DAY 11: THE LONGEST MILE

What a nice nap that was.

The moon rose with the light of 25 car headlights at 1:00am, waking me from my 3 hour nap. Something had been busy behind my head, squeaking and bustling, also making it difficult to fall asleep. Also - there was wind. This is very ferocious wind, sweeping sand onto your face in the night. Second night of "cowboy camping", a decision made mostly because we would be catching 4 hours of sleep, at most.

2:00am - Bens alarm goes off.
2:20am - Begin hiking the 10 mile stretch to our "hide from the sun and rest all day while the heat passes" location.

It was a windy slope walk, one side plummeting down to the left (sometimes VERY dramatically) and the other side rising steeply to the right. Moon walking. With the help of the moon we were able to cover 10 miles before 7:30am.

Made it to the Third Gate Water Cache! We searched for our individual shady hiding spots where we would sleep. Apparently we are trying out the noc. shift of hiking, which is really disorienting. Our circadian rhythms are all messed up, which probably isn't helping our bodies with the pain management task.

After hunting for the perfect napping location (no cacti, no poop, no pee, un-slanted, shady enough, not in barbed wire) I took a few micro-naps. It took me about an hour, after changing locations 5 times, to settle in the best spot. The suns trajectory has to be factored in to the decision because the shade moves, leaving you to wake up burning in the sun (Which happened).

The cacti have changed - their needles becoming the size and shape of large safety pins, as opposed to teeny teeny needles. I have unfortunately been finding them in the worst ways possible (brushing the sand to level it out for cooking/getting them stuck in my leg)...

At 6:00pm we resumed our trek in the (still) hot heat. Only 9 more miles tonight.

It's insane how much the landscape can change within a 20 mike stretch - ecosystems morphing with every mile.

At our 8:30pm dinner break, the landscape, and weather, changed dramatically. Suddenly, there were clouds, freezing temperatures and wind. Just like that. We could see out breath! A few hour prior, we had been sweating in the suffocating heat of the burnt desert.

We hiked faster... We put on all of our layers, shuffling along at a very fast, hobbling pace. As fast as our tired feet would take us.

My feet haven't hurt this bad, yet. Excruciating. I will go into further details later, give a little door update, as they are not doing well.

OH YEAH, we reached mile 100 in the dark! Does not make for a fantastic photo.

DAY 10: SCISSORS CROSSING

15ish miles today.

Our plan was to get up ridiculously early so that we could make it to Scissors Crossing before the "heat of the day" Iwhich should be around 10-4pm)... but instead we got up at 6am and apparently "the heat of the day" starts at 8am, when the sun is beating down the mountainsides with its early morning heat rays. We were deathly hit by 8:30 and had to take a shade break. I thought of all the people starting out from Lake Morena that day at the Mexican border, and felt anxious for their smoking got day ahead, surely a scorcher.

By the time it was 8:30am it felt like 90 degrees and we had quite a few miles left to cover. We eventually made it around the mountain and into the desert floor, which was officially an oven set to the temperature reserved for baking cookies. It was as if someone opened the oven door, and crammed us in. Except it was a sandy, barren stretch of path, a recent burn chatting the landscape.

Our final trudge in the desert oven was over by 10am when we finally reached the crossing, an intersection of 2 roads named for their scissor like junction.

Scissors Crossing is at mile 77 and it is a place where hikers gather under the shade of the bridge where there is a water cache provided by a local Trail Angel, Larry. This section of desert would mot be possible without the help of Larry. THANK YOU LARRY!

There were numerous other exhausted hikers lounging under the bridge where Larry was busily stocking the water cache.

Having not had any service for days, I was happy to see I had some bars under the bridge. I have a lot to do in terms of errands I didn't complete back home.

Larry suddenly said "Want a ride to the pool?"

"........ Are you kidding me?"

Larry informed us that 3.5 miles West of the bridge, the is a mini-oasis by the name of Stagecoach RV Park. There is a store with cold beverages & ice cream, pool, showers, and laundry (if we wish). How could we pass this up?

Climbed into Larry's gigantic truck and were pleased to find ourselves on the porch of the general store a few minutes later, ice cream sandwiches in hand. Fluffy ice cream.

Although unbelievably freezing, the pool got our core temperatures down to a comfortable level. I never pass up the opportunity to swim in a pool, ever. Swimming never felt so good.

There was not one bit of shade on the pool area, so eventually we retreated to the slivers of shade only available by the bathrooms. Took turns resting IN the restroom, after dragging the chaise lounges inside the bathroom where it was cooler and shielded by the ferocious, hot wind.

A desolate place, 12 residents.

Made multiple trips to the general store to get Gatorade, chocolate milk, & snacks.

Got a ride back to scissors with Larry. He told us about "stagecoach" as we drove the short distance to the bridge.

It was time to dusk hike up the San Felipe traverse... We were pumped, seeing as we had only done 5 miles that morning. We had opted out of hiking up the San Felipe Mountains during the heat of the day, which most hikers do. The majority of hikers night hike this section. As soon as we left the safety of the bridge (around 6:00pm) Ben called me from about a half mile ahead to inform Angela and I that there was a rattlesnake we were approaching.

The cacti changed instantly on the other side of the bridge, bigger, taller, more dangerous looking and threatening.

We didn't end up seeing it, but Ben has a photo of it over on his blog if you are interested in seeing it!

Night hiking. Let me tell you, is a alarming experience when it is on rocky cliffs. I remained on high alert.

Camped on a ridiculously windy ridge with the wind shaking us awake and rushing over our faces. Without a tent, it felt as though I would be blown right off the ledge, if the wind gathered enough power. We would be rising at 2:00am, determined to night hike the ten miles to our next water source.

The desert heat is just too much.