Friday August 22, 25.4mi/40.9km

Bruneau Desert (63.9/3780ft) to Bengoechea cabin ruins (38.5/4590ft) (ID)

Another 5:30 wakeup and on the trail just after 6am, it was pretty chilly.

It felt good to be moving when it’s cold, the heat makes me lethargic. After a mile the sun came up and my hands started to thaw.

The early morning light really makes some amazing pictures.

Pretty soon the sun was higher in the sky and it was no longer cold, and by mid-morning it was a little too warm. The trail followed a bunch of old dirt roads in this section, thankfully there are markers at each junction, it’s easy to space out and miss a turn.

By late morning I was heading down into a small canyon for Clover Creek, where there’s a little oasis called Winter Camp.

Apparently it’s a tiny parcel of private property surrounded by BLM land, so you have to sign into their register before proceeding.

It was exciting to see some trees again, it feels like I hadn’t seen trees in forever. I miss my arboreal friends.

Winter camp is also a water source which is a critical one, coming at the end of a 40 mile dry section and starting the next 45 mile dry section. But I didn’t see any water in the creek. Ummm…

The dirt road paralleled the creek for a mile, and I kept a very close eye on the creek, which looked dry every spot I checked.

There were a bunch of old junk cars and farming equipment scattered around, and also some neat old stone buildings on the property.

I was almost at the other end of the property and getting quite worried, since I hadn’t seen any water yet. I know of only two other hikers that have come through here in August, both of them had flowing water in the creek. I crossed the creek on a small road bridge, and underneath the bridge there were small stagnant puddles. Hooray.

I filtered my maximum capacity which is 7 liters, to get me to the next water source 45 miles away. Filtering took a long time as the water was quite silty and it was definitely killing my filter. To hide the cow flavoring, I added some Crystal light and also a bunch of little salt packets I got from town.

My hands were tired from squeezing the filter bottle, and by noon it was time to leave the comfort of the shade and climb out of the canyon.

The roads were pretty nice all day, no annoying tumbleweeds clogging the wheel tracks like yesterday. And I had pretty sweet views of the Bruneau canyon, a few miles off to my right.

But mostly the theme of the afternoon was surviving the heat, my umbrella was a lifesaver both for hiking and taking breaks. Most of the bushes here are tiny, but I was able to find a tall one that made some shade and also became an umbrella holder.

I used the same strategy as yesterday, hiking most of the afternoon, but taking a break during the hottest part of 3-5pm. Luckily around that same time, a few thin clouds moved in, which felt great.

At the very end of the day I had a small climb, and as I came over the rise in the hill I saw mountains to the south of me. Mountains! Those must be the Jarbidge Mountains in the Nevada, just over the border.

I ended up camping near a dilapidated old cabin. I bet these cabin walls would have provided some nice shade during midday.

I definitely noticed the higher elevation with the nighttime temperatures being colder. Hopefully tomorrow will be a cooler and cloudier day.