Mile 616 to 635
"Say no before you ever hold your peace." -Animal Style
Many hikers said this was the hardest day on trail for them. We reached the Mojave desert. No tree coverage was available; the temperatures were in the hundreds. No water. Our solution was to wake up at 3:55am and hike as fast and as far as possible in the dark.
We had slept lightly, so Boom, Jetpack, and I woke quickly, hustling to pack up camp. Without a tent to pack, we were on trail in no time, hiking in the moonlight and observing as the sky lightened, pinkening the horizon. When Jetpack inevitably caught us, she encouraged us to hike out as many miles as possible rather than stopping around 10am regardless as originally planned. So we continued through the desert, hiking hills of sand well into the heat of the day. At one point, Dayhike passed us...literally running. Running. Through the desert. Like some sort of mirage. Later, he simply said "I felt good!"
Finally, we arrived at a resting place and huddled together in small patches of shade, watching as other hikers trudged in, flushed and exhausted. We napped, played riddles, and laughed hysterically at the smallest jokes. Jetpack complained of the swarming bugs that kept landing on her legs. Dayhike cheerfully commented that he wasn't having any problems with bugs and they must just be bothering her. "Yeah," she responded grumpily, "it's because they know I'm a b****." We probably laughed for ten minutes at this unexpected analysis of bug behavior.
[Funny faces in the dark, Joshua Tree Silhouette, Hi Fey, Those pesky rattlers!, sunshine!, chilling in the shade]
Around 6, we felt brave and decided to tackle the 2,000 foot climb right ahead of us. And the four of us did, no problem. The climb went surprisingly well. I took it slower and made it to the top faster. After summiting the climb, and entering the next valley, I felt overcome with a sense of peace, once again watching the hillside glow in the twilight. The golden grasses became orange in the sunset, the desert wild flowers reminding me of an English garden.
We set up camp in the dark, intending to wake up before dawn once again.
[escaping the sun, big climb- big hair, still climbing, amazing sunset!!]
