sunday may 5th

  Sunday May 5th- Mile 206-mile 218  12 miles

I awoke at 6:00AM from the light of the desert sun, and walked through an already windy area, as evidenced by the innumerable windmills around me, in a windstorm.  I was tossed back and forth as I slowly made my way to the house of Ziggy and the Bear, an elderly couple that opens their home to hikers for showers, water, and camping.  I stopped in to pick up the package of food that I had mailed to myself and took a quick shower before heading back into the wind. Going on only four hours of sleep, I only made it ten more miles before deciding to call it a day. I stopped at a small nature preserve that lets hikers camp in a big field and set up my tent at 7:00pm for a restorative nights sleep. 

The nature preserve is in an interesting geological position, being that it is in a river valley surrounded by high cliffs.  This interesting geological position leads to interesting meteorological effects: wind.  A ton of it.  The wind started blowing in earnest at 9:00pm and for a while it was mild enough that it only pressed the fabric of my shelter into my face and flapped loudly.  Then, it started to really gust.  My tent was knocked down 3 times during the course of the night before I gave up and carried all of my things into a backcountry bathroom and slept on the floor.  It may sound unpleasant, but it was by far the most restful sleep I have yet had on the trail.