Day 48: Landers camp - middle of high Mojave desert south of birdspringpass (mi 609- 628)

Smiles lounging in camp before the day's hike. Ignorance is bliss.

We awoke in the pine forest, next to a spring and a mountain meadow, with no idea what the day had in store for us. Looking at the elevation profile, it didn't seem too difficult. Water was scarce, but it had been throughout the desert, and the caches were well-stocked. As we cruised along the relatively flat topography and descended east off the crest, the pine trees grew shorter and more brutish, and eventually disappeared. The temperature increased violently by 10 o'clock, and my new invention of the '5-watt umbrella' (I lashed my charger to the umbrella to provide optimum charging) received great use. We saw a beautiful specimen of long-nosed leopard lizard, a sure sign we were in the desert again. 

A long- nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) pauses for a portrait during its morning forage.

We made it to the first cache around 10:45, and proceeded to spend most of the rest of the day in the shabby shade of the lone Joshua tree. Viking was already there, and we discussed our plans to get to the Sierras. He was convinced that there was "no shadow(=shade)" for miles, and was determined to go fast and light to get to Kennedy Meadows in 3 days. As he discussed his plan and tried to get us on board, he also mentioned that he was going to ditch some food to cut down on weight. He volunteered it to us, and we accepted, as it meant we also had a shot at making it to Kennedy Meadows without having to resupply in town at Onyx in a couple days. Logistics done, we got to the meat of the day, which was huddling and waiting. Soon after, the rest of the Wolfpack arrived and crowded into the 'shadow.' Happy Hour and Squeaks joined in what passed for the last of the shade, as we strung up tarps and umbrellas in the tree to augment the minimal natural shade. Around one, we saw a woman, her mother, and their dog pile out of a minivan, help themselves to about 10 liters of cache water, and attempt to start out. The younger woman turtled due to the water weight she was carrying, so she poured out 3 liters of cache water (yes, that's right) on the ground. We all sat, aghast, not sure what to make of the situation. This was not a well-known trailhead, and was a very hostile landscape. They obviously knew enough to locate the trailhead AND to rely on the cache, which PCT thru-hikers generally needed to survive, but were seemingly oblivious to the desert conditions, as they struck out in the middle of the day while no fewer than 12 experienced hikers did the exact opposite, huddling in the shade, about 60 feet away. We discussed whether we should do, or say, anything to them as we pondered their skill, knowledge and intentions and eventually determined that they must know what they were getting into.

Clockwise from upper left, Squeaks, Happy Hour, Viking, Lunchbox, Smiles, Sour Cream, Rocky, Chik-chak, and Starfox huddle beneath the meager shade during the heat of the day.

Rocky took a group shot of everyone, though they are still doing the same as before. Viking was somehow not smoking a cigarette.

We struck out at 3:45 PM,  convinced that at least it wasn't going to get any hotter, as we had some miles to make up after the protracted midday break. The landscape ahead did not look inviting. In fact, it was amongst the most hostile we had seen on the trip, and did not appear to have any promise of ending soon.

A most hostile landscape to look forward to after lunch, at 4 PM, when it was still easily 105 degrees.

It was still over 100 degrees, and the sun melted one of the USB cords I needed for my battery charger. Great. We pressed on, and within a mile and a half we found the older woman who set out four hours earlier. She was suffering from heat illness, still sitting in the sun, and Smiles and I convinced her to lay down in the shade and not attempt moving until it cooled off significantly. The woman also said that her hydration bladder was leaking - a poor development for the desert. We attempted to give her water, but she maintained she had enough, and that we should tell her daughter of her location and disposition. We climbed up, remarking how hot it still was, as both of us had donned our reflective umbrellas.

Smiles uses her chrome dome to shield the desert sun.

We encountered the older woman's daughter and dog after the hour-long climb and told her that her mom was suffering from heat illness and appeared to be in poor condition to continue. The younger woman seemed relatively nonplussed by the news, and we asked whether she had Halfmile's water report. Alarmingly, she was also nonplussed by the fact that such a document existed, as it was quite literally our lifeline. We passed on the information provided by the water report and pressed on, hoping that they/she would make the right decision to turn back and choose a more enjoyable backpacking trip rather than die in the desert. Later, we found that the rest of the Wolfpack had similar encounters, with Lighthouse and Starfox exhorting the younger woman to turn back and not kill her poor mother.

Finally back to a civilized temperature, below 100 degrees, around 6:45 in the evening, Smiles and I made good headway for the first time all day. More desert mountains lie ahead.

After 6:30, it perceptibly began to cool off, and we kicked it up a notch. The rest of the Wolfpack camped soon after, as they had a longer hike than us in the morning. The sunset was long, beautiful and filled with the rosy hues one dreams of for desert sunsets.

Why is she smiling? Because it cooled down to 70. Smiles at sunset in the hills of the Mojave desert, approximately 20 miles southwest of Ridgecrest.

Dr. Slosh in the desert sunset, still looking for elusive tortoises in the late part of the high season.

Smiles stands next to an impressively large Joshua tree.

We burned a few more miles in the dark, cool environment and made a quick camp four miles south of the second cache, boiling a nice ramen for dinner and retiring to bed with a few episodes of Arrested Development on my iPhone, ready for a long, hot day tomorrow and a quick pre-dawn wakeup.