Day Four: Rest is Best
Miles: Precious few
Climb: Zilch
Ave. spd.: Speed? What speed?
Crappy night with partiers next door. Blood moon was awesome. Sleep was rare. Oh, how I can hate conventional campgrounds. I flirted with the idea of moving on and guerrilla camping somewhere, but I really need the rest, so I’ll stay. As the morning progressed, a vast exodus of campers! Ah, perhaps tonight I will sleep. Now a breezy, gently cloudy day drifts across the valley. This will do for a rest day. At least a shower yesterday took the grime off. Chores, writing, reading. That’s it. And that’s enough.
My camping savior turns out to be an aging extreme hiker, a Fred Becky style trekker who for many years, it seems, has drifted from hike to epic hike, sometimes disappearing in the Sierras for a month at a time with his brother. He’s section hiked the PCT twice, been on the Continental Divide, the Arizona Trail, and more. Now he is traveling without a car--his broke down--and getting around by hitchhiking, using public transport, and friends to move from place to place, living off Social Security, although he hopes to score some sort of job in Death Valley. He tried to live a bike touring lifestyle last year but had his rig stolen in Yucca Valley on the first leg of his travels He’s living life on the edge for a 69 yr. old. His life of hiking has left him fit, so it’s working, but life on the edge can cut you quick. I wish him well, especially since he’s on the park service “radar,” and they may not want him staying indefinitely. A job, of course, would change that.
Tomorrow it’s a moderate start to a 30+ mile day with a little climbing. I’ll work part of the way up towards Death Valley Junction after resupplying at Furnace Creek. These wheels a keep on rolling.
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