Captain's Log: Day 4

April 17,

No sooner had the sun gone down did the wind pick up with a vengeance. It was chilly, but the real problem was the noise. Even with earplugs it took over an hour to fall asleep. The middle of the night was a bit calmer but it became stronger again before dawn.

We broke camp early and were on trail just after 6:00am. An hour in we stopped for breakfast and a mile or two after that we hit the water tank. As one would expect about water in the desert, it was quite the social gathering place but also quite windy. Our friends The Power Puff Girls, as Doza/ Drop-trou has begun calling them, passed us and we began our daily game of leapfrog.

The heat and still air set in early today and we were missing the wind as we began a long descent. We met Bottomless and Two-tone during a snack break at the bottom before heading another 9 miles to the next water.

A pretty good crew began to congregate at the water tank for lunch but not much shade so we decided to hike through the heat of the day towards town and water.

We got to the highway and met Ed - a trail angel, ET, Just Dan, and Irish. Ed gave us a ride into town and dropped us off at Carmen's - an incredibly hiker-friendly restaurant in town. We had dinner, a free beer, laundry, and bedtime tequila shots with about 20 other hikers before spreading out all over the porch and parking lot.