Tuesday May 6, 13.5mi/21.7km

Above Amargosa River (430.7/880ft) to Tecopa Hot Springs (444.2/1400ft) (CA)

I woke up early, excited to get to town today. My shadow followed me across the canyon all morning.

For the first few miles, the old railroad grade was pretty smooth and great.

Some of the cuts through cliffs were filled with bits of rocky rubble, it seems the bedrock around here is very loose.

I came to a confluence in the wash, where all the ATV riders split off and went up Sperry wash.

The guidebook mentions three spots where the old railroad trestles are gone, and I have to go down and cross the creek through bushes and weeds.

The first one wasn’t bad. I got my feet wet, but otherwise it was easy to find a route through the tamarisk and mesquite bushes. Then I was back up on the old railroad grade for a mile.

Again, another trestle was missing and I had to cross the Amargosa River.

This one was a bit more challenging. I had to push my way through a short section of aquatic grass.

But it only took 20 minutes and I left with my spirit intact. I made a cairn on the crossing bank for any future hikers.

Back up on the old railroad grade, it was easy walking for another half mile.

The cliffs to my right had this cool fluted pattern.

And then the railroad grade ended for the third time, and the day went to hell. This was my last crossing of the Amargosa River, and it took a couple of hours….to go only 200m/600ft. I only took one photo in the middle of some tamarisk thicket.

It was by far the worst bushwhack I’ve ever done, and involved using all my strength to push through some of the thick brush. A few places I had to turn around and find less thick brush, as I just couldn’t get through. I was afraid I would have to turn around and retrace all my steps today and exit back at the dunes I passed yesterday. After a lot of mud, pollen, sweat and some blood, I emerged 2 hours later on the opposite bank. I was now determined to find a way forward, since I would never go back through that thicket again. I was able to follow the edge of the river where it met a rocky slope.

After a quarter mile of relatively easy walking, I was out on some gravelly flats which was nice.

And then I had to re-cross the river, but here it was only grasses to walk through, and these were only knee-high and pretty easy.

I am emerged back on the railroad grade and trail, and from there it was a pretty easy 4 miles to the town.

I hadn’t seen these white flowers before.

I got to Tecopa at 3pm, it’s basically just a post office, brewery, and cafe.

It’s Tuesday so all the businesses were closed, but I sat on the front porch for an hour and collected myself and charged my phone. Then I finished the day with a 2-mile roadwalk to the Tecopa Hot Springs. This was a funny sign, I’ve never heard of this species of bird.

The Hot Springs! It’s a campground and has showers and also my resupply box.

The caretaker for the campground wasn’t on site today, but I happened to meet some long-term occupants, James and Lena, who were very generous. They gave me some cold drinks, fed me dinner, and drove me to another local hot springs.

After we got back from the hot springs, the maintenance guy had finished fixing the plumbing and I was able to take a wonderful shower. It had been 10 days since my last shower. Tomorrow I will attempt to hitch to either Baker CA or Las Vegas, and catch a Greyhound bus down to the California coast, for my next hike!