It was cool and cloudy this morning waking up in Butler Wash. We kept track of our location in this long and windy wash by tracking our turns and referring to the topo map pretty often, then had some cross-country orienteering to do. Dave is the real navigator, but I’m doing more as I learn more and it’s pretty fun. We did some rock scrambling and climbing which kept it interesting today, and the scenery changed throughout the day as we climbed up into pinyon and juniper out of the sandy bottom. Cooler weather is coming and a bit of rain looks possible. We’ll enjoy it while we can, as we know the heat is going to dominate most of this hike through the desert.

The miles in this section are harder and slower than the first two sections with rugged terrain and lots of sand. It’s not strenuous so much as it just takes a bit more out of us. We were 8 hours today from camp to camp, including breaks adn photos. We’re learning that all miles are not created equal.

Our bodies are really adapting to the hiking. We’re tired at the end of the day, but not sore or stiff to the extent we were the first few days. This part of each trip always fascinates me as I feel my body responding and adapting to what I’m asking of it.

TRAIL NOTES:
We saw a pothole of water at the top of Butler Wash, which may last a few weeks. We also found water in the spring at section 3, mile 24.7 piped into a tub with lots of cat tails growing in it.