Monday, April 30, 2012

Day 9- Busy Trail

 A mosquito woke me up this morning at 5 a.m.  I didn't get any bites though.  Cowboy camping was nice, but the slope was annoying.  I woke up a few times to inch back up, but every time that happened I saw the beautiful night sky.

Desert flowers
At 7 it was already hot where the sun touched.  it was shaping up to be a hot one.  We went four miles to the first water of the day.  Apparently 25 people camped there last night.  We had guessed there were 12 people ahead of us.  It seemed like we meet most of those 25 today.

I heard a rattle snake today, but didn't see it.  Shortly after that I slipped and fell the first time of the hike.  I stopped paying attention for a moment.  Didn't hurt in the least.

Ten miles to the next water, and it was dry.  I still had a liter left, and only a few miles to the next source-The Guzzeler.  While sitting on the dry creek bed we realized that the next town is a day later than we thought.  That kind of killed the dreams of pizza I was having.  Up until now I've been more focused on sleeping well than town food, but the tide has shifted.

When I came to the Hiker Oasis water cache there were 15 or so hikers clustered in the shade made by the shelves the water was on.  I didn't stay long; I finished my pumpkin seeds (my new favorite food) got my water for another dry camp, and hiked on.  It was just a mile to camp from there.

First sunset I've seen on trail
Camp tonight is again among the boulders, but up high this time.  There's a good group of people here:  Jake and Little Dipper (who I met briefly on the AT in '09), Powernap AT '10, Chilly and his Dad, the Detroit City Crew,Tommy, and I.  I saw my first on trail sunset-this camp is pretty awesome. I'm cowboy camping again which should be great, as long as no strong winds come up.  Its very sandy here.

I'm in charge of waking people up in the morning around five.  We're doing 20 something again so we can be set up for town.  The short day idea was great in theory, but it's not working.


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