22.9 miles
701.5 678.6 AZT mile marker
Lots of coyotes howling last night once again; a common sound out here. It is one pack all howling and then maybe another some distance away joining in.
Woke up to a dry tent for once which was great. On the trail at sunrise and small rolling hills through the desert for the morning. Nothing too exciting.
We stopped 5 miles in at our first water source. It was a heavily used muddy cow pond. I still had some water left so I grabbed some of the dirty water in case I had to use it before the next source.
The hills got a little bigger and we wound our way through them, going from saddle to saddle and occasionally descending slightly to cross washes. The sun was out in force. It wasn’t that warm, probably just the 60s, but the direct sunlight makes it feel so much warmer. There wasn’t much shade for most of the day, and we took our lunch break under a mesquite tree which doesn’t offer much if you’ve ever seen one.
We had water spaced about every 5 miles today which was nice. I got to the next flowing trickle before I needed to tap into my cow water so I gladly dumped and replaced it with much fresher water. We were later able to get water from a tank that was leaking. There was no spigot on the tank, but I was able to collect the leaking water. Most of the water I have been getting lately is either from man made ponds or water tanks, both used to water cattle. Otherwise this would be a much more difficult trip.
I got ahead of Kevin at the end of the day through some larger rolling hills and mountains. The grasses and lighting made everything appear magical, especially when the sun was going down and the shadows were deepening.
We camped next to a flowing stream to cap off the regular water sources for the day. I found a dry spot tucked under a juniper for my tent which I hoped would keep off the condensation. It was obviously well used by cows, but it wasn’t hard to kick the dried cow patties out of the way.
A coldness descended on the valley we were in as it got dark. Valleys can trap cold and it seems like it could be a cold night. The coyotes were going again right after it got dark.
Today had a pleasantness to it. It wasn’t the most dramatic scenery, but there were portions of it especially later in the day that were a bit magical to walk through.