Distance hiked today: 18.1 miles / 29 km.
I hiked 8.4 miles / 13.5 km by 10:30am to a water cache - the only one on trail that's known to be reliable, maintained by local trail angels who bring in pallets of water jugs to get hikers through this long dry section. It was a hot morning already by 7am and there was barely any shade left by 12:30pm when I left the cache.
The next 10 miles were quite literally a hot mess. I'd walk for a while until I couldn't get any air and felt lightheaded from the heat and exertion, and then walk some more until I found a small patch of shade to stop in. The heat radiated off the rocks and dirt, and I layered on the sunscreen, all while rationing water. My heels got blisters again from the edge of my insole - I guess I had only moved the problem and not fixed it. Every step was painful, and I tried all different lace patterns, tape on my foot, tape in my shoe, and even taped a rolled up cheese string wrapper in the back of my shoe. It didn't work, so I just had to keep going and was seriously considering hiking in the flip flops I'd kept from the hiker box.
I passed a small cave, perfectly hiker sized, and then the 100 mile marker just before the tent site.
Old Yeller and Ross had already hitched to town for their resupply and brought back beer. Coors Light never tasted so good!
The tent site had a water spigot dripping into a cement pond, where small black frogs croaked so loudly you'd think they were 10 times the size. I fell asleep listening to their cacophony, combined with a snoring hiker.
Total trail mileage: 101.1 miles / 162.7 km.