7/23/18 – One more zero day

Day 33

Miles: 0

‘Float the tent floor, one section at a time on a bowl full of water. On the trail a puddle would work. Lay a single piece of paper towel flat on the section and pass the palm of your hand over it, pressing firmly. The moisture seeping through a pinhole will instantly show up as a dark stain on the dry, white paper towel.’

We follow this advice we got from the Z-Packs rep and we are in shock to find 3-7 pin holes in every square feet of the tent floor. What the heck happened? We used a ground sheet every single time. We carry the tent in its protective bag. I e-mail them back to see if there’s anything we can other than putting patch on every single hole because with the amount of holes that would be pretty much an impossible task.

Today we say good bye to our friends Gray Ghost and Daybreak as they continue their journey North. They leave first thing in the morning, right after breakfast, and I hope they can hike far enough not to get hit with the afternoon storm.

We are lazy today. Little down too. We both would love to continue south to finish our journey but something is telling us that pushing through the smoke and monsoon season is not the experience we came here for. We’re considering our options, this time more carefully. Getting back to re-hike some sections in WA suddenly sounds pretty good.