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Water, water in the desert…finally! (D-12)

Whitewater River appears out of nowhere and crosses the trail and what a pleasure it was to encounter it today.  Immediately took off my shoes & stood in the water for a long time. Aaaahhh!  😆.  And then, came across Mission Creek (below) at lunchtime.
Though this creek looks small, it was a big deal as it was continuously flowing with a good flow rate and it went on for a long distance. In fact, had to go back & forth across the Creek at least 20 times today. Even the campsite that I finally ended up in the evening was next to the Creek - literally 20 steps away.  This is common in the Seirra Nevada mountains, but I didn't think it would happen in the desert.  Took advantage of the nearby water to hand wash some of my clothes in the Creek (of course, without any soap so as not to pollute the water) to remove some of the grime.  I was not going to dry them inside the tent this time (remember D-4). So, while I was trying to figure out how to hang them onto the tent, what do I spy but a clothespin on the ground 🥹...just the exact thing I wanted at that exact moment 🙂.

Clothespin on the ground exactly as I found it, next to my tent!

All clothes hung to dry overnight

Remember the wind farms that I mentioned yesterday. Well, this morning, I passed by the field office of this wind farm company & knowing that they welcomed PCT hikers, I went in.  The office workers were so nice that they offered free coffee, use of restroom, phone charging as well as a refrigerator full of packed food for low prices. They literally said please go ahead and use whatever is available in the office. Another set of fantastic trail angels!

Got the free coffee and $2 ice-cream for breakfast 🙂

Some pics from the day:

The trail
Trail on the ridge
Mile-marker
Data:

Comments

[v] said…
That's lot of elevation daily for you! Hope you had a good bath in the creek
Shiva said…
Finding a clothespin in the middle of nowhere, right when you need it! Time to become superstitious, Ravi! 😜

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