I slept so hard last night, and my legs had stopped the buzzing ache from the night before. They were getting stronger!

This morning was a bit of road walking to meet up with no name creek where I then followed it cross country for a few miles. I soon discover what looked like a trail going in the path of least resistance from one side of the creek to the other. Those cows. I was thankful for them this morning as their path made for easy walking. Then it was some uphill cross country to Windy Point where I took a long break.

Just follow the creek!

Next up was a long hot descent to the Denio valley. The next 15+ miles I would walk across the flat. The afternoon was hot. The sun on the light colored sandy road reflected back up at me, and even though I was using my sun umbrella, I felt like I was getting cooked.

It felt like a million miles to the south end of the valley

I keep switching out my footwear from the Oboz Lunas to my chacos. My feet arn’t perfect in either until they toughen up more, but I think the variety helps.

I hobbled into Denio (just on the border of Nevada) to see what was there and try and get some good water. The small town was silent. It was Memorial Day, so even if there had been a store or something it probably would have been closed. I sat in front of the library and used their outdoor faucet. I couldn’t even find a plug to charge my electronics. There are simply no services in Denio. There is another town, Denio Junction, another 4ish miles south, but I didn’t want to go that far. The fact that there were no cars didn’t even tempt me to hitch.

I walked back out of town and cut over to Denio Canyon. I’m camped just inside the narrow walls. It’s already brushy. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!