Saturday May 9, 2026. Clear and 54 going up to 78.
Up at 5:50. On trail at 6:30. Hikes .3 to water, filtered 3 liters, and started the 12 mile trek through the desert to the next water.
Crossed 200 miles this morning.
Reached water at 11:45 and 12.5 miles. Water faucet courtesy of local water department. Non-Potable. I nursed my last little bit of water to get here.
I was beat when I got here. Found a bit of shade behind and under a boulder. That was a fast, hard, hot, shadeless trek through a very boring desert on a narrow path today.
Now I just have 4 miles in 95 degrees and no shade across this.
Awesome self-service trail magic about 2 miles into this death march.
I haven’t done a trail hiking video in a while, and this is very different than the last one.
YouTube video of Desert Death March.
I was so happy to drag my butt under the I-10 underpass and take a break after that last 4 miles. Totally fried.
Reached the San Jacinto Hiker Haven hostel at 2:05 and 16.79 miles. Thank God! What a tough last 5 miles. I’m fried. Lots of hikers here that I know.
Showered, washed laundry, ate, got pack ready for. Mother long hot day tomorrow. We hope to be on trail by 5:00 to beat the heat.
Technical Notes:
- Pop Tarts 340
- Slim Jim 175
- Cookies 500
- Frozen pizza 1550
- Propel x 1
- Water liters: 8
- Miles: 16.79
- Time: 7:45
- Up: 692
- Down: 5787
- Calories consumed: 2600
- Calories burned: 2846
- iPhone battery used: 70%
Leave a Reply