Day 52- Official and Unofficial

We left Rawlings the evening before going south.  We stayed on the official trail which promised to take us pass some saline lakes.  We thought these were them, and perhapes they were, but we didn't sample them.  We had left town with enough water to hike at least 30 miles (I had taken 4 liters from town).

This lake had dried up until all that was left was a blinding patch of salt.  

In addition to 4 liters of water I also packed out a large pizza from Rawlings.  All other lunches this section would be a disappointment     

Shortly after lunch Portait and I left the official trail for an alternate along a dirt road (the trail made a giant C with both ends nearly connecting to the road.  It seemed silly so we didn't do it).  We had 23 miles of road ahead of us--much of it looked just like this.  The wind was still whipping through the Basin, but not as much as it had to the north, so in lulls in the wind Portrait would read aloud making time and miles pass much quicker.