We had 10 miles to go this morning to our first water source. The morning was a bit cooler than usual which made for nice walking. We passed the last of the wind turbines and I was so focused on taking a video of them that I almost didn’t notice two deer standing within ten feet of me! It is pretty unbelievable to me that deer live in the desert, since I associate them so much with woods and trees.
We got to the spring probably around 9 or 930 and hung out for a bit waiting for Tofu, Yote, and 2.Toe. We were debating how much water to carry. The next water source was 18.8 miles away, so usually we’d carry maybe 3 liters for that far. However, if we planned to camp before the next water source we’d need to carry more water so we have enough to cook dinner and drink overnight when usually we get thirsty. Wolf Bird floated around the idea of walking the entire 18.8 miles today–which isn’t too far, but we’d already done ten miles for the day so that would make almost 30 miles for the day! That would be our longest day yet and I was not feeling it, especially since we are trying to slow down a bit to allow the snow further up the trail more time to melt. Wolf Bird asked Tofu when she arrived if she’d be up for walking to the next water source and she said yes, although Yote and 2.Toe were more in my camp when he asked them. For some reason I have to start the day knowing I’m going to have a big mile day. I really struggle with changing my plan to include higher miles when it’s midday. We didn’t really have a set plan when we got back to hiking after getting our water, but I sort of knew that now I felt obligated to do the big miles because it’d been discussed. I was really not happy about it and felt pressured into it and pouted about it for a while.
I put in my headphones for most of the rest of the day which helped the miles go by more quickly. I listened to almost all of the podcast S-Town, which I had started before trail but never finished. It was a nice change listening to a podcast so it took my mind off my frustrations. Wolf Bird and I walked together the rest of the day with Tofu and Yote and 2.Toe not far behind. We only took two breaks the remainder of the day–we both prefer getting the walking over with so we can have maximum relaxation time.
It did get hot later in the day and we had some uphill sections, one of which was steeper than most and really exhausted me! At one point we rounded a bend and saw “600” written in sticks on the ground. My immediate reaction was wondering why someone would write that as a joke-it seemed cruel! I really didn’t think we were already at mile 600! It seemed like we were just at mile 500. We snapped a quick picture and I was happy to know (after Yote and 2.Toe pointed out) that finally I had fewer miles than the entire Appalachian Trail remaining.
We kept pushing to the next water source and finally arrived around 5:30. There were a few people there packing up to hike a few more miles after apparently taking their afternoon siestas. It was nice to arrive at camp earlier than usual and we took advantage by cooking double dinners. Soon Tofu and Yote and 2.Toe showed up and we hung out in our tent (it was cold) and chatted with them as they cooked their dinners. It was a big mile day today but felt doable, although we probably should have taken more breaks so it would’ve felt more leisurely. We went to bed exciting for a more relaxing 20 mile day tomorrow.