Patagonia at 🌅 Thursday March 31, 2022

I woke at 3:00 and sat up at 3:30 to begin yesterday’s journal. At 5:30 I began the process of packing from inside the tent. We both have our own doors and vestibules. I keep my backpack under the fly. I pulled it near the tent and start to load items hoping I’m putting them somewhere I’ll find them again.

The first two nights of this journey drove our soaking wet selves into our tent post haste. We stripped the wet outer layer and slept in our inner laying. No time for sleeping clothes. I liked not fussing with clothes in the morning and continued just sleeping in my clothing. Now all I need to do is pull my hiking skirt on which I do lying down. I stuff my sleep bag in the sack, pop the deflate on my Ex-Ped sleeping pad, roll it up and I’m mostly packed.

The sun actually hits our tent this morning. How did we get so lucky? Terry can sleep through this because he is much faster than I am, the sun makes rising easier, warmer. Even though I think this will be our early escape, we don’t hit the trail until 7:45. We have 17 miles to Patagonia so we needed and early start.

The weather was perfect for hiking, cool and sunny. We began with some trees, but desert climate stole them by 10:30. We ware on the dry side now where green is replaced with gray. Sitting gets hard because most of the vegetation has some form of thorn. It’s seems important to get off your feet but just taking off your pack is a rest.

At about 3:00, we still have 6 mile to go. We can’t make it in time to pick up our food box before the post office closes. The idea that it was an easy trek into Patagonia, wasn’t true. It continued to be difficult. We needed that early start.

We came to a fork with a arrow made stick pointing to the right. We followed it. Many of the bushes had orange ties on them. The trail wa easy to follow and out pace was good. About 1.6 miles later, Terry checks his app and we’re more than a mile off the trail. How could this be?? We go back a half mile and then wrestle with more confusing information and then continue back in the errors of our way. A half mile later, we turn back to the trail. Now we’ve gone at least four miles out of our way and still have 6 to go.

I haven’t had my pack off for hours. We haven’t sat for hours! At five miles we run into a trail angel. A guy in his early twenties who has hike about 10 long distance trails in the past four years, who now has a daypack full of tangerines he’s handing out, and he gives us water!!! We were almost out of food and water. We didn’t plan for the detour.

Over the last hill we spot six Javelinas, one with monster tusks! With two miles left and a quickly setting sun we’re left with a two mile road walk. The sun sets at 6:30. We arrived at Terra del Sol campground by seven. Long hard 21 miles…