Day 17 mile 184 to the water faucet at mile 205.7

My alarm going off at 5:30 was incorporated into whatever weird dream I was having but I did eventually come to and turn it off. It took so much effort to get up because we had both been awake a lot since 1:45 am when the wind got crazy. The tent side kept smacking me in the head until I woke Jake up to ask for the extra stakes to help. He got the tent all squared away while I went pee and stared at the stars for a while. It was a bummer we didn’t get better sleep because today was planned to be our biggest day yet.

We managed to be hiking by 6:30. It was a climb up to the stream where we would get water but we made okay time. It was going to be a long, dry day so we both decided to leave the stream with 4 liters of icy water. Heavy bags back on we took off through the cool morning forest. There was lots of snow around which was again a welcome sight after being in desert conditions.

We knew we were going to have a long, exposed hike along Fuller Ridge but spirits were still high. There is very little shade along the 17 mile descent but we managed to find a little spot beside some large rocks to have lunch. Halfway through out break we heard what sounded like a bag rustling and a lot of commotion. Jake went around the rock and saw a guy we had seen last night sitting under the next rock over. He said the biggest rattlesnake he had ever seen just came from behind him and went down into the bushes. I’m glad it wasn’t next to us!

Onward to the bottom we continued in the blazing sun. I almost stepped on two snakes, one was a small rattler, it curled up under a bush and we were able to safely pass. At least two other hikers saw snakes near us on the way down, one of them screamed like it bit her. I’m glad she didn’t get bit and I understand it is surprising but it scared everyone on the ridge that something was actually wrong.

We were getting really close to the bottom when I felt a stinging sensation on my calf. I looked down and both legs were completely covered with a rash. I immediately panicked and asked Jake if he had seen any poodledog bush today but that wasn’t it, thankfully. I just powered on hoping that I could figure something out before bed.

Finally we made it to the bottom and the water spigot! We found a tent spot amongst all the other hikers already there. It was already a little windy so we staked down every possible section of the tent and put rocks along our tyvek. We filtered water and I used the small bar of soap I carry to wash my legs a little. We had service so I did a little symptom googling and figured out I likely just had a heat rash. At least it’s just that but the real remedy is to just quit sweating…probably not going to happen in the desert. For now I will just try to rinse my legs throughout the day and pop some benedryl at night.