Day 12

12.7 miles / 210.7 total

Another morning in McDermitt, another 2 meals at the Say When Casino, and most of the jigsaw puzzle built on the floor of the motel before the mail finally arrived at 1:30. We got our filters, lost $1 in the slot mahines, and got the hell out of McDermitt!

It’s 47 miles from McDermitt to the next “reliable” water source, but there are 9 or so “questionable” sources in between. Based on how other long carries have gone, we decided to take our chances and only take 7L each out of McDermitt.

It was again hot and sunny for the first 5 miles of paved road out of town. We binged most of the podcasts I’d downloaded in town (the WiFi, when we did actually have it, was so slow it was hard to download much).

Then something new happened: clouds rolled in! The dirt road walking was so pleasant without the sun beating down directly.

But the sky continued to grow darker and darker and the flashes of lightening started. Once the storm was closer and it started actually raining a bit we set up the tent and waited it out for half an hour or so. I ate all the Oreos that were supposed to last me the next 4 days.

It calmed down and we packed up and walked some more, hoping to hike rather late today to make up for the late departure.

The perfect amount of rain had fallen during our break. The landscape looked so much more vibrant, the sagebrush seemed to have gotten several shades greener. And the the road was now just wet enough to keep us from kicking up dust with every step, but not muddy.

We even found some good water in a cow trough 10 miles in and topped up to 7L each again.

But then the storms started back up again. We walked a while in the driving rain but ended up calling it a night at 7pm, completely soaked, but a very welcome change from all the heat!