Captain's Log: Day 30

May 12, 2016

2:00am arrived and we began packing and chugging last liters of water before starting on the 43 mile dry stretch. We were on trail just before 3:00am and began our first section of the day: 22 miles to a pass that hopefully would have shade and allow us to wait out the heat without wasting much water.

The first 9 miles in darkness were uneventful aside from a few deer. We watched the sun rise over the next 3 miles. After that it began heating up and the trail turned from dry soil to soft sand. After a long climb followed by lots of small ups and downs, all of which was spent sliding a bit the opposite direction you were walking, we reached a rock outcropping that provided a bit of shade. Eeyore and Loopy decided to call their break here while Rickets, Rafiki, and I continued on the last 3 miles to the road crossing.

As luck would have it there was a water cache at the road. We found a low pine tree to wait under and alternated eating, hydrating, and napping until 4:30pm when Eeyore and Loopy arrived. We had a 2000 ft climb immediately ahead of us so we waited until 5:00pm before continuing on.

Rickets and I lead the charge with the other three not far behind us. The grade of the trail wasn't too bad and the climb passed fairly quickly. At the top we were greeted with a view of not dessert but green mountains. A very welcome sight.

From the top we had another 4 or so miles to camp which passed equally quickly. We arrived after sunset but with enough light to set up and a little before bed. We only had 12 miles left to end of the dry stretch for the morning and packs felt great without all the water weight. It was a good night.