Victory in the Desert. May 22.

This 100+ mile section was full of hot, nasty climbs, requiring full-
on concentration and a penchant for suffering. Thankfully, thru-hikers
like to suffer, but instead they call it enjoying the wilderness.
Team Zero left Big Bear City with five days of food, and certainly my
heaviest pack yet. We covered 26 miles that day, and I hiked until 8pm
at night, totally worn out, having gotten lost during the afternoon,
trapped within a fenced off "no trespassing" area, and fording two
creeks in the last hour. I followed some strange looking tracks for
about the last five miles--too large to be trekking poles dragging in
the sand and too narrow to be bike tires. Within 200 yards of the
campsite I ran into an abandoned shopping cart stuffed with a sleeping
bag and pillow. I poked it with my pole but I was too scared to touch
it or take a photo. I'm glad I was sleeping near the rest of Team Zero
that night.
The next day I babied my sore feet with an enhanced (and much heavier)
first-aid kit replete with tape, moleskin, band-aid blister pads,
gauze, neosporin and tincture of benzoin--pretty much anything to
halt, desensitize, lessen, or mask the blister pain. We crossed the
300-mile mark and also rolled into the clothing-optional hot springs,
right on the trail...more wierdos, Euros going full monty and hiker
dudes wearing skirts. Half-ounce juggled five oranges of trail magic
as nude men trickled behind him cheering and taking photos. I just
wanted them to get out of my camera frame. Warner Springs Monty
brought in ice cream drumsticks, ice cream sandwiches on dry ice and
Carls Jr hamburgers. Another good day of trail magic!!!
My feet were hanging on for dear life, as were many in the gruop. The
temperatures over the next two days reached 101F, but we had a laugh
when one of our thermometers read 156F in the sun. That was a really
sweaty day.
My stench has matured to an official hiker smell, combining scents of
musky BO, ramen seasoning and acetone. This is a smell that
infiltrates your clothing, tent, and sleeping bag and continuously
oozes from your pores. You cannot stop it. No soap or deoderant can
eliminate it. It is your diet, toxins leaving your system and...well,
a general lack of showering in 100 degree heat.
We definitely stank up the McDonalds after a 26-mile day through the
dry San Bernadino Mountains, but that didn't stop us from collectively
inhaling over 14,000 calories of fast food. The calorie-consumption
championship went to the Walking Sisters, Aya and Sayo, who each
consumed over 2300 calories, pulling in the win with an Angus burger
with mushrooms, mayo and swiss, ten-piece chicken nuggets, supersize
fries and Coke, and an 8oz. McFlurry.
Team Zero hiked over 100 miles in four days, leaving only 4.8, at
least two of which were on more snow, for this morning. My friend
David came up from San Diego and picked us up at the road, bringing
shoes for Cubby and gourmet chocolate for us to share! (see our happy
photo above)
I am again soaking my feet in Wrightwood, but I am happy to report
that I have conquered the mammoth bottom-of-the-foot blister. Time to
recover after another grueling section.
Song for this section: "Uprising" by Muse..."They will not force us.
They will stop degrading us. They will not control us. We will be
victorious." After listening to this during the last 104 miles, I am
fairly certain that they were writing about desert blisters. Here's to
victory over blisters, and 84.9 miles to the Gateway to the Mojave
Desert--the Saufleys house in Agua Dulce.
For more on our trip and to read my featured column of ridiculous
quotations, "known as Sticky Notes", go to www.trailjournals.com/bostonandcubby
.