miles: 29
Today was hard. For no particular reason. The morning was difficult for me and I had a few moments of emotional/mental breakdown. I think it was in part due to fatigue, coming back to the trail after a long break filled with love and luxury, the fact that I was developing a severe case of back chafe, and that it was muggy and hot out.
My backpack does not ventilate well in the heat and with how humid it has been, my back has been perpetually sweat ridden. This leads to some serious back rash. It has upgraded to open wound status.
The scenery hasn't gotten any better, either. It is still as if we are in someones backyard or on someones land, and they don't want us to be there. So much private land! The Soda Mountain Wilderness isn't proving to be very hospitable.
At the end of the day, however, we reached the lava fields. This made hiking difficult and the miles were slow to come along. Every step was on loose lava rock. It was a very unique section of trail: meandering paths winding their way through lava field after lava field. We pushed on although the daylight was dwindling. We thought it would be outrageously difficult to find a camp spot on the lava so we became worried once dusk was upon us, but we managed to find a top notch camp site in some trees off to the side.
Just as we set up the tent, a distant thunderstorm ignited and we fell asleep to brilliant lightning flashes.
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| I never trust these signs and filter all water that comes from... anywhere. Even sinks. |
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| Bear tracks! |
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| Bear tracks! |
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| Bear tracks! |
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| Bear tracks! |
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| A lot of burnt zones. A lot of signs telling us not to trespass. |
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| A lot of waterless stretches. |
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| Ben packing up after filling us up at the spring. |
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| An empty trail magic situation. |
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| Makeshift bandages for my wounds. |
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| Home for the night. |
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