Yesterday morning, after stumbling out of my sleeping bag, I used half of my remaining water to cook up some oatmeal and the other half to drink, do dishes, and brush my teeth. By the time I started to hike, my bottles were dry. I had 13 miles through South Platte Canyon to go until the next water source.
The canyon was a fire pit. The area is still scarred from a fire that happened over 5 years ago. Trees were chared and toppled over, and the tallest flora were yucca plants whose blades rose no higher than my waist. This meant no shade. I overestimated my mileage on day one, and after hiking sans-water for 8 miles, I figured out that I still had five more to go before hitting a seasonal stream. The tempurature was 80 degrees and rising, along with my light headedness and jolts of pain splitting through my muscles. After emerging from the burn area and with three miles to go until water, the extremely remote trail intersected a parking lot where cyclists were loading and unloading their bikes off and on their SUVs. I knew that someone must have had an extra pint of water. I stumbled over to a father and son who had dumped half-a-bag of ice into a cooler. They gave me the other half. Within five minutes, I had melted down the ice with my stove and sucked in a liter of water like a dry rag. I was still thursty, but it was enough to hold me over until I got to the stream, where I sat for an hour, purifying liter after liter of fresh water with tablets of iodine.
I learned my lesson. The next water source was another five miles away, which is where I set up camp. After pitching my tent and laying out my bag, I went to dip my bottle in the rushing stream to gather water for dinner. I lost my balance and sank both feet into the ice-cold run-off. I built a small fire to dry my shoes and socks, and hit the sack before I did anything else that was stupid. In the morning, I was gathering more water for breakfast when I slipped on a rock and fell in again in a second time.
I just got done doctoring some blisters. I highly discourage hiking 21 and a half miles with wet feet.
After I was finished screwing around in the water, I packed up camp and moved along. The morning was nice; it's a Monday, so I'm guessing all the biker guys went back to work. I didn't see a face until about 5:00 this afternoon when I came upon a trail mantenance crew. There were about 10 volunteers, drinking beer and preparing dinner. They offered to me to stay for dinner, and after a beer with some sweet potatoes, ham, and casserole, I hiked on into the dark. After five miles of night-hiking, I finally found some flat ground where I pitched my tent and set up camp.
I'm dead tired. I'll finish this entry tomorrow.
