May 19

479-504

Last night was extremely windy. Our tarp constantly flapped through the night, but luckily stayed upright. we woke up in a cloud.  After all the sun exposure over the past month, I will take it while I can get it.  

For the third straight day we will be eating town food.  There is a small diner a short distance  off trail about 7 miles into the day.  Our goal is to fatten me up for the Sierra, and also extend our current food carry so we can avoid the next resupply stop which is a gross market that routinely sells expired food to hikers. It is 120 miles between Agua Dulce and Mojave, California and these diner stops help stretch our carried food a little farther.  I drink an iced coffee on our way in- 2 instant coffee packets shaken up into my water bottle- to try to avoid eating any of the food in my pack.  

After a 3 egg breakfast at the diner, we are back on trail at around noon.  From noon to 8pm we hike 18 trail miles.   Along the way we pass through a large burned area that has been taken over by Poodle Dog Bush.  Poodle Dog Bush thrives in areas recently burnt by wildfire and is quite irritating if it touches your skin or gets in your clothes.  It is more toxic than poisonous oak.  The trail is overgrown with it and we have to dip and stretch and scurry by to avoid it. You can see it on the Left side of this image.

In the evening we get views of our route through the western arm of the Mojave desert.  We can see massive solar arrays on the desert floor below us.  Our final Water source for the day is a massive concrete cistern full of surprisingly clear and cold water.  

We cook our dehydrated meals and eat on the cistern and stroll into camp right after sunset.