Stats
👣 Miles: 18.77
📈 Elevation Gain: 3,077 ft
📉 Elevation Loss: 1,427 ft
Overall Weather: Cool, Windy ➡️ Windy, Warm to Hot
Another Windy Night
We did our best last night to find a windblock for the tent. I’d say, given the terrain, it was the best we could come up with.
Overall, all the stakes stayed in, and the guidelines are still intact.
Our sleep quality? Questionable. We slept lightly and awoke frequently when the wind gusted. It was only supposed to be gusts up to 15 mph. It sure did that.
By 4:30 am, we both knew we wouldn’t sleep anymore, so we got up. We went through our normal morning routine and started hiking by 5:40 am.
Choosing Our Own Adventure
We had tried the cross-country that the route specified. I get what BT was doing with it.
But, we got off of it the previous night to find any semblance of a windblock.
Once we were off it, though, neither of us particularly wanted to go back to the soft sandy “high water line” of the dry lake bed.
Most of that section was cross-country to a gas pipeline road. Instead, we looked at the map and followed the telephone line swath a little ways away from the paved road.
The swath had more compact footing and wasn’t pavement. Other than the side wind (which we’d get either way), it was actually quite pleasant.
There, we kinda put our heads down and walked, trying not to let the wind frustrate us.
Eventually, BT’s route bowed back toward the road, and we cross-countried to where he had us cross-country off of the pipeline road. And wow, after seeing the sandy mess of that road, we were happy to not walk on that.
A Cooked Lunch
After a very cross-country morning, we came to our water source for the day. Perfectly, it was lunchtime, so we took a long break and cooked our dinner for lunch.
If we actually get a water source at lunch, we switch the meals. This allows us to not carry an extra 2/3 of a liter just for cooking purposes.
There wasn’t any good shade, but we used a creosote and an umbrella to cook in the wind.
Mountainous Cross-Country
In the afternoon, we continued going mostly cross-country. However, this time, it went up and over four low passes, and I lost count of how many drainages.
Sometimes we followed a drainage; other times, we found bighorn sheep paths. While we found old Bighorn Sheep scat, we saw none.
After the lava flow, the sand, the wind, and the low valley, this felt pretty good.
The miles got slower, and we had to pay closer attention to the route, but it was a good change.
Camp
When we both felt like we weren’t picking our feet up enough, we found a sweet, flat-ish spot with a good view.
The spot wasn’t big enough for the tarp, but it was big enough for the bug net. Nothing was in the forecast, so we went just bug net for the night.