2nd Full Day: another hard push!

one man down (bertrand)
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We woke up at 8:30 AM again and it was soooooo hot!  I was baking in the tent and it was a really nice change!  The night was really cold actually but as soon as the sun came up, we were boiling!  Bertrand gave us bad news, he has blisters and can't go on.  He decided that he would quit and try to get out of the park and into a motel.  His plan was to hitch hike out and so we gave him enough food and gear to do so.  Part of it was to lessen our load, but the main reason was so that he could still camp on his own if he had to (later found out that he was picked up by a ranger and got into a motel).  We continued on.

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I forgot to mention that the scenery from beginning to now was relatively boring.  We haven't seen any animals except for the occasional lizard.  But today was a bit different.  The landscape was beautiful, though not the most beautiful I have ever seen, admittedly.

Anyway, we continued on our trip and had to make several stops because it was getting hot.  We shed a lot of clothing and drank a lot of water, more than normal.  In fact, by the end of the day,  we were a little afraid that we wouldn't have enough water unless we absolutely hit our checkpoint.  We pushed long and hard into the sunset and didn't reach our checkpoint (Upper Covington Flats) until 6:45 PM.  We set up camp quickly and efficiently and started our normal dehydrated meals.  Surprisingly, it was still REALLY tasty!

the lovely, stinky, dirty couple
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That night was absolutely terrible.  Still no wind, but the temperature must have dropped even more.  Our water partially froze.  The frost on and in our tent froze.  Scott and I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and it was soooo funny!  We literally ran out there screaming our heads off because it was so cold, and then we ran back into our sleeping bags!  Anyway, it was another uneasy sleep.