky when a flash illuminates the night sky, so bright I think someone shot off a flare. As I blink away the green afterimages, I realize it was the brightest shooting star I have ever seen. And then we are running for the 100 mile mark, past the wild rosemary. We take our photos and drop down, past lupine and fireweed. And then, through the rain, into Warner Springs.