Stats:
👣 Miles: 13.33
📈 Elevation Gain: 2,844 ft
📉 Elevation Loss: 2,605 ft
Overall Weather: Sunny, Cold, Windy
The Night
Despite our attempts at wind-proofing, the wind bested us. Big time.
The wind forecast looked terrible but not quite as terrible as the night before.
We had positioned the tent correctly toward the main wind direction, with a large creosote on the weaker side. Each tent stake had at least one 15-pound rock on it.
Thinking ahead, we extra staked out the head section with an extra trekking pole, a guideline, and rocks.
And right as we laid down, all hell broke loose.
The tarp whipped and popped. We continually re-cinched the side doors down.
By midnight, one of the foot corners literally moved a 15-pound rock and tore the stake out.
I had to get out and fix it. I found a second 15-pound rock and stacked it on top of the other.
About an hour later, we heard a snap. One of the head corner’s guidelines snapped in half. I got out and tied it together while Karma held the trekking pole upright inside. At that point, I staked the tarp directly to the ground. We had heavier rocks on the head side where the main wind was hitting. I could barely lift them.
4:30 am
Shit hit the fan.
This is when the wind was supposed to decrease from 40 mph gusts down to the low 30s gusts.
That was NOT the case.
The wind increased and sustained those high gusts and came from two directions.
This time, Karma got his hiking clothes on when a side stake popped and got out. He cinched and fixed everything he could.
We knew then that it was the moment to pack up and suffer. We could feel that we were reaching the tarp’s threshold. If we stayed in it and kept fighting the wind, it would break.
Karma’s cinching got us the 30 minutes or so that we needed to get clothes on and pack up without eating.
By the time we jumped out of the tent, it was just light enough to see without headlamps.
The wind continued its assault in full force while we packed up the ground sheet first. Then, we got the bug net out. Finally, we finished with the tarp and the stakes.
I messaged Snapper to see if she could bring us some paracord or guideline since she was passing by us today.
Wind Blown
The first mile of the day was miserable. Every step, we fought the wind to stay upright and not get blown into a cactus.
100% sufferfest. Not really even fun type 3.
Finally, we found a pocket of sun and less wind. We scarfed down our breakfast cookies and continued.
Of course, this was one of those moments where we had to hike cross-country to some obscure burro trail. Sometimes, the burro trails are easy to find and follow…and sometimes not.
The burros took us up to a ledge below a pass, which was surprisingly windless.
We stopped and finished the morning things we normally do lazily in the tent: make protein shakes, get bars out, arrange drink mixes, etc.
A Series of Low Passes
After our much-needed break, we continued up to the top of the pass and made our way back down.
The other side held more hills and washes. Great views surrounded us as the wind slowly became reasonable again.
Karma found a great thick plant in the sun to take a break. He laid down and went right to sleep for a 15-minute nap.
I’m not a good nap-taker, so I started writing this post.
When he woke, we did two more low passes. One used more solid burro tails, and the other used an old 2-track. Both were much easier to follow and figure out.
Mining Trash
The second took us down toward a large old “historic mining complex.”
Let’s be honest: the miners tried to get gold or copper. They failed. Then, they left all their shit behind. It’s all trash. Calling it historic is bullshit. They destroyed the land, and then left their trash was a way of claiming it.
We were not impressed that the Mojave National Preserve rebuilt the house surrounding the mining trash when it blew over. Like…why not spend the money cleaning up all the stuff they left behind?
The Best Afternoon: Snapper to the Rescue!
Over the last low pass, we went down an extremely sandy descent.
At the bottom, Snapper waited with some AMAZING trail magic. She came after our worst night on this route and totally cheered us up.
She brought delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, chips, homemade hummus, and homemade ginger lemonade. The spread she put out was incredible, and we all smacked all afternoon while sharing trail stories.
Snapper thought of everything: chairs, water, and a table. She even took our trash. She got my mildly frantic 4:30 a.m. message about spare guidelines and brought us an array of guideline options from her spare gear! We got to fix the 3 guidelines that broke overnight. That was a huge relief!!!
We talked for hours until we were all chilly. Snapper turned our day into something soooooo much better!
A bit before sunset, she packed up and drove off as we hiked across the road to find ourselves a campsite.
Camp
We sauntered further along the route until we found a good spot beside some large rocks.
Karma and I watched the sunset and were stoked to go to bed early after the night we had.
Cheers for the Trail Magic, Snapper!