Days 37&38 Miles 510-541

Start: 510.9 End: 517

Total 7

I woke up exhausted from the day before, my whole body aching. I stayed in my tent and in my sleeping bag until my urge to pee forced me to get up. I relished my slow moving morning. I still had a clean pair of socks but it wouldn’t make much sense putting clean socks into my still wet and muddy shoes so I forced my stiff and moist socks on my feet and then my feet into my muddy shoes. I was on trail a bit after 8.

The sky was a bit cloudy but the sun was attempting to poke its head out in some places. I would turn the corner and it would appear to be sunny.

Then I would turn another corner and I could see the threatening grey clouds. I knew there were just a few more hills to get over until I would be over the last of the mountains and into the desert.

I eventually made it over the hills and my hunch was right, clear weather over here. After 7 miles I made it into hikertown. Hikertown was enclosed in a wire fence with a bunch of small wooden building built close together in fashion of an old western town. I met a woman named Martha and she directed me to go through a gate and knock on an RV door for the man there to get my package. I got my resupply package and then Martha gave me a ride to the cafe a few miles down the road.

I charged my things, went through my package, did some writing for my blog and called some people. I stayed there the entire day. Richard, the owner, gave me some cake and told me there was free coffee for hikers so I made a whole pot and drank it throughout the day. Around dinner time a hiker named Fox came in and we talked for a while. He was doing work for stay there but intended on going back out on trail in the morning. Alex walked in a bit later, both of them are from Canada but different sides of the country. Fox is French Canadian from Quebec and Alex is from Calgary.

I was going to camp there but they convinced me to go back to hikertown and Martha let me stay in one of the unoccupied cabins for free. I was grateful to be indoors as the wind was really howling during the night.

Day 38

Start: 517 End: 541.5 Total 24.5

The next stretch was the infamous aquaduct section. 25 miles of no water and super exposed walking. They recommend doing this section at night but the day before I didn’t feel like walking and honestly I get so tired at night. It wasn’t super hot yet so I figured I would be okay if I started early.

I woke up around 6:20, had some oatmeal and a cup of coffee and was out in trail by 7. I walked through some fields and dirt roads before getting to an open section of the aquaduct followed by the closed pipe section. There was a dirt road next to the aquaduct that I followed.

I walked for a while and eventually saw someone coming south, it was Alex. He got dropped off ten miles further up the trail and was walking back to hikertown without his heavy pack. That way he could rest and also break up the aquaduct section.

I walked until 11 and found some shade to sit in and take a small break. I then walked until a little past 12 and it was really getting hot so I took another long lunch break under the shade of a Joshua tree. I stayed there for an hour and a half and then tried to start walking again. It wasn’t that it was super hot it was just the sun was so intense beating down on me. I didn’t make it long before finding another little patch of shade and taking an hour long siesta before getting back on trail around 3.

I listened to some podcasts throughout the day to help pass the monotony of the walking. It was flat miles but much of the same. The desert was beautiful with the Joshua trees and yellow flowers everywhere.

I eventually started heading north again and towards the mountains. There was a big windmill farm that I was walking through. The sun had started to lessen in intensity and the mountains were getting closer and closer. I got up into them and it was cool to look back at the vast expanse of desert and the mountains way in the distance and see where I had come from. I listened to a bit of my audiobook and got to camp a little past 7.