The days we spent crossing the Mojave really tested us. The temperature extremes were beyond anything I've ever experienced. The brutal heat was especially bad and left us all exhausted and dehydrated at the end of the day. So we decided to nocturnalize ourselves for a night to compensate. We started off at 2 am and marched with the light of the full moon glowing over us. This was one of the most sacred experiences I've had thus far on the march. The peacefulness of the night brought us to a tranquil silence that felt almost tangible.
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| Moonset over a beautiful desert landscape |
After about 3.5 hours of walking, daylight gently spread across the landscape preceding the appearance of the sun. Then as we saw the sun start to rise above the mountains, we looked back and saw the moon simultaneously sinking below the mountains behind us. It was truly a spectacular sight to behold and one that I will never forget.
We arrived at camp around 7:30 am at which time I almost immediately passed out. I did not even both to get out my sleeping pad, I just lay on the desert sand in the shade of a boulder mound and fell asleep. Unlike the others I had stayed awake until our 2 am departure video editing so I was dead tired.
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| Zach at the 3/4 point |
Later on in the day a few of us decided to hike up a mountain as a sort of celebratory activity for Zach's last day on the march. The mountain was deceptive though. From a distance it looked like we could summit it about 20 minutes. In reality it took about 45 minutes to get up and over an hour to get down.
As we hiked up, Zach and I were having a blast challenging ourselves to climb the most difficult routes we could find, but it soon became apparent to us that there were a few people who had underestimated the integrity of the ascent and were intimidated by it. Michael who I'd for some reason assumed to have climbing experience was one of them. But he admirably persevered and was very glad that he did. Once on top, we could see for miles. The vastness and beauty of the landscape was indescribably breathtaking. It was so daunting to look down at our camp in the distance. It looked as if it might have been an ant village from the height we were at. Opportunities such as this one to get a birds-eye view of the amazing landscape we are crossing are what really keep me motivated to continue the long grueling days on the road.
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| Michael sitting triumphantly at the summit |
