H2O

Day 24

In society, it's easy to forget the necessities of life. Things like water are easily forgotten when you can run to the tap or store whenever you feel thirsty. Out here, life revolves around water. Yesterday after McDonalds we only had a few miles to where we planned to camp, so we pushed on with the water we had.

When we got to camp, we had very little water so we had to ration it out, but today was a tough day, and water was gone all too soon. For Andy, it wasn't too bad since he rarely drinks water -- a liter for him for a day is okay, while I drink three, and even he ran dry. The day was all up hill and in the sun, and we started to feel the pain of not having water.

As the day wore on, our bodies were dry. We kept on trucking, and the thought of water plagued my mind. Eventually, we came across a small snow bank, I dug into the center to get some clean snow, and furiously devoured it. It kept me going for a short while longer. Luckily, we got to the trail to where we were going for the day to get restocked on food for the long haul. We have 5 days until our lovely, wonderful, and beautiful girlfriends come to pick our smelly, grimy, and greasy selves from the trail to give us a weekend of relaxation. So we are carrying 5 days worth of food, and are set up at the ranger station on the trail.

Today was a humbling experience, reminding us of the power of the little things. So we hike on with full bottles and bellies. For the next few days we actually follow a line of ranger stations and campgrounds, so we will be living the good hiker life. Unfortunately, the upcoming stretch is filled with difficult up hills, and high altitudes.

--Ian