Day 30

Night hiking was unlike any other hiking we’ve done so far. We woke at 12:45, leaving camp with glow sticks at 1:30 as we began our way toward the aqueduct and impending heat.

By 3 am we turned out our lights and trusted our feet to find the ground beneath us as we made our way across the large pipe that broke above ground for about six miles of our evening. The rest of the time we walked along dirt roads, until we came to a bridge 17 miles in. We caught sunrise, and basked in the glory of the cool air and beautiful stars and moon above us.

The 6.6 miles that followed, from 8:30 to 11, were pure misery. The air was a casual 85 degrees by 8 am, and we knew we would be setting out into an oven for our final miles and climb to water. We knew our destination has shade, and that we planned to take our first real siesta there before pushing further in the evening hours.

These 6.6 were a blur of delerium; we were so tired that we weren’t sure if we were dreaming, and so hot that sweat leaked from our eye lids and down our legs. We climbed 2000 feet and somehow after 24 miles and 9.5 hours, made it to our destination.