The day started early by my standards — around 6am. After half a night spent trying to sort out my SIM card situation, 6am felt even earlier than it was. Still no solution. I’ll have to live without reception until the next town.
Nitsy drove us back to the trail after breakfast. By 7:45am it was already absurdly hot.
At the top of the first climb we ran into several hikers, including one I actually knew — she had been at Mike’s Place and Little Bear the same time I was. There’s something funny about running into people again after a few weeks.
The morning was reasonable terrain — gentle up and down, some flat — but the heat was relentless. An older hiker gave me a few tips along the way. Otherwise uneventful.
Eventually I reached Whitewater River. My first proper river crossing, as far as I’m concerned. I sat down under a bush to drink, and the bush turned into a longer break as more hikers arrived, found shade, and drank. Between morning and sunset I refilled and drained my 1.5-litre bottle five times — on top of three litres from the morning. Over ten litres by nightfall. I read on my eReader. I’ve used it more here than ever before. Very good book. Finished it by evening.
Once it got dark and the temperature dropped, I kept walking. The plan was an experiment — hiking at night. Valuable data was collected; genuinely positive, it was not. The idea was to walk without a headlamp. It was bright enough to see the trail but not the details, which made the whole thing unpleasant. Later, once the moon came up, it would have been fine — but the gap between sunset and moonrise is significant. Then there’s the question of sleep. Sleeping during the day, in this kind of heat, is more or less impossible for me. And sleep has to happen at some point. Probably I’ll try sleeping earlier and starting around midnight when the moon is up. We’ll see.
I ended up walking with my headlamp, then with my phone light, since the phone can be charged off the power bank but my new headlamp only takes batteries. I also tried sandals again — surprisingly fine. One thing I noticed: walking at night, I tend to disturb others. Not when passing them, but when setting up camp. However quietly I try to manage it, putting up a tent wakes the neighbours. Still a work in progress. Hiking in the cool of the night is genuinely pleasant — but so is sleeping in it.
The night was mostly fine until the insects started. Buzzing and biting are not particularly conducive to sleep. If you’re going to pick blood-sucking as a career, you could at least have the decency to do it without your victims noticing. Genuinely unreasonable behaviour.