My body is sore and broken. Day 4 is often the most difficult day of a thru hike. I have hiked more miles each day than I have hoped and carried more weight. It is nearly entirely due to these brutal dry stretches. In 4 days and 116 Miles, I have filled up my water on 4 times and never from a natural source. They don’t exist in the desert. It rained for a few prized moments today as I crossed from the Sonoran Desert into the Mojave and hiked through Joshua Tree National Park. People don’t hike out here, they camp and climb. There is no one else with a backpack, and it gets me lots of weird looks from tourists. One of the rangers even tracked me down to ask if I was ok. I think he really just wanted to gage my level of crazy. The scenery is different, a desert land full of, you guessed it, Joshua Trees. I have never been drawn to the desert, always preferring mountains, but there is a special beauty in the dry, rugged terrain offering some magnificent sunsets.
I have consumed half my water on this stretch and am a little passed halfway to the next source. It was the first day I have ever hiked and never filled up a water bottle. That sounds interesting happen again until late tomorrow. Then it’s a short push to meet up with the PCT and see how the number of hikers has confined to grow.
Miles today: 29
Days since a shower: 4
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