Our morning goal was to be at the Post Office when it opened at 7:30am and then get hiking as quickly as possible to beat the heat. I had the least to do, so I got going fastest and didn’t end up seeing anyone the rest of the day. It turned out to be only warm, with a nice breeze, so I never really overheated. At lunch I actually had goosebumps sitting in the shade!
After lunch I got to an electric well, where you had to flip a breaker in a panel bolted onto the power pole, and then poof, water starts flowing out of a nearby pipe into a trough. It feels pretty magical when there’s just no flowing water anywhere. The rest of the afternoon was more roads with a climb over a mountain. The views were blocked by trees though, so I barely even noticed the summit. The long descent afterwards tipped me off 🙂
Later in the evening as the light faded, I confidently took the wrong turn at a junction and wandered a mile off course. Argh. It’s really nice night hiking, but this is ever the danger, especially when I don’t even get my headlamp out, and just walk by starlight. I think my brain is tired by the evening too, and I just tend to zone out a bit more.
I passed some hunters driving out of the junction I had missed and after they killed my night vision with their headlights, I had a nice chat with them. I camped soon after as I was stumbling around a bit. They said they’d be back before dawn to hunt. Great.
Daily Summary
Date: Oct 17, 2011
Day 116
Daily Distance: 31.2 miles
Trip Distance: 2320.3 miles