4/27/17

Day 4

Mile: 47.5 to 68.2

It had to happen. We are in the desert after all. And it happened today. I was zooming down a very pleasant downhill, the sort of grade when you move your foot slightly forward and let the gravity do the rest, and then a loud rattle brought me to an abrupt stop. I turned and jumped away from the snake that was less than three feet away from my foot, and I slit on a rock and scraped my shin. It was a stubborn snake, it took us lots of banging and feet stopping before he decided to move, and even than he waited coiled in the bushes near the trail. It was the last thing on our minds to bug him, and so we quickly run few feet down the trail and continued our hike. 

Other than that it was a long but nice day of hiking. The trail kept up mostly atop the ridge where water was scarce, thus we had to carry extra, but the views were amazing, and the amount of greenery and blooming flowers kept us in awe. 

After 21 miles of ups and downs we arrived at a water source which is said to be the last reliable one for 35 miles or so. We pitched with couple others, and then people kept coming and our tent city grew and grew. 

We were sad to hear that Ashton and Dina, couple with whom we leap frogged quite a bit, decided to leave the trail. They realized it was not the adventure they thought it would be and chose to try something else instead. We will miss their company but we wish them good luck, wherever they might end up spending their summer at.