ICT Day 2: May 28th, 2021

Our morning started cold and early. I guess cold in the desert is easier than hot. We're shooting for a 13 mile day. The most I've ever hiked in one day is 10 miles, with no weight on my back.. so I have no idea how my body is going to react. I am determined though. It's supposed to be 65 most of the day today so I won't have the weather against me.

We woke up at around 5:30am and we headed out at 6:30am. The morning was absolutely beautiful. The air was quiet and crisp. The sun was rising out of the desert, making it explode with color. The birds were singing and hopping through the sage brush. I truly felt like I had woken up in a National Geographic documentary. The morning woke me up and gave me energy. Despite only having 4 hours of halfway decent sleep.

Side question: am I ever going to sleep all the way through the night out here?

Elijah decided to hike at his own pace, which is about twice as fast as me. He's comfortably hitting 3-3.5 miles an hour. I'm averaging 1.5. But I also sit and have a break like every 20 minutes. I also take a ton of pictures. And I like to watch bugs. I know, weird to say, but they are so fascinating to observe.

I watched an ant for 25 minutes trying to find the best route to take a dead beetle back to the colony. He (his behavior seemed very "he"ish) would drag the beetle a little ways until he came to an obstacle. Then he'd drop the bug and run around looking for the most efficient way to get past it. After trying a few different routes, he'd find the best one then run back to the beetle and drag it on the chosen course. He worked so hard to get that beetle back to the colony.

One of my favorite things about being outside, whatever the activity, is just watching how nature works. On its own. Away from people and man-made things. This is why I try not to kill bugs or destroy bug homes when I'm out hiking. This is their home. They're out here living their best desert bug life. Who am I to take that away from them? They're intelligent and obviously have better problem solving skills than I do.

Except for mosquitos...they're evil leeches. And that's an insult to leeches. I don't know who made God angry enough to create those things. I'd take being covered in flies than deal with one mosquito. At least flies are curious in their annoyingness.

13 miles was rough for me. I wanted to be done at 10. It had only been 5 hours, but my body didn't want to do any more. I only had 2 liters of water to last me until the next water cache (mile 17) so I didn't really have the safe option to stop for the day. So I just had a long lunch break. I'm trying not to compare myself to all the other hikers that are in my circle and who I follow on social media. I hear the phrase "hike your own hike" all the time. But there's still a bit of a stigma that I can't shake. I feel like the thru-hiker culture has this weird obsession with how many miles are you averaging. The higher the average the "better" you are at backpacking. This is something that I'm trying to push past mentally. I came out here for an adventure and to push myself, maybe prove something to myself too. So I'm just trying to remind myself that the adventure is here. Right in front of me. Whether it's 10 miles a day or 30.

We got to camp around 3pm. Well.... Elijah got to camp at 12pm (he actually backtracked about a mile to come check on me because I was taking so long). We're having a nap and an early dinner tonight. The plan is to wake up whenever the sun wakes us up and we'll take the miles tomorrow as they come.