Posted by 22 miles
What more could a hiker ask for on trail than waking up to hot coffee and a breakfast burrito being cooked. That is what we were treated to this morning as Camp Oasis. The perfect start to a hiking day. I cannot express my gratitude enough for the volunteers at this camp.
It was about 30 miles into the township of Cuba and not a distance that I was going to pull today but I was keen to get within 10 miles to have a nero (next to zero miles) into town the following day. I bid my best to get away from camp at 7am but it was tough dragging myself from comfort.
It would be a cruisy sort of day, just hike and do the miles but tougher than expected. Throughout the day there was a series of up and down climbing from the top of one mesa down to the valley and back up again.
X-Ray and I would leap frog each other all day, overtaking one another as the other pulled up for a rest in the shade.
The real highlight for the day was the cool air. It was obvious from the dark clouds and change in conditions rain could be expected at some stage. I rearranged some gear to have rain layers at the ready.
It tried to rain a couple of times, the humidity very high but the few rain drops that did fall weren’t much and had a cooling effect.
Later on a massive haboob (dust storm) would kick up on and we were on the outskirts. While the dust didn’t hike late in the day a proper storm came through. It was enough to pull the rain jacket out. I kept walking sort of thankful for a change in conditions and something new to adapt to.
Rain settled the dust. Each step I took, picked up a layer of wet sand revealing the dry sand underneath making it easy for anyone behind to know there was someone in front.
I had a feeling the rain was here to stay and was sufficiently wet to pitch the tent about 8 miles from Cuba around 5pm. I should have kept walking as within an hour the skies had cleared and the sun back out. I could have saved my tent from getting wet but oh well.
Mick Beckers 