Day 055 – 7/18/11 Garrison to Unnamed Summit

Distance = 24 Miles; People Met = 0

Our first full day hiking in Utah might have been the loneliest day of the journey.  Several factors contributed to the haunting loneliness walking along Utah 21.  Bleached bones were scattered everywhere.  In Nevada we came across an occasional cow carcass but these bones were from smaller animals, many of them starting off as road kill.

At Least the Raven's Happy

We were in a headwind again.  We are getting a persecution complex that every time our route turns south the winds must come from that direction.  Southerly winds also mean that the weather will not be cool any time soon.  The wind contributed to the loneliness, reminding me of the game Myst where you land in an isolated world with similar wind.  Reality mirroring fiction!  You can hear the wind in this audio:

Utah wind and birds

And of course it spit rain on us!  About 40% of our days in both California and Nevada featured rain and so far we are batting 100 in Utah.  When we return east for a couple days for a wedding maybe we will experience a drier climate than out here in the Great Basin desert.

As we walked south on Utah 21 to the west was Nevada, with sagebrush in the desert and trees on the slopes.  To the east was Utah, with grasses and no trees on both desert and mountains.  The following photos were taken from the same spot.

Nevada Sagebrush and Trees

Utah Grasses

Yet despite all that Utah brought some firsts.  During evening time the haunting loneliness turned to beautiful serenity with red mesas in view.  We watched a spectacular sunset which is destined to become a photo album on our facebook page.