DWTH Day 43: The Expensive Gas Station & Cache #6 

Stats

Trains All Night

We fell asleep to the sounds of trains despite being miles from the tracks. The valley echoed them upward into the hills where we camped. We also heard a lone burro and an owl. 

In the morning, Karma talked to the owl from the tent, and it talked back. 

We generally avoid camping too close to i40 in the van for this very reason. Made that mistake once and have since learned to go at least 10 miles away from it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Downhill to “Town,” i.e. The Gas Station

From our campsite, we meandered almost all downhill to “town.”  

We talked throughout the morning until we got into good cell service. Then, after 7 am we called our parents, one by one. They all needed an update on our whereabouts. 

After we hung up, we crossed under the railroad tracks we had heard throughout the night. A train with multiple engines and a long line of double-stacked train cars passed over us. 

We walked into the gas station quickly. We knew ahead of time that it was outrageously overpriced. The store even had a sign in the window claiming that because it was surrounded by 100 miles of desert, their overhead was high. 

It was a Route 66-themed gas station with tourist trinkets and the usual gas station fare. 

We carefully purchased some cold juice, chips, some hand sanitizer, and two packets of Skittles for $33. 🤯 🤦‍♀️

That did allow us to strategically loiter for a bit in the shade, use the bathroom, and throw out some trash. 

Onto Our Cache

Knowing the gas station would be inadequate resupply, we buried a cache nearby, off route. 

We had a cache meal, canned peaches, and a soda waiting for us with our normal hiking food. 

When we arrived, it was easy to find as a coyote had obviously tried to investigate it. We buried it fairly deep, upright, and the waters down by the sides. What we saw was some of the sand moved away, and the handle stuck upright with scratch marks. The surrounding sand had some very faded prints. Our duct-taped, food-grade lid was fine. 

We spent two hours there using a larger creosote bush for shade (not great shade). We sorted and ate, enjoying a large break in the middle of the day. 

Onto the Next Section

When we felt we had lingered long enough, we reburied the cache carefully.  

Then, we set off into the wind and the Mojave Preserve—an area we had not explored much before. 

This section does something that routes often do…make a giant horseshoe. When you zoom out on the map, it looks like a ridiculous path. However, when you zoom in you realize you’re hiking near cool stuff and water sources. The “direct” route would bipass both and essentially follow the interstate…pass!

We chatted for a while as we walked the sandy, seldom-used “road.”  After we exhausted our thoughts, we decided to listen for a bit. The navigation to begin was easy, so we allowed our minds the break. 

Camp

Nearing sunset, we found a campsite. We sauntered off-route and found a sandy stretch where we could move some sand and make it flat. Sand is easy…you just move it back in the morning and no one would know.

Karma is a pro at doing this, so sometimes it’s easier to just get out of his way. 

We set up just as the sun set over the hills on the opposite side of the valley.