10/21 Fri. – A couple of people stopped to ask where I was going and if I needed anything.  When I got to Illipah I went over to read the historical marker and VIOLA, Craig and Jen pulled up.  Had a nice supper (green beans, salmon, salad, and pumpkin pie!)  Camped at reservoir.

 

10/22 Sat. – Did water drops and fuel all the way till town of Milford J  Jennifer and Craig helped me with all my water drops throughout all of Nevada !!!  Instead of 15 miles, I’m now going 20 miles because I’ll be going through much lonelier roads. In UT.  They brought all my things and went to hike with me in CO.

 

10/23 Sun. –Camped last night in Great Basin NP – Awesome dinner:  salad, mini cabbage, pasta, pumpkin pie, and chocolateJ.  This a.m. went on tour of Lehman Caves .  It’s so nice to have spent this time with Jen and Craig – they’re fun to be with and extremely thoughtful in showing support.  Even brought me food to leave in Baker (pop. 100).  Dried fruit, etc.  that I’d have at a different time.  At the entrance to the Lehman caves and campground along the fence were masks, plastic bag pumpkins, a string spider web, chicken playing putt putt, skeleton with a ski.  Mars shining brightly.

 

10/24 Mon. – Met a man walking, he asked for water – I didn’t have much left, but I filled up his water bottle.  I asked where he was going, he said Reno to look for a job.  I tried making conversation but he just continued on – never said thank you.  It bothered me he didn’t thank me – then I thought about all he must be going through and wished I had offered him food.  Found water drop, Jen had written “squirrels keep off” on the lid.  Have been digging thorns out of my skin daily.  Today I did a lot of swashbuckling – walking through the grass & sagebrush, I need to slow myself down because I don’t want to get to town before Wed. a.m. 

 

10/25 Tues. – Slept in, that’s ok because I want to wait to get into town until tomorrow morning – I’ll enjoy my time out here.  I wish I had a book to read.  I miss music.  Am relaxing in the sun, stretching and writing postcards.  When I am spending a day hiking it is actually a challenge to make myself go slow.  I am used to taking time in town rather than on the trail.  When I’m used to 20 mi. days, it feels slow to go 13 mi.

 

10/26 Wed. – Last night I slept out under the stars.  I got a lot of frost on my sleeping bag from my breath.  I need to find a way to keep my bag dry since it is down.  Entered town, went to the library and got a lot done through email.  I checked the towns’ website to see if there were any service clubs other than the rotary club that I’ll be speaking to tomorrow.  At 12:05 I found out that the Lions Club was meeting at 12:15 , I hustled the mile & got in luck.  There wasn’t another guest speaker.  I am enjoying the spontaneous opportunities to give talks.  Later I went to the grocery store and found myself humming to the music.  How I miss music when I am on the trail!  Stopped at the thrift store to see if they had any shoes that I could replace my boots with – no luck.  Spoke to the rotary contact and was put up @ the infamous Hotel Nevada.  I stayed in the Mickey Rooney room and enjoyed a hot shower and spent the night sewing up all the tears in my clothes and pack.  I found myself mesmerized by the T.V.  rarely watch it even if off the trail.  I channel surfed and stayed up late.  I went to do laundry and realized I didn’t have enough change – a nice lady gave me some $ and didn’t want to be repaid – instead I’ll send her postcards.  Superglued the painful cracks in my feet, a trick learned from Richie.

 

10/27 Thursday – Spoke to the rotary club.  Realizing that there are very few large towns that I’ll be passing through in Utah , I needed to get my pictures transferred to a CD.  There was no Walgreen’s, but I found a photo shop that could do it, I payed the price!  Spoke to children, that met at the library for a Halloween party, about Kenya and my hike.  I dressed as a hiker.  It gets dark so early.  Am leaving town in a drizzle and the dark.  I enjoy hiking in the rain, so long as I can dry my gear in the sun tomorrow.

 

Fri Oct 28^th: Cloudy day. I marveled at the sight of the hills. Last night snow covered up the range that I had just walked over yesterday. I seem to be ahead of the rain and snow. Somehow I miss getting drenched and pelted, observing it from a distance. As I walk Eastwards thru Nevada I am reminded of the landscape of Kenya near where I had lived for nine months. I had loved to go walking around the countryside, witnessing the way people lived, breathing in their way of life. Nevada is the size of Kenya, both are dry environments, and while Kenya has the 2^nd largest mountain in Africa, Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state in the continental US. Today it is cold, I saw my first elk, road kill. Walking along the roads, I get to see more dead than alive large animals.

 

Sat Oct 29th: Woke to rain which turned to hail and then to light snow. I got a late start due to wanting to stay warm in my sleeping bag. Finally got hiking about 10 AM, walked along an old road that skirted the main road. It is nice to avoid vehicles. I stopped off at

Majors Place

, had soup and hot choc. heavy on the choc. J Met a guy from St.Louis who is driving around the country funding his trip by drawing portraits for people. Continued walking across the basin and watched as a storm rained down just a couple miles in front of me. Another storm was also coming from the North. It was amazing to watch as they slowly moved across the sky blocking out the sunlight just slightly ahead of me, somehow both missing getting me wet. Saw 3 separate rainbows at separate places at different times of the storms.  

 

Sun Oct 30^th: Woke to rain inside my tent. Looked outside and am in a cloud. I am unable to see the mountainous rock I am hiking parallel to. It has a neat cave I wanted to look at better with the binoculars, it was too dark last night and today I am unable to even see the mountains. I hope the reason my tent is wet inside is because yesterday I was unable to dry it out from the rain and today the encompassing fog permeates everything with moisture. Hopefully it hasn’t lost its waterproofing. Watched in awe as the area came into view, at times playing hide and seek , peeking from beneath the clouds only to be hidden again. By lunchtime the veil of fog lifted and I hung everything out to dry while I basked in the sun and recharged my batteries. Then the clouds came and got me hiking again. Night hiked to the Border Inn (an extra 6 miles off the trail). While in I was in Ely speaking to the Rotary club I was invited to stay for free from the owner.

 

Mon Oct 31^st: Happy Halloween! Was treated to breakfast and headed Westward to backtrack 6 miles to where I needed to turn South. Utah will be a lot of hiking in all directions. There is so much beauty that I will not be only heading East but going North and South as well as West. I could spend a lot of time rambling around out here! I walked into the town of Baker and was so happy that Jen and Craig decided to have a bag of food left for me at the ranger station in town when we came thru doing our water drops.  The store was closed and wouldn’t open for another 2 days. Out here the towns are small and far apart, as independent as I seem, it reinforces to me how dependant we are on one another. As St.Paul said, “We need one another”.  I lost one of my wild cane walking sticks and feel funny walking without a stick for each hand. A man gave me permission to look thru his brush pile, I found a thin yet strong stick to use. My feet hurt today, normally I elevate them on my pack when I sleep but forgot to last night. Went to the post office before leaving town and sent more stuff home to lighten my load. Sent home my boots, which give me tendonitis and will rely solely upon my sandals. If it gets cold I can wear socks with them, if it rains/snows I have some plastic bags I can wear in between layers of socks to keep my feet dry. Then I just have to deal with squeaky feet J Also sent home my esbit stove, will rely on my alcohol stove. Alcohol takes longer to heat up when it is cold, but it is much cheaper to buy, easier to find, simple to determine how much is needed and even small town gas stations sell it. I prefer to use HEET because of the size container and quality of alcohol. Methanol is preferred and then ethanol. Isopropyl may be used but it burns sooty.