4.10. 2018 Day 17

Last night, my body felt like concrete. I slept solid but know that when I had to roll to one side it took effort, even while sleeping. Everything seems tough when all your muscles are sore. But that’s not a complaint. Up until now I’ve questioned my body. I’ve wondered if I’m pushing to hard or even sometimes not enough. Yesterday and today showed me that sometimes, downtime is all you need to make it just a little bit further.

We left Ammy’s house around 7am, With a quick roll through the McDonalds drive thru we were on our way back to the trail. I hope we gave Ammy enough trail stories to keep her laughter going for days.

We were hiking before 8am and it was already 85 degrees out. We knew we had 11 miles to hike before we’d get to Whitewater River. We made a quick soda stop ($1 for a cream soda and it was delish) at the Mesa Wind Farm where they have a little hiker shade patio outside–complete with free water and wifi. The plan from Mesa was to make it to the river, rest, and then resume hiking once the temperature started to drop in the afternoon. The hike up was tough but beautiful, so many wildflowers and cacti in bloom. Saw a big horn sheep and a few lizards of course.

The sun was blazing all day. I don’t think I would have survive the day without the sunbrella. I’m able to attach it better to my Hyperlite backpack so I’m gonna keep the sunbrella for the rest of the desert section.

When we finally reached the river we were in awe. Such good flow through such a dry looking place. We quickly took of our shoes, put on our flip flops and dunked our feet in the cool water. Such a great feeling!!! After that, it was time to get some food in our bellies.

A hiker by the name of Squish joined us there. He’s from Canada. Nice guy. Laura and I met him a few days ago and were surprised when we saw him today. Thought he’d be miles ahead of us.

So there we sat, for what seemed like all day but was really more like 3 hours, camped out by the river. It was a much better place to rest during the day than yesterday’s boulder near the water spigot.

We cranked out six more miles to find our spot for the night. Justin was nice enough to agree to not let us girls fall back if it got dark. We made it to mile 226 with just enough light to find a spot. We setup tents using our headlamps and cooked dinner huddled together in a common little spot. I called it out first “trail family” dinner. Laura shared her Milano cookies which made dinner complete. It’s pretty warm out tonight. Tomorrow the temps are supposed to cool and from the map reading we head straight up the canyon that we are in. Looks like another long gradual climb to 7,000 ft. We are also going to try to get up earlier to get a few more miles in before the sun scorches us.

Miss you all.