Friday August 29, 12.2mi/19.6km

Twelvemile Hot Springs (1156.6/5790ft) to Wells (1144.4/5660ft) (NV)

After I finished packing up camp, I took another quick soak in the hot springs. They were quite a bit more steamy in the cold morning air.

I backtracked the 2 miles down the canyon, back to the main route. It was pretty cold in the canyon and the sunlight wouldn’t be here for hours, I hiked with my gloves on for the first time.

I said goodbye to the resident guardians of the canyon, there was much mooing.

These old ranches always have the strangest trash and graffiti.

I roadwalked all morning, mostly on a paved road.

There was a little bonus hot spring, ThreeMile Hot Spring, located just off the paved road. It was right at the edge of private property, and it smelled strongly of sulfur, I decided to skip it and keep walking.

From there, the route follows increasingly better dirt roads all the way to the town of Wells. I appreciated not being on the paved road, but at one point I passed through a fence with a “no trespassing” sign facing the other way, so maybe I’d prefer the paved road. There was also a bunch of roadside trash, including an old Dodge Neon, and a pair of British Knights sneakers.

If I had also found an old bottle of Crystal Pepsi, that would be the 1990s trifecta. And of course, once you get near a town you start seeing all the antennas and communication infrastructure. These VOR antennas are pretty unique though, used for aviation navigation.

And apparently I crossed over the California Trail, a National Historic Trail.

That felt like a significant thing to cross, though it wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook. A mile later, and I was in town. Since I walked right by the grocery store, I did my resupply shopping first. All the motels are a mile away at the other end of town, and I didn’t want to walk back here again. Then I went to the library and updated my maps, I was trying to figure out a good route through the East Humboldt Mountains, apparently the original route is overgrown. I got some help from Not a Chance, and Eric/Krista who were all here earlier this summer. Then I hiked the mile across town to my room at Motel6 and had lunch at the Burger King next door. It was a relaxing day, I also had a meal at Subway and one at McDonald’s, and did some trip planning while a Harry Potter movie marathon played in the background.

I have three more days of hiking in Nevada, then I’ll have reconnected my steps in Lamoille. And then it’s off to California, to hike the Sierra section that I skipped back in May. It’s hard to believe this 2400 mile hike is almost done.