Day 37: Blowing through the Mojave

(Hikertown, 418 to 440 = 22 miles)

Hikertown, USA.

Every day on the PCT is an emotional roller coaster.  Unbelievable highs and bottom of the barrel lows.  So, it is hard to definitively say often times that a day was wonderful or awful because most days are all of the above.  Today was one of those days.

Headed out to the Mojave on a windy morn.

 We started off from Hikertown with a rich sunrise and dramatic clouds over the mountains in the distance.  It was cold and windy, but I could not have been happier.  Not only were we missing the heat of the desert, but the sky and landscape were as gorgeous as could be.  This morning, I was wildly in love with the unruly Mojave.  This stretched into mid-morning as I saw my first above and below ground aqueducts.  I was like a kid who had just discovered bathtubs after having only had showers.  It was hard to believe such a thing existed.  Yes, in magazines and books, but not in real life.  It was a wonderful morning.

Storm brewing over the aqueduct.

Okay, this made us a little worried.

 Mid-morning to afternoon grew long as our "hike" today was mostly a road walk.  This irritated my heels and hips and the backs of my knees.  I lost my sunglasses sometime between last night and this morning (of all times!), and the sun was painfully bright on the glittering sand.  To make matters worse, the wind blew so hard and was so cold that I had to wear my warm hat rather than my sun hat.  And then I rounded a corner, and found that a herd of sheep were trotting towards me.  Soon, they were all around me.  I pished at them, and they stared back.  (Yes, pishing has become my universal animal attention-getting sound.  I confess, I even use it on Gumby.  It works.)  I was thrilled.  I basked in the glory of being surrounded by sheep until the herder came around.  And then I basked in the glory of love from his herding dogs.  And then they were gone.  Just like that.

Underground aqueduct! Who knew?!

The afternoon was tough and only got tougher.  The wind picked up and added big gusts.  The trail was only loosely marked because of windmill construction throughout the area.  That, coupled with the unremarkable terrain, made it difficult to tell if we were ever on the actual PCT -- a continual source of worry and frustration for me.  Add some trouble lighting my stove and exhaustion from staying up too late to blog and email, and it was a rough afternoon.

All bundled up for the Mojave.
Sustained winds at 30 mph, gusts
between 50 and 60.

The afternoon and early evening remained difficult, but the force of the wind was so ridiculous at times that it was comical.  Add a few good bird spottings, the beauty of the windmills, and a nice campsite, and the end of the day turned out okay.  Aside from spilling milk on Ruby, my sleeping bag.  Neither of us are happy about that.

Sheep! What a treat!

So, overall, a good day.  The skies and the sheep are what I'll remember.  And I am sure we'll tell stories about how cold and blasted windy the Mojave was.  I'll forget about my sunglasses and spilled milk like it was, well, spilled milk.  

Sheep scat. One for the collection.

Gumby in a sea of windmills.