We start the day with peanut butter pancakes and my bag weighing in at 33.65 pounds. We’re told there are camps at 11, 15, 20, and 26 miles; so we have options. We’re the second to leave camp as Venom, who carries his food as a combined powder with a bottle of oil to wash it down, has already left an hour before we woke up with the plan of doubling our mileage for the day. I’m enjoying the trailside clothes, longboard, and plants as I would on any hike.

Gert is the first to catch up to us, but he won’t be the last to pass us, including two day hikers. Ravi is with Hitchhiker and we see them again when passing our second six-foot rattlesnake of the day; both choosing a loud warning over a swift attack. The trail is thin and precarious in places with lots of plants growing over the trail, but the purple and yellow flowers add beauty to the eyes and nostrils.

We drop our bags on the ground at 1030am and this gives Rachel time to catch up as Graham and Sara are long gone as we take breaks to stretch and take in the views. We’ll soon leave her behind again as her family helped her prep for the length of the trip in one pack so she’s carrying more weight than Caleb, for now. We find a shady spot at 1pm and again at 245pm where we can rest. I’ll have drank 2.5L at this point.

Breakfast was missing protein so we stopped earlier to have our banana cocoa with 16oz of water to keep us fueled and hydrated. We know this desert gets hotter and appreciate the shade and every breeze as it blows. We see Gert and Ravi resting in the shade at 15 miles and should have stopped too, but the shortest break makes me feel renewed to go further.

We make it a mile up scree in the sun after an over ten-hour day and find a spot to sleep. Just as Caleb has the tent out of the bag, Grandpa from Germany shows up asking to share our space. He managed six miles with the amount of water needed to get through this heat which added so much weight. We scoot our tent over and cook our meals so we can all quickly pass out in total warmth.