Miles traveled: 21.3
Mile marker: 666.3
Last night I was terrified by a ghost.
I knew I would have to go to the bathroom because last night, in my parched state, I drank a lot of water.
I put too many condiments in my dinner. This led me to drink a liter of water.
Back to the ghost.
It’s almost 10:30 p.m. I go back and forth in my head for a while about where I should or shouldn’t go to the bathroom.
I’d be silly if I didn’t go.
I frantically search around the edge of Savannah’s sleeping bag until I find my headlamp. I turn the setting on low red light.
As I climb out of my bag, my mat wrinkles relentlessly. I stuff my thick socks into my sandals and limp to my backpack in search of my kula cloth. Everywhere I look I see faces highlighted in red light! I look down and see Bumper’s pale face under my backpack.
I limp out the door and down the wobbly steps. The wind blows violently in my ears, especially the one without the plug.
Something rustles and sounds like fluttering.
That can’t be a coyote!
The toilet door opens and closes with a slow creaaaaaaak. Peace!
Creeaaaaak. Peace!
Creeaaaaak. Peace!
I see a plastic ribbon whipped by the wind and hanging from a tree. I use the bathroom five feet from the ominous creak. The wind blows wildly as the eerie noises continue their song behind me.
I get up and run to the cabin! When I enter, Lucie is crouching under the backpacks that hang like animals waiting to be slaughtered. She is on all fours, looking at me with wide eyes.
I put my kula cloth back in my backpack while Lucie crawls under the backpacks like Gollum. Bumper wakes up thinking it’s time to get up. Everyone else starts to move.
Oh no. I just woke up the whole cabin.
I jump onto the bed, which crinkles madly as I move under the covers. I’m shaking with silent laughter as everyone rolls over on their sleeping mats.
I’m so sorry to wake you all up.
It’s 4:15 am and we start packing. I tossed and turned for what seemed like most of the night. Packing your bags in the cabin is complicated. There are a lot of other things out there that aren’t ours, so it can be easy to forget something.
We prepared our breakfast drinks inside.
“Journey said he left at 3:30 and will meet us at Walker Pass,” Lucie says.
I was running like crazy for nothing! I wonder if Dad couldn’t sleep.
We hit the road. I have to use the bathroom so everyone can keep walking. It’s still pretty dark outside. I walk quickly along the washed path and soon begin to run. I don’t want to miss the turn onto the trail!
I catch them and soon I’m walking in line. Bumper leads the pack at a very fast pace, much faster than my feet want to handle right now. They are quite stiff after the long rest.
The trees are silhouetted against the orange sky. The mountains on the left are all shades of light blue, while the sunrise on the right shines above the tree line.
Even though it’s windy, I’m already warming up. We enter the trees, small desert bushes that line the road. The shadows of the trees are projected on the sand.
I already miss dad! I know he would be fine walking alone, but I’ve really gotten used to having him with me on the trail. The thought of hiking the trail without it is so sad!
It is only eight miles to Walker Pass.
We reached a road and consulted the log book before the descent. It says: «Journey, 0545.» Dad’s been here for a while! It’s 7:45 now. We walked across the hard sand to a pile of water jugs. I’m looking towards the shelter to see if dad is there. This is our water tank.
Dad walks up the hill and sits on his mat.
«Dad!» say. «I missed you!» I put my arms around him, relieved to have him back!
«It was so windy that my tent literally moved me! I lost two socks in the wind and my shoes were left outside my vestibule,» Dad says. «I only slept for a couple of hours.»
That’s not good!
We continue the walk. It is an immediate 3.5 mile uphill hike. It is sandy and rocky, and towards the top it gets even steeper. I step aside to let the others pass. The sun shines brightly. I don’t have much energy today! Also, I forgot to put a meat stick in my belt pocket for easy access.
The wall next to it is full of green bushes and rocks. We continue along the ledge. The mountains open up and I can see the solar panels across the road, looking like black skylights reaching to the ground.
Finally we pause. I climb a rock and curl up. I’m very tired. Dad is somewhere else, but the rest of us stay here for a few minutes, looking at the structures that look like sand dunes with green cotton balls scattered on them.
Dad comes around the corner. «I was waiting for you guys to cross that ridge!» he says. We didn’t even know we had passed it! We were so tired that we didn’t continue.
I get up and continue the walk. At this point we are all ready for lunch. Dad finds us a fairly suitable place on the side of the road. It will do. Our legs spread across the path and look over the ledge.
I’m exhausted. We dropped down and had lunch. We are thinking of extending our stay here for half a day, so that people can pool their resources and give them to Dad. He’s really exhausted because he only got about two broken hours of sleep last night.
I fall asleep on my mat and Rafiki sleeps more than me. I know this because I was snoring.
People pass us and we abruptly get in the way. But we’ve been walking this ridge for miles and there was no rest area!
We get going. The road ends uphill and we go down. The path becomes rocks and scree. The wall, the road, the cliffs are all rocks! Walking on them is difficult because you have to think carefully about every step you take! And my feet hurt!
The crest seems to last forever. Finally it becomes the trees. We arrived at the stream! Dad is exhausted and makes coffee after going to bed. Here we refill water and rinse our dirty legs.
Savannah and I put our heads together and found a good place to camp tonight. We also plan for tomorrow.
There is a 1.6 mile hike to the campground. We leave the forest and enter the sandy path. The last section is a long climb. The sun shines brightly in the early afternoon. Beads of sweat on my face.
.4 miles.
.3
.2
.1
Finally! We’re here! There is a small niche between the trees. I let dad camp here after he got kicked out of his place the last few days.
I’m out of my fuel can. Savannah lets me use hers! It’s Lucie’s old can, but I appreciate it. We set up camp and had dinner. Lucie still doesn’t feel well. We give him some medicine.
The rest of us do two solid push-ups and talk about exercises for a while. Getting to camp early is nice! Soon we are in bed, ready to sleep! The sun sets over the ridge. About fifteen little birds fly to the tree next to me before flying away again.
Another night of cowboy camp!
