Mile 29.6 - 43 Near Kitchen Creek to Mount Laguna

Tracy woke up this morning hearing little sounds that she only heard when she put her head back on her makeshift pillow. After analyzing the toothy, scuffly movements and poking her head out the tent door to confirm, she announced we were sleeping on top of a gopher's nest.

It felt cold and the tent was covered in dew and condensation. When shaking the moisture off I realized some of it was actually ICE! Such a strange environment. Walking in sand at some points, seeing cacti and desert flowers, all the visuals say 'hot' but the breeze and the nights are icy. Today was the first cloudless day so out came my wide brimmed hat and Tracy's solar umbrella. Getting hot.

Though we didn't need to carry so much water today because there was water between stops, and we were down to just a smidgen of food, it was still very hard. My shoulders were in spasm from time to time and Tracy is walking on blisters with twinges of shin splints. We decided to do a shorter walk tomorrow.

Tonight we are at cabin in Mount Laguna, sharing with Jill and Mike, a lovely couple from Michegan. We took showers first and accidentally used up the hot water. Feel bad about it. I had to wash my feet twice to get the dirt off, and they're big feet.

Things are looking up. Today was the first day Tracy and I spoke to each other without shouting or to complain about a body part. And we get to sleep in tomorrow in our cabin!