Last night I decided to give the popular Garmin device a try. It was the first time I used one since the PCT. For fun, I checked the weather for my exact location: 0% precipitation overnight—great. I turned it off and several seconds later I felt some rain droplets.
“What the fuck.”
The winds started coming in as sand blew into my eyes. I half assed set up my tent. The stakes barely went into the terrain. I was too lazy to put the rainfly on and figured the rain droplets would pass so I laid down. Just before I closed my eyes I saw a flash of lightning.
“Fuck.”
I got up and attempted to clip on the rainfly in the wind as rain came through for about an hour.
“Why do people lie?”
Although I was cursing out loud, it was light and playful. I was in gratitude as I remembered I had once wished to be in this state of adrenaline and battle with the elements.
It was dark for a few hours when I started hiking. I eventually met back up to one of the main routes and thank god I did because the sun was coming up just as I was about to go straight through a canyon with no actual trail. It seemed other hikers got lost judging by their discombobulated footprints.
It was great to use my mind in such an active way again. On trail you have to think fast, be smart and expend as little energy as possible especially when it comes to minimum water sources. I had to maneuver my feet to fit into wedges and hop across the canyon walls without falling into water holes that laid in the center.
There was a large pool of water in Upper Courthouse Wash that I had to cross. I attempted it by holding onto the side of the canyon walls to pass through but had no luck. It was too deep and started sucking me in so I decided to climb up the rock wall and just walk the rim. All was well until I realized I was on the wrong side of the canyon and had to go back down to the creek. Future lesson to always check the contour lines on the map before ascending.
The cliffs were only getting taller and more jagged. I was about to give up and figured I would just deal with the taunting sight of cold water below me but last second I found a crevice that looked just low enough for me to squeeze through. I scurried down then stomped my foot on a dead tree to see how stable it was. I had to hang off it since jumping was still too high. The dead tree was whitish gray and falling apart but I managed to hang off with still a few feet for me to jump on some bushels and dried bark. I bushwhacked through tight trees then a branch managed to ricochet underneath my glasses and directly onto my open eye. I eventually found the cold creek and immediately scooped the water into the cnoc.
I trekked through the creek bed and quickly found I was dealing with quicksand, despite the appearance of it appearing dry at parts. I slipped when I tried walking on the slanted edge and fell straight into it, getting completely covered in the sticky mud. There was always some sort of initiation for a new thru-hike and it seemed I was getting all of the lessons.
I got off at Courthouse Wash Trailhead before I continued bushwhacking the unmaintained trail through the creek. The ‘trailhead’ was just a pullout spot in the blazing hot sun. I did some stretches while my body was warm. A woman pulled over asking if I was in need of a ride. I told her I wasn’t and that I was just resting. I felt so excited to be on trail again that I didn’t even feel a speck of temptation to be in town. That’ll probably change after a few more nighttime thunderstorms and striking hot days in the exposed sun. She gave me some ice cold water. I absolutely loved it when that happened in the middle of a desert. Then she poured some on my buff to further help cool me down.
I took a long siesta under a tree and napped. No insects bothered me, nor did I kick my foot into any of the surrounding cacti. I observed shadows of plants and smiled at lizards that ran by and studied my presence.
When the worst of the heat passed I trekked on to another stealth site. Tomorrow I would be spending some hours in Moab buying some gear, charging my power banks and most importantly eating ice cream.