I tried to leave Mojave at a decent time Friday morning, but I hit the snooze button several times, packed slow, had to find an ATM, hiked a half mile to the highway and waited nearly an hour before someone finally stopped to pick me up. While waiting for a hitch I did manage to order a new pair of shoes. I've never bought shoes without trying them on first, so hopefully they feel ok. My current pair is wearing out though. I'll get the new ones next week in Kennedy Meadows along with a resupply box I packed back in April and had my mom mail last week.
A woman pulled over to pick me up in her truck and just then I saw Dayman running towards me, just in time to share the ride. So I stood there an hour and he didn't have to wait at all. The woman was a biologist who worked for one of the windmill companies. She goes out to see how many birds are getting killed by the windmills, though I'm still not sure what they do with the bird death rate data once they've collected it. She said that some of the windmills reported wind speeds of 108 mph on the day we were walking through the flat desert. That's 150 feet off the surface or so, but that's still rediculous. No wonder we almost got blown away. Oh, here's a picture of some windmills, there's just a few out here.
That afternoon/evening were fairly cold. The wind was blowing clouds in and there were actually some dusty snowflakes falling. There was a bit more snow falling as I made camp, followed by a bit of rain. The next day there were a few shaded areas that had traces of snow. Not much more excitement over the next few days. Today, Monday, I stopped at a campground for a while with a few other hikers. After getting water at a nearby creek a few more came back from town with several pizzas. Then a guy who works for the trail association came by and said he'd be back later with some hotdogs. I've been doing 22-26 miles a day, did 20 today before 2:00, but I may just call it good for the day.
A woman pulled over to pick me up in her truck and just then I saw Dayman running towards me, just in time to share the ride. So I stood there an hour and he didn't have to wait at all. The woman was a biologist who worked for one of the windmill companies. She goes out to see how many birds are getting killed by the windmills, though I'm still not sure what they do with the bird death rate data once they've collected it. She said that some of the windmills reported wind speeds of 108 mph on the day we were walking through the flat desert. That's 150 feet off the surface or so, but that's still rediculous. No wonder we almost got blown away. Oh, here's a picture of some windmills, there's just a few out here.
Whoa, now that's a desert! Endless barrenness. I think the butterfly is the Western Tiger Swallowtail and looks very similar to Oregon's state insect - the Oregon Swallowtail. Is the desert blooming and thus attracting the butterflies?
ReplyDeleteThis butterfly was sitting in the sun in the middle of the trail up in the mountains. There's been flowers all over in the desert and the forested areas since the start.
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