Wednesday: (04/06) On trail at 0715. Tortoise and Dump Truck departed about 15 minutes before I did.
It was about 6 more miles with a good climb over grassy hills (above left) through a wind farm to get to Tylerhorse Canyon (above right) where there was a nice clear water creek where I met up with Tortoise and Dump Truck again. They left shortly and I filled my water and had lunch.
The trail thereafter was 8 miles of about the worst trail possible. The trail was up and down and repeat on the extremely steep sided mountains that were made of sand. the trail tread was narrow to nothing having to cross many washed out areas. It was warm, possibly low 80′s as well. Later this month when the herd starts coming through, the trail will get worse and the heat will be real. The mountain slopes are almost all exposed to the sun, little shade.
Some slippery sand slopes here.
Obviously there has been water here but is is already dry as a bone.
The mountain on the far side of the valley is twice as tall as this side and this side goes down more than 1000 feet. if you look close you can see the zig-zag trail winding up it forever.
Above left is a typical rest stop. Just throw off the pack and rest the sholders for a few minutes. It was a climb but there was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise at the eventual top of the mountain at MM549, a cache with water and chairs (above right). I had dinner there 1800. After that, I night hiked to get 20 miles and at about 2030 met up with Tortoise and Dump Truck six miles down the mountain where they were already camped around MM555. I joined them for the night. There were lots of burnt trees fallen down across the trail. On the night hike I managed to fall while trying to climb through a fallen tree and managed to get really dirty with charcoal from the burnt tree.
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