12 miles, easy

Dave’s parents drove us to the start and Rich took pictures of us as we walked down the dirt road to begin.

It felt great to be moving since we had been working so hard the last week finishing preparations, and completing our work. Dave finished his engineering work a week before, and I just finished my last web design project a couple of days ago. It was difficult to be in the moment because I had just found out our Outside Forever website had been hacked into again. But as the day went on I let it go, and my eyes saw the desert landscape clearer and I smelled the dry sandy dirt and sage.

We found our camp spot on a slickrock ledge above Courthouse Wash below Willow Springs, setting up just at dusk. As we ate dinner, the golden moon–a hair past full–rose over the distant bluffs.