Well, there isn’t much to report on today.  The good news is that UPS delivered a brand new sleeping pad! Woo hoo! We planned on hitching out of town late because of the crazy heat wave going on. Temperatures are over 100 degrees from noon to 9p this week.  It’s bizarre that it’ll be 103 degrees on the valley floor tomorrow and still very hot comparatively at 11,000 feet where we are heading. With snow still on the ground! We read some people are skipping forward in the desert because of the heat.  We figured we would hike late in the day to Chicken Spring which is only 6 miles.  However, as we killed time in the hostel lounge playing cards my nerves started to kick in. I want to see the beauty and overcome the challenge of this next part, but the very real dangers were something I couldn’t shake. Wandering over to the bar, we thought playing some shuffle board may be a good mental distraction.  It was momentarily, but in the end I decided I needed one more night to shake these nerves. We arranged a ride for 7a so we can hike till noon and then get to sleep really early and start at 4a tomorrow. 

Every good mountain bar should include crampons and beer 😊