Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Junction to Outfitter (1952.2) – Manter Creek & Tentsite (1959.1): 7.1 miles / 665.6 total miles walked
The night in the trailer was more restful than I had hoped, so I woke up pretty refreshed around 7am. I went inside where Scott had already made coffee. We chatted for a while, until Sink came by, when the conversation naturally focused on her again.
WE took our time having coffee, I made Bagels with bacon and eggs for breakfast, and plans for the day were made.
After reassessing food, I prepared my bear canister for being shipped home. Not sad to see it go.
At 10:30 we drove over to Grumpy Bears, nice place, and to the Outfitter, run by Yogi.
The store is pretty well set up, but Yogi herself is a little standoffish, not even bothering to return my greeting.
After a brief visit Scott and Kendra dropped us off close to the trail and we said our goodbyes. I am so grateful to have met them and for all their kindness, they really are amazing people.
I trudged through soft sand, just listening to the stillness of the desert. The lack of sound out here is something very unique, and something I’ve been missing without even realizing it.
We passed the mile marker for 700 miles, that’s how much is left for me to do. It’s still more than I’ve already walked, wow.
The trail kept meandering through the desert, passing by a river at one point. Every water source in the desert is precious, so we took a nice break in the shade. I ate some Cheetos and a fig bar and drank a lot of water. I even managed to rinse out my socks. 😁
We continued on, and I spotted my first cactus. 😀 Now I know I’m truly back in the desert.
Around 4pm we reached our next water source. It took us about 10 minutes of searching the brush to actually find the shallow pool of water that was left. It was surrounded by bees buzzing around, but thankfully they weren’t aggressive and I was able to fill all my available water bottles.
On the way back to camp, Sink spotted a bear print, the closest I’ve come to seeing one of the furry puffballs out here.
We set up camp, made dinner, and were assailed by about a million ants. This is one of the times I wish I had an enclosed tent. 🙄 The strangest thing about the ants was that whenever I squashed one (because no matter how much I respect wildlife, it has no business crawling on my face) it smelled like paint thinner…..weird.
Keeping you posted….