In focusing on Trail Angel Day a couple of posts back I skipped over our first real Trail Angels in Nevada, Matt and Miriam from Switzerland. We met them at a very opportune time. There would be hotter days than when we hiked along the Pony Express … the temperature barely topped a hundred! … but that sun-drenched, shadeless stretch of Nevada desert came early on in our hike and we were not prepared totally.
Matt and Miriam, Trail Angels
Matt and Miriam have a fascinating hobby: coming to America, where they keep a Land Rover, to journey along this country’s historical trails. The Pony Express is the remotest of historical trails and had they not been pursuing their hobby we would not have encountered anyone for the days we were in that stretch of desert. When they first came upon us they gave us water. Then we found more water laying by the dusty road, left there intentionally for us. We met them again when we arrived at the same road intersection at the same time, with Matt and Miriam coming back from a wrong turn and preventing us from doing the same. Finally, they backtracked out of their way to seek and warn us about an upcoming stretch we should avoid.
Even with the extra water that day Cindy had a touch of heat exhaustion. The next day we carried more water but I had a touch of heat exhaustion as I focused on keeping Cindy hydrated. Later on we would experience greater heat but handle it better. For this initial experience with extreme desert hiking we were extremely grateful for our Swiss trail angels.
