Day 83: Bushwhacking and Butterflies

Miles hiked: 22.2

Mile marker: 1319.5

We begin our hike and within a few minutes reach 1300 miles! Yay! That’s a big hike. Just as Dad said, the numbers after 1,000 haven’t felt so significant as they did before then.

I brush my teeth as I look at a view of some mountains with the group.

“Come on, guys! We can’t have another break!” Bumper says. He’s right. We’ve already breaked far too many times for this time of day. But Luxy is on the phone, wishing her grandpa a happy birthday.

We walk through trees spread sparsely through scratchy shrubs that belong in the dessert. Orange and black butterflies are everywhere! They flutter all around us as we walk!

Clouds of dust follow us with every step. It’s so loose here that it’s hard not to walk behind someone without breathing dirt that fills your nose and coats the roof of your mouth.

We lunch a little early at a water source with a pipe gushing water into a tin trough. It’s so sunny outside I can barely see without my sunglasses.

We hike up and mountains are next to us with skinny trees along the ridge.

I’m so tired today! We’ve all been dragging! Even other people have been too!

A side note — first Luxy then Rafiki suggested I may have been in the early stages of heat exhaustion on the way out of Belden. I, of course, reverted it at first. Maybe they’re right.

I walk alone for a while, and soon fall into the shade of a volcanic rock. The others soon follow. I eat a broken Grandma’s cookie, then pull myself upwards so I can continue on the journey.

Our last water source feels like ten miles downhill off trail. It’s barely a flowing creek, so I grab water then head back up without a break. I walk for another couple miles uphill until I see Bumper standing at the tent site.