Day 7-8: Warner Springs and Rain |

Day 7: Mile 109 to 119 (10 miles)

Woke up to the sound of rain hitting my tent. When I checked the time and saw it was only 5:30am, I was happy to go back to sleep till 7:00am. Woke up and packed up along with everyone else and headed into town. Right before 8:00am, a deputy sheriff pulled in and asked who wanted a ride to the post office 1.2 miles down the road. Myself, Stonefoot and two others gladly accepted the ride. He took us down to pick up our resupplies and brought us back to the community center for breakfast. Eggs, sausage and pancakes… Yum!

The rain continued to fall all morning and I took the time to go through some pictures and update some stuff online. After getting everything done, I needed to get to the post office one last time to send some stuff forward and caught a ride with Coco who works at the community center, she was taking some people down to the post office. Once back, I took a shower, which would be amazing almost any day since they are outdoor showers, but the temps were hovering around 55 degrees and raining… Either way it was good to get cleaned up a little.

(The community center pictured above)

After my shower I noticed they were serving lunch and I helped myself to a burger and pasta salad for $6. While eating, a bunch of us discussed what we were going to do about the weather. Myself, Stonefoot and couple others decided we were going to head out into the rain and wind and make the best of it. Not often are we given cooler days like this in the desert. All a sudden Wow and Monarch arrived, it was great to see them again! We talked about soccer (futbol), rugby and cricket and I learned some other things about Australia. They actually live at the South end on the island of Tasmania. After spending some time talking with them, it was 3:00pm and time to hit the trail. Since they were staying in town for the night, realistically I may not get to see them again as I got lots of miles to cover quickly.

(Headed out into the rain and wind)

I headed out into the rain and wind to cover some miles, the rain finally let up a little but after a couple hours, but the thick fog and wind never let up. I found a small place on the side of the trail and quickly set up my tent and hopped in for the night. Managed to make 10 miles, even with all the time spent in town.

(Fog that night was so thick, couldn’t see more then five yards)

Day 8: Mile 119 to 140 (21 miles)

Woke up to a wet tent, but stayed dry inside. Quickly packed up and started moving. I knew today was going to be cloudy and rain at times with a high wind warning for 55+ mph winds. This would be a great day to make a lot of miles before the true desert heat comes out in a couple days. I decided I would have lunch at the top of a ridge by Combs Peak. After hitting 11 miles and reaching the peak, the howling winds were blowing everything everywhere and the temps were so cold, I skipped lunch and just kept going. I finally got to a lower elevation and away from the thick clouds. However, the winds would not go away. I was hoping to make 26 miles today but with the weather report showing some heavy rain moving in, I wasn’t to confident it would happen.

By 4:00pm, it started to rain on me and I rushed the last two miles where I found a bunch of people already tented and hunkered down for the night. It was only 5:00pm and I had made 21 miles. It was a minor victory. Being the next five miles was going to be a steep climb, I will save that for the morning when blue skies should be back. It’s now 6:00pm and I am going to listen to the rain on my tent and fall asleep now.