Day 24 Camp Oasis

26 miles

My alarm rang at 5am but I just couldn’t do it hitting snooze twice. With some day light appearing I finally made the move to get up and moving. The worst part of the day – deflating my air mattress. With camp packed up I made my way down the canyon switchbacks to collect water from the spring passing the Crazy Frenchman’s tent on the way. He always sleeps until around 8am but always seems to catch me late in the day.

With water in hand and back out the canyon I ran into IQ and Steady about the make the descent down. They were already 6 miles in for the day having camped back along the road and must have left super early.

I started my hike for the day determined to do 26 miles to reach Camp Oasis, a trail angel camp that has been there through all of May. The promise of something cold to drink was too much for me. For days I had been drinking nothing but lukewarm water and I craved something icy cold. This was my single motivation through the day.

The morning portion of trail saw me walking through similar light pine cover on sandy tracks, the same that I hit late in the day. It was hotter than expected today and could be felt early on. No cool breeze this time around just hot air and a blazing sun. At least there was some shade.

It only dawned on me when reaching a short side trail that took me to a view why the trail was so flat in this area. I hadn’t really been paying attention to the contours. The trail had been following along the top of a Mesa or tabletop but well away from the edge. The side trail took me to the clear vantage point to appreciate just how high the mesa was. and what goes up must come down.

It was a long and winding descent down from the mesa to the bottom of a valley. My maps showed a fairly short route down but it didn’t account for the many switchbacks down the side, virtually doubling the distance and time I expected the descent to take.

Views opened up along the way revealing some of the distant mesas and ancient volcanics dotting the landscape. Some classic scenery from a western movie.

Reaching the bottom of the descent the trail immediately led back into open desert with stunted vegetation and zero shade. Dry and barren again for a while I feeling the heat and looking forward to reaching the next water source, a windmill, a mile or so on.

But before reaching the windmill I spied a hand drawn sign on the side of the trail “Trail Magic this way ➡️”. Too good to resist I followed my nose in the general direction reaching several tents and vehicles set up. X-Ray had just topped up with water and was heading back to trail. Wandering up to a shade tent I found Sherpa and Dolittle resting with cold drinks in hand. The camp host Sue introduced herself, had my water bottles topped up before I could say anything and pointed me in the direction of multiple coolers full on drinks. I sunk into a camp chair and didn’t know if I’d get back up that day it was so comfortable. The simple things. I was offered a stout and couldn’t refuse.

Sitting in the comfort of a chair, in shade, in good company and great conversation I slowly sipped my beer, savouring every last drop. I decided to stay and eat my lunch a little earlier than normal. Trail magic is always good but it’s when it is completely unexpected that it means the most. Genuine people deciding that they would go camping for a weekend and set up shop to support random hikers if such a selfless and kind act.

Alas, all good things must come to a end and I would not finish the CDT if I didn’t keep walking. I was five minutes out back out in the desert sun and feeling tipsy. Probably not the best move to stay hydrated.

The trail lead down low onto a dry river flat between towering mesas on either side. It was like an oven down here and completely energy sapping. I had topped up my water at the trail magic camp but was consuming it fast, stitching between plain water and electrolytes. I had nit consumed this much water in a long time and would have to top up again before reaching Camp Oasis.

The scenery was stunning, the hiking tough.

I reached the 600 mile marker along the way, 965 kilometres in 24 days a new record for me. On the PCT I hit the 500 mile marker at 25 days.

Pressing on I had 10 more miles to go and the day was getting away from me. It was so stifling hot I found I had ti take short breaks every 40 mins or so utilising the only shade I could find, my umbrella. All of my water bottles are stored on the outside of my pack and had slowly been heating in the sun. Drinking lukewarm water was now unbearable and the allure of something cold was the single driver pushing me forward.

5 miles to go I was called over to the last water cache of the day and shade by X-Ray. He had been cooling in the shade for 45mins. Just like my water bottles all the cache water had been marinating in the sun and was warm as well. Ugh!!

The final five miles for the day felt like the longest five miles ever. Stunning rock formations all around and a series of ups and downs from one mesa to the next. I tried my best to capture photos and video but was so sapped of energy in the heat I don’t think I paid as much attention to what was around me than I should have.

With 1.5 miles to go I caught up Christina. We chatted to whole way, pushing hard to reach camp by 7pm and salivating at the thought of a cold drink.

Finally we made and excitedly walked in Camp Oasis greeted by hosts Greg and Debbie. Now this wasn’t just any trail magic, this was Camp Oasis. Teams of volunteers had been camped here all month just for CDT hikers and had done so four years in a row. We were directed into chairs, the put feet up and offered cold sodas. Ah…. So good and just what I needed.

X-Ray came in followed shortly by the Crazy Frenchman.

Our hosts then went about cooking up some real food for us all. A round of breakfast burritos was put away in hungry hiker fashion, followed by pasta with meat balls. Again so good. So very thankful.