#cdtc

[sentfromwolves]

Thanks for the tag (again) @maddstermind!! >:333 You are also on my taglist, so I am reverse tagging u in case you wanna do it again hehehe. I got convinced to start zero drafting a new space opera that is rotting my skull. Here is the last line I've drafted from it!

Another shudder. The lift whined, and beyond it, Amris could hear the metal scrape against something different—rocky grit and loose, blood soaked earth. He was nearing the surface of the arena. Amris breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth. The scent of death filled his lungs. He blew it out again. Live, he thought to himself. Live—no matter the cost. 

Tagging the usual suspects! @tananaphone @juls-writes @carrotblr @awritingcaitlin @k-v-briarwood @lunafiorewrites @interroblog @littleladymab @lorenfinch @picrosswrites @flowerbwrites @akiwitch @365runesoftheamalgamations @crwn-nrth @forthesanityofstorytellers

[ask-digimon-hunters]

Adrian was looking back on how she and Nick first met. It was a day, the only difference being the fact that her Uncle Gary brought her into his work at the CDTC. She was looking up in awe at the infrastructure of how the building was built, it was a marvel of construction and technology. Then she saw another kid holding hands with what seemed to be his mother.

“Gary, could you keep an eye on Nick for me? I’ve got an assignment to complete.” The woman said to Adrian’s uncle.

“Sure Nikki, I’ll watch Nick.” Uncle Gary said to the woman named Nikki.

The Nick kid walked up to her and said, “Hello, I’m Nick, what’s your name?”

“I’m Adrian, and I want to be a Digimon Tamer when I grow up.” Adrian said as she put her hands on her hips.

Nick giggles, “You’re funny.”

[cdt-toomi-vangrizzle]

Lincoln to Helena, Helena Lewis & Clark National Forest

July 20-22

July 20

We hitched out of Lincoln with a man named Caleb, who keeps cattle up on the Lewis & Clark Pass. We hiked smooth switchbacks up and out of Roger Pass and cruised along some rolling mountains/hills. We had a 13 mile water carry to start the day; the thing about the Continental Divide is that it’s known for water flowing away to either side of the continent… so there isn’t a lot of water there. We got to Flesher Pass and had to go a quarter mile down a highway in order to get water. That’s when Greg showed up in his Toyota sedan. He was eager to help and to learn where the water source was, so he drove us to and from the water. He had a skeleton sitting in his backseat named Bernie, because he’d gotten him at or for Burning Man. Thanks, Greg!

After getting water, we ate lunch and hiked another 10 miles to water and camp. I was still having issues with my Achilles and wrapping my ankles in ace bandages. (Happy birthday to Liam and Zach!)

July 21

We got up and out early to go to High Divide Outfitters, a “gear shop” that a man named Dave runs out of his house that’s right on trail. That place was tiny and CHOCK FULL of gear! I bought new shoes — altra Olympus 2’s, so they were the model from before altra sold to VF. Owen bought a new pack, because his had been bothering him and was misaligned from his hip issues on the AT. We shipped our old gear home.

We decided to take some dirt roads as an alternate rather than take the ridge. That shaved 6 miles and skipped a 16-20 mile water carry. It was quite hot out — in the 90s. My ankles got sore midday but the pain subsided. Overall the new shoes were working out. We hiked a while with new friends Danger Dave and Wonder. The washed out road back up to the trail was STEEP! Owen exclaimed, “this is ridiculous!” and we heard a bellowing moo of agreement from one of the cattle ranging nearby. Well-timed.

We, Danger Dave, and Wonder all camped together back near the official trail. 

July 22

We hiked out to the highway in order to hitch into Helena. On the way, we saw a big, old wooden railroad truss with blown down trees resting on it. We also saw a caves in old cabin and outhouse. We assume these are remnants from some kind of mining operation. We walked out at Priest Pass Road and hitched into town. 

We resupplied and ate lunch at the Safeway. Then we went to the Montana Inn, which was a multi-room Airbnb with shared common spaces. It was a cool old building with many additions and a colorful history including suicide, nuns, unwed mothers, former convicts, and the elderly. There were lots of fun Knick knacks and antiques. I took a nice, hot shower; as I was finishing up and opening the shower curtain, the whole metal curtain rod came crashing down on me. I thought I broke my nose on impact! luckily it was just a big bruise and cut. The proprietor had to come back and close down that bathroom. Biggest injury wasn’t even on trail!

A woman named Lauren who works for the CDTC and, who Owen knows from the DTV / CDTC sock design, picked us up and we went out for beers and ice cream. Downtown Helena includes a “walking mall,” where there was a Grateful Dead cover band and a bunch of dancing boomers — very Burlington vibes. Lauren also drove us by the Montana Capitol building, which was lovely.

[erikatencer]

February 24, 2015 –Exerpt from Our pre-blogs to Participating In the cdtc program

[dolphin-trainer-jobs-in-fty]

dolphin trainer jobs in florida

⭐ ⏩⏩⏩️ DOWNLOAD MOD - LINK 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Feb 15, - Dolphinarium – Oceanogràfic oceanarium Dolphin educational Biology Jobs, Dream Job, Dream Life, Oceanografic Valencia, Dolphin Trainer. Winter vive en clearwater marine aquarium en Florida. Awww:) Dream Job, Dream Life, Dolphin Trainer, Future Jobs, Wale. Awww:) More information. WE ARE HIRING! CDTC offers since dolphin-assisted therapy to children and adults with special needs. The personalized therapy program is conducted in. After a successful Dolphin Training & Research internship last year, we are excited to offer the program again this year. Please visit our website to learn. Descubra Dolphin trainer imágenes de stock en HD y millones de otras fotos, Orlando, Florida, United States - April 22, two dolphins jumps in. Tina Michele is a Florida girl living on the banks of the Indian River Lagoon in All she's ever wanted is to be a dolphin trainer, and she's going on. 2# $a Arango International Design Exhibition $n (8th : $d : $c Miami, Fla.; New Orleans, La.) 10 $a Out of the ordinary : $b good design for. Career & College Readiness Glossary—Glosario para la Preparación al Colegio y Carreras Profesionales. “A-G” Course Requirements—Clases “A-G” requeridas. (1) The employee shall be engaged in an employment in which gratuities have tice of medicine and is engaged in an internship or resident program.

[halfwayanywhere]

[𝗠𝗮𝗰'𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗜𝗫] It took a long time, but 2017 brought me back to the long-distance trails of the United States with a thru-hike of the Continental Divide Trail. This trail heads (officially) 3,100 mi / 5,000 km from Mexico to Canada via New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana (and just a little bit of Idaho).⁣ ⁣ I set off with @itsbleucheese and @simajohnr, two of my friends from the Pacific Crest Trail, and encountered an entirely different world from my first thru-hike (the PCT). In Colorado's San Juan Mountains, I dealt with hiking through snow (for days at a time) for the first time. I also carried snowshoes for the entirety of Southern Colorado and never once put them on (I'm still upset about this). Then, in Wyoming and Montana, I unsuccessfully sought to lay eyes on a wild grizzly bear (I did see a lot of poop and pawprints).⁣ ⁣ Two questions I get a lot now?⁣ ⁣ "Which did you like better, the PCT or the CDT?"⁣ ⁣ Honestly, it's hard to say. The PCT was my first long trail so it will always have a special place in my hiking heart. The CDT was much more of an adventure as far as the on-trail challenges and mental struggles were concerned (this is a positive). I made excellent friends on each (whom I still talk to and hike with), so it really is hard to pick a favorite. Honestly, I would probably hike either one again (given infinite time and resources).⁣ ⁣ The other question I get a lot?⁣ ⁣ "When are you going to hike the Appalachian Trail?"⁣ ⁣ Honestly, probably never. If you are curious as to why I suggest you head over to the blog (link in bio) to read my detailed post as to why. But if you love the AT more than anything and aren't okay with people sharing your opinions, I suggest you keep the amount of inflammation in your comment to a minimum. Disagreeing is okay (sometimes).⁣ ⁣ 📸: @simajohnr

[ungerwhere]

What a week. I am tired, my energy is running low, it’s getting colder at night and I want to stay under my quilt longer. (I guess that isn’t too different). The CDT keeps on showing off though. 300 miles left. Let’s go! Big shout out to @wozniak_bryan for showing up and hiking a week with me out here. He crushed the miles. Also, thanks to @ywamyosemite for letting this thing happen. . . . . . #CDT #thruhiker #thruhike #thruhiking #colorado #explorecolorado #cdt2019 #outsidelands #embracethebrutality #choosemountains #trekthecdt #thetrek #triplecrown #triplecrownofhiking #createyourtrail #cdtc #withguthook #campingdonelight #enlightenedequipmemt #embracethespace #zerolimits #takelessdomore #thegroundskeepers #wekeepyououtdoors (at Kokomo Pass) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Ra8sXFrNH/?igshid=a6zvaov6jujv

[goldhandscartel]

• AUDI A8 D4 2015 TDI 3.0 AT Quattro • Stock: 250 лс, 550 Нм ⚠ Stage 1: 310 лс, 650 Нм 📈 • - деактивация и удаление клапана EGR ❌ - активация скрытых функций ✅ - контроль работы ДВС под нагрузкой 📊 • Двигатель TDI 3.0 V6 с индексом CDTC, из с��мейства EA897, в связке с АКПП ZF8HP55 и системой полног�� привода Quattro в штатном исполнении имеет весьма не плохие показатели мощности и крутящего момента. Тем не менее силовая установка имеет ряд ограничений, согласно требованиям экологических организаций с одной стороны и маркетинговых решений с другой. В силу особенностей рынка сбыта данный экземпляр не имеет фильтра твёрдых частиц (DPF) но снабжён системой рециркуляции отработанных газов (EGR) и каталитическим нейтрализатором. После тщательного изучения штатной программы управления двигателем были внесены соответствующие корректировки по исключению системы EGR и увеличению крутящего момента. • ☎ +79215835443 (WhatsApp | Viber | Telegram) 🏁 ул. Полевая Сабировская 46Н 🏁 Салтыковская дорога 4 • #audi #a8 #quattro #cdtc #stage1 #отключение_егр #чиптюнинг_audi #чиптюнинг_a8 #ghc_tuning #goldhandscartel (at Saint Petersburg, Russia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B78kWfgB0Ue/?igshid=h8lge9youiz9

[itszjypolly]

Back to CDTC🏫 Finally I can eat the most delicious chuan-chuan 🍢 in Chengdu. (The hotpot in Yibin is not so good🤭🤫) 📷: @elena961215 . . . . #串串香 #hotpot #cdtc #school #library #starbucks #friendship #chengdu #chengdutextilecollege https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz5f6s5B8NI/?igshid=sgmq3hj0tm5z

[instamuscledaddies]

🔥@themidlifewarrior 🔥 (at Donate Us) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdTC-b-ODQX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[sentfromwolves]

Oooh I'm so very here for a pirate/prince dynamic! ; 0 ; <3 One of my favorite and also oldest ocs is a pirate heheh >:33 I take it there are fantasy elements to it too and it's not historical? that's so cool! I always love seeing fantasies and romantasies set on the high seas. I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to golden age of sail sweats LMAO

And omg field study genie lamp....I love that as a plot dkndskfn that's hilarious. Accidental roommate/and they were roommates trope my beloved. wait WSU....like washington state university? LMAO

and yesss hehe omg I would love to swap story excerpts and stuff!! >:33 my dms/discord are always open for ya too. I'm currently in the trenches of revisions for His Body a Broken Law, my urban fantasy standalone about a trans witch cursed to die on his 21st birthday and the demon possessing his car as they try to steal the heart of living city before their time runs out. It's grungy, gritty, and full of two gigantic morons stuck with each other for better or for worse right up until the end. My deadline for revisions is the 15th of June, so I'll be ideally seeking out beta readers after that hehe And then once I'm done with that I'm going to """relax""" by working on Starwoven, a soft celestial romantasy about a closeted trans prince who works by night as the mysterious, enigmatic Starweaver - a fashion designer that has dazzled the crowd of celestial nobles that gather every year for the marital season in the capital to look for the perfect bride or husband to be. His entire world is turned upside down when the mythical King Beyond Midnight arrives and asks for his elder siblings hand in marriage, only to be challenged by their father to find the Starweaver and unmask them in order to marry Diana.

It's basically a celestial Bridgerton meets Most Ardently, wherein Octavian (the king beyond midnight) meets Sirius during his escapades in the night, not realizing he is also Diana's younger brother who is often absent at the galas and events, and them falling in love while Sirius is like DO I NEED TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME LOL

I'm also going to be stabbing my knife into CDTC at some point, but I need to world build it first...it's a huge sci-fi dystopian epic in the vein of Horizon: Zero Dawn meets Fallout 76. It's going to be a lot larger than my other projects, and is about a group of young adults who wake up out of cryostate over two hundred years after being put under with the promise of surviving the apocalypse, only to find out that it was all a lie: they were unknowingly part of a genetic experimentation program, and they're suddenly thrust into the role of saving the world from the centuries long apocalypse that has slowly been devouring it - as well as evading capture by the world government that has capitalized on the destruction of the planet, and will do anything to put their escaped experiments back under control.

I know that was a lot of word vomit AAAA BUT ANYWAYS YES I'D LOVE TO READ MORE OF YOUR STORIES will definitely be checking out those links! >:3

Hey writing friends! (❁´◡`❁) Along with my new writeblr intro post, I also just wanted to make a more casual post too calling for more writeblr blogs to follow and interact with! If you write any of the following or are interested in the following and 18+ feel free to say hi! I'd also love to hear about all y'alls wips so I can find more writers to follow for 2024! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

sci-fi and fantasy of any kind! cozy fantasy, epic fantasy, space opera, romantasy, you name it, i'm usually here for it! >:3

trans/nonbinary protagonists and big queer casts! it is my bread and butter (and what you'll always find me writing too)

Intricate worldbuilding in any genre! Especially ones with intricate politics, funky magical systems, or corrupt religious systems. I'm always down to yell about worldbuilding because I think it is Neat af

You just like to shout about ocs!! I'm so here for it, and I love making more connections here with people who obsess with their ocs the way I do. >:3 come yell at me about them anytime hehe

OT3S!! OT3S!! Please. Thank you.

2nd person POV & Epistolary Narratives or funky narrative experiments. This is hands down my favorite povs to read. I'm obsessed with them. Please come be obsessed about them with me.

Big found families! YES yep yes it's me I'm that bitch I love this stuff it's honestly my bread and butter ESPECIALLY IF IT IS DYSFUNCTIONAL AS HELL (bonus points if they try to murder each other at some point)

Non-European fantasies/celestial fantasies/space fantasies/underground fantasies. Yeah I know I put fantasy above, but celestial fantasies and consumed world concepts are something I'm obsessed with and I want more people to be obsessed with

Queer contemporary fiction. I'm usually in the sff boat but sometimes I write contemporary too, and I'd love to connect with more writers who write both.

The list could go on forever and ever, it's not exhaustive at all! Honestly if you're just interested in new writers to yell with, feel free to hit me up! I'm also looking to build a 2024 tag game list for writer games, so if you'd like to be added, let me know! I love spreading fun writing games around whenever I can. >:3 💝

[moteldogs]

New Mexico, part 1: Border to Lordsburg

Journaling about walking in the desert on the Continental Divide Trail, under read more for courtesy (don’t say I never did nothing for ya).

Day 1

Mileage: ~8 miles

It’s hotter than hell in the New Mexico bootheel, so hot that when you pray to God all you’re likely to hear is distant heavenly laughter. On your own, kiddo.

The CDTC shuttle drops four of us off around 9:30 am at the southern terminus, 10 feet away from the Mexican border. It’s a rough road into the terminus monument and riding shotgun, I barely keep my stomach where it belongs. We take a group picture at the monument, chitchat with some southbound hikers who just finished, and say goodbye to the shuttle driver’s dog Cookie. I’m the second one to step out onto the trail, and within 50 paces I’m hurling in the dirt. Car sickness catching up with me after all. I finish upchucking, kick some sand over the evidence, and keep it trucking. Pretty sure nobody saw. I better not end up getting a trail name based off my bright orange puke (sweet potato fries, you betray me).

I walk with a guy from Seattle named Blue Steel for awhile and we make decent conversation, but part ways when I stop for a couple minutes to mix some electrolyte powder in one of my water bottles, in hopes of counteracting the epic puke fest from earlier.

The day drags on towards noon and gets even hotter. The sun beats down. It’s all cactuses and creosote and the occasional prickly alien-looking ocotillo, almost no shade to be found. I watch Blue Steel’s shiny reflective hiking umbrella and bright blue backpack (name origin? need to remember to ask about this if I ever catch up to him) bob up ahead. About 5 miles in I find myself crouching and dry heaving by the side of the trail, and I make an executive decision to find what shade I can and wait out the high noon heat.

Slithering down into a dry wash and under a creosote? mesquite? tree that grants sparse shade, I feel like shit. I throw my sleeping pad down onto a patch of shade just big enough for me to fit in curled up, and promptly crawl away to puke. On hands and knees under the blazing sun, watching my watery vomit (pink this time, from the Pedialyte powder) trickle into the sand. I crawl back to my sleeping pad and lay on my belly, head on my arms, and puke some more until I’m just dry heaving. The sand sucks up my hurl, any liquid it can get. Lesson one for me: you can’t afford to be picky out here.

My head pounds. This could be very, very bad. I think back to my EMT and Wilderness First Responder classes. Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke, which will kill you by cooking your brain inside your skull and denaturing the proteins in your body. Was vomiting a sign of heat exhaustion? I’m pretty sure it is. Then again, I was sick to my stomach last night, and this morning on the shuttle ride in. I assumed it was nerves and car sickness respectively, but maybe I caught a stomach bug somewhere. Still very, very bad — puking is dehydrating as it is, and with the sweating I’ve been doing and the scarcity of water out here, I can’t afford to waste fluids by splattering them on my sneakers. The mantra I learned as an 8 year old pops into my head — 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water. If I can’t keep enough water down to stay hydrated, and if I can’t get well enough to walk to the next water, this could kill me.

I pull myself together enough to drape my tent fly over the branches above me, adding a little extra shade. I take a few cautious sips of water and almost immediately bring them back up. Motherfucker. It’s 8.6 miles to the access road and the first water cache. The shuttle driver will be back tomorrow morning. I can hitch a ride with him back to town, I just have to keep it together until dusk, when it’ll be cool enough to start walking again. With nothing else to do, I doze fitfully in the heat.

I wake up around 2 pm, sweaty and sticky. I force myself to get up to take a leak. I expect to hurl again from the motion as I stand up, but I actually feel okay. Hallelujah.

Returning to my sleeping pad and curling up to read a book on my phone, I still feel okay. I make myself drink a tiny sip of water and immediately get nauseous, but I decide that even if it comes up, I’ll just swallow that motherfucker right back down. Like the dirt, I can’t afford to be picky. After 10 minutes I’m okay, so I take another sip and go back to my book. 10 minutes later, another. And on like this until 4 pm. No upchuck yet. It’s even starting to feel a little cooler outside. Glory be, yadda yadda. I might make it through this without running back to town with my tail between my legs.

A lone vulture soars overhead. I say fuck you pal in my best Brooklyn dockworker voice, but the bird doesn’t seem to be here for me anyways.

I haul myself out of the wash at 7:30 pm, after keeping down 2 liters of water and even some food. The sun is going down. The air is cool and the walking’s easy, powered by the high of knowing I can be killed, only not today. The lights of Mexico behind me, Orion’s Belt above me, and a good solid trail under my feet.

Day 2

Mileage: 19 mi

I walked by headlamp for a few hours last night, then cowboy camped after getting too tired to navigate. Up at 5 am and walking. I make it to the first water cache and fill my bottles. The couple who started with me, Rachel and Rainbird, are there too and throughout the day we leapfrog past each other.

I’d been planning to sleep early in a shady wash I saw on the drive in, but I make it there at 9 am. The day’s still young and I don’t want to lay down and sleep now. I want to make it off this roadwalking section, which means I have 10 miles still to go. And I need to do at least 20 miles a day to make it back to Lordsburg in 4 days. I keep walking.

Around eleven the heat is intense. I should be going to ground right about now, but there’s no shade to be found. At least I’m not nauseous. I keep walking.

12:30 — I sit down to put on sunscreen and tape the blisters on my feet. The next water cache is only a mile away, but a comment on Farout says there’s no shade there until 4 miles later, under a tree that’s up a hill. The sun beats down. Highs of 92 today. The heat’s only going to get worse the rest of the afternoon. 5 more miles of totally exposed walking is not going to do anything good for me. Christ, just one patch of shade.

I keep walking. About a quarter mile off the trail is a stand of promisingly big acacia trees. The ground is covered in thorny plants and dry cow pies, but under one tree is just enough bare dirt for me to lay in. I hang my tent fly over the branches to give the tree’s sparse shade a hand. It’s still hotter than hell, but at least I’m not hurling and at least the cow pies don’t smell. I drink my gross electrolytes (orange this time!) and wait for dusk to come.

Haven’t been eating much, which is maybe a little concerning. I think the heat messes with my appetite. Walking at night, I actually got hungry and sat down a couple times for a snack. Still, not enough calories in for the work I’ve been doing.

5:40 pm. Had to move spots with the sun. Circled around to the other side of the tree when my phone briefly quit holding a charge from the heat. I used to think I didn’t get lonely but now I know that’s not true, and also being lonely sucks. I miss my dad and I miss sleeping in the car while he drove, and I hate that I have to be a grownup and deal with my own shit. It’s hot out here and I’m scared and I’m trying to be tough, but I just want my dad to come pick me up and give me a hug and tell me it’s okay. Probably I’m tired and hungry right now and that’s why this is happening in my brain, but I just want a hug. I don’t want to be alone in the desert anymore. I want to be safe and held and not have to worry about anything. I finally fall asleep, fitfully for an hour or so.

Leave the shade tree around 8 pm. The sun’s going down. I sob most of the way to the second water cache, so hard it brings me to my knees in the dirt. I miss my dad.

Make camp sooner than I’d planned. I’m tired, bone-deep emotional exhaustion that usually comes from being hungry or sleep deprived. I decide to set up my tent instead of cowboy camping, which adds at least a half hour to the bedtime process. The sand is too shallow to set any stakes, so I guy-line everything instead. I prefer cowboy camping, especially when the weather’s beautiful like now, but it’s this tent’s maiden voyage and I figure I should get adept at setting it up before I have to do it in the rain.

With the tent set up, I crawl inside, strip down to my boxers, and shovel food into my mouth while horizontal.

Day 3

Mileage: 22 mi

I’m on the trail again later than I should be, around 7. It’s about 15 miles to the shade tree I’m aiming for, so I’ll be racing the sun today.

After packing up my tent, I take a second to wash my face of the epic amounts of blood crusted on from the nosebleed I had in the middle of the night. I took some ibuprofen yesterday for the blisters, so that combined with the dry air probably caused the nosebleed. My feet feel a lot better, though. I was barefoot in my tent all last night, which I think helped ease the blisters. I retaped them before setting out today anyways.

The heat doesn’t bother me too much today. Either I’m better hydrated or I’m getting acclimated. Probably both.

I see a snake laying on the trail, and am jumping away from it before my brain has even processed what it is. Like a horse with a garden hose. I haven’t lived in a place with dangerous snakes since I was 6 years old, but somewhere in the back of my brain, evolution has hardwired SNAKE BAD SCARY into me. Guess I’m a descendant of people who didn’t get killed by snakebites. Sweet.

There’s trail magic near a junction, under a big shady tree. Gatorade in a cooler (the ice is melted into water, but the drinks are still cold!), fun-sized candy, and gallons on gallons of water. I sit under the tree in the wind and shade and feel good.

I don’t quite make it to the siesta tree I was aiming for, but by 2 pm I’ve done 14 miles, the sun’s getting too hot, and FarOut says there’s 3.8 miles still to go to that particular tree. I settle in under a different tree next to a wide dry wash.

An hour later, I notice there’s a snake coiled around the base of the tree. I pack up my shit and set off to find a different tree.

I leave my second siesta tree at 6, having had a pretty ungood siesta. Too hot, not enough shade. Slept for about an hour, which did something weird to my contacts. My vision’s blurry and it takes me a half hour to find the trail again.

The sun is setting as I crest a ridge. Pink and orange, and I start to cry again. I miss my dad. I miss my mama and I wish she were still alive. I miss my little brother and I wish I’d been there for him these last few years. I sit down right there on the trail and sob while eating Oreos. I can’t remember the last time I cried like this, let alone the last time I cried twice in two days.

It occurs to me that between the nosebleed, the walking in the heat, and my apparently regularly scheduled sunset sobbing, I’ve already poured the trifecta of blood, sweat, and tears into this trail.

The Oreos help. I think I was hungry. With my blood sugar raised, I keep walking into the night. The stars come out and I make Cache 3. Fresh water, hallelujah. I aim to do 5 more miles before bed, but that doesn’t happen. I’m very tired and my feet are starting to hurt in a way that’s less blister, more tendon twinges. I’m in trouble if I fuck up my feet, so I spend a frustrating 20 minutes putting my tent up in the wind. (I think about giving up and cowboy camping, but I’ve seen a whole lot of bigass spiders around this section and if I wake up to a huge hairy spider crawling on me I may simply never recover.) Once it’s up, it’s surprisingly solid for a structure supported by trekking poles in high gusts, but Jesus H., getting it set up in those conditions is the worst.

In bed, finally. Contacts out, clothes off, feet sore, still munching on my Oreos. Exhausted. Time to sleep. Goodnight.

Day 4

Mileage: 20 miles

I sleep in a little, waking up at 6 instead of 5. I figure I’ll do 10 miles in the day and then 10 miles at night. That’ll leave me with 16 miles to get to town tomorrow. Really my goal is to find any decent siesta tree so I can take a real good nap.

Once I work the soreness out, the walking’s easy. There’s a strong breeze and I’m in a good mood. The backs of my legs get covered in the dust I kick up.

The tendon twinge comes back eventually. It’s symmetrical on both sides, running on the outside of the bridge, back along the heel, and up to the calf. My blisters are symmetrical too — on the ball of my foot right below my big toe and second toe, and one on the side of each second toe. I wonder if I’m compensating for the blister pain by walking differently, thus fucking up other parts of my feet. I start walking on the blisters deliberately, which on the bright side distracts me from every other pain in my body.

I get to a siesta tree about 10 miles in, around 1 pm, and promptly have another, bigger nosebleed. I now have blood spattered all over me, which is a little gross but makes me feel kinda cool. It’s a good tree, here. No snakes. Some kind of small skull laying in the sand, though. I listen to Jeff Davis County Blues on repeat with my hat over my eyes.

At 5:30 I’m off and walking again. I make the next water cache in half an hour and cross the highway. The wild grass is pale and glowing, the sun burning low in the sky. The powerlines look like crosses.

I find scattered pile after pile of cattle bones, which is cool but a little unnerving. Seeing all the sunbleached bones everywhere is like a constant reminder of the desert’s ruthlessness. In sixty miles I haven’t seen a single natural source of water. There are water caches for hikers, and solar wells for cattle (that hikers also use), and that’s it. You make it through this with human-made ingenuity and the grace of the desert alone. It’s frightening, and peaceful at the same time.

Right when the sun goes down, I start feeling a sunburn I got on the backs of my calves earlier. It’s bad, so bad that it hurts to walk. I roll up my pant legs to keep friction off the burns, take probably too much ibuprofen, and keep going. The night is cool and I feel okay.

I walk until 11 pm, when the trail meanders listlessly across cow paths and open fields with almost no signage, and I’m too tired to keep finding the path. I set up my tent in record time and toss and turn trying to find a position that doesn’t hurt my sunburned legs. Another nosebleed. Town tomorrow.

Day 5

Mileage: 17 miles

Slept good last night, despite the pain. I’m determined to make it to town tonight come hell or high water. My legs don’t even hurt that bad anymore, but I take a couple ibuprofen preemptively for the swelling.

Midday finds me in a valley with shady junipers and oaks every few miles, an old tractor parked up by the side of the trail, and a solar well with clean flowing water in the middle of a cattle pen. I fill up my bottles and pass Rachel and Rainbird, rearranging their stuff in the shade of the tractor.

I’ve decided to walk through the heat of the day in order to get to town in time to get a room, so I’m drinking water and pounding electrolytes like nobody’s business. It’s not too bad — it’s probably only in the high 80s, and windy too. The thought of A/C and the world’s biggest beef burrito push me forward.

I make the final water cache around noon, then push up the final hill (really more like eight rolling hills that get progressively higher) while singing old country songs to myself. Is anybody goin’ to San Antone…

Some of my older blisters have gone down, but I have new ones on my heels now, and one of them pops in my sock a few miles out of town. I stop for a break and tape up my feet, sitting in the sun on top a hill. I can see the big rigs flying down the highway below, right through town.

I make the final push and get in right around 5, walking down past sheetmetal trailers, old square body Chevys and fifth-gen Fords, all in shades of oranges and pinks. Sunbleached roofs and heat waves coming off the asphalt. I thank the desert for letting me pass.

I get a motel room, flop down on the bed, call my girlfriend and then my dad. Later I walk to the Mexican place next door and emerge triumphant with TWO beef burritos. I eat, take a shower, wash my clothes in the sink, and fall asleep with the TV on. Bliss.

I’ll take a zero day tomorrow (stay in town, no hiking) to do some errands, let my feet heal up, and figure out where I’m going next. And also probably watch a lot of reruns on TV. It feels good to be drifting on the move again.

[fashionwonderer]

@gucci @treasuresofnyc my personal style account is @edaonay #fashionwonderer https://www.instagram.com/p/CDTC-52JQPd/?igshid=124g6d0cl6yty

[justonemilemore]

I’ve learned a lot between my hike of the PCT and my prep for my upcoming Oregon Desert Trail and Continental Divide Trail hikes. What gear I will need and what I won’t. What my specific preferences are as far as my hiking style and goals. But the most important part is how crucial a flat lay of all your gear is. #cdt #odt #cdt2020 #odt2020 #continentaldividetrail #oregondeserttrail #ulhiking #ultralight #ulbackpacking #backpacking #flatlay #katabaticgeat #nunatakusa #palante #montbell #patagonia #kuiu #hyperlitemountaingear #mountainlaureldesigns #coldsoak #skylightgear #onda #cdtc #thermarest #altra #longdistancehiking #longtrails #triplecrown #getoutside #nitecore (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7_0dyWH5t8/?igshid=qvzmnsmnt6lg

[esther-filly-blog]

Watch on Youtube- Esther Filly Ridstyle “HELP AARON” ❤️🐬 https://youtu.be/Qyz75M4WnEw #estherfilly #ridstyle #helpaaron #cdtc #dolphintherapy #curacao #dolphinaid #soulsinger #songwriter #inmission #esgibtnichtsgutesaussermantutes #charity #spendenaktion #fürkinder #autism #handycap #boy #swimwithdolphin #sodankbar #füralles #freaky #is #love #peace #hope #help #truth #freedom https://www.instagram.com/p/BoheUzEHkBn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=17v3goyaqlr7t

[drivingschoolcoquitlam-blog]

Columbia Driver Training Centre is a full-service driving school. The founder Peter Faminofff brings 35 years of instructor experience and the company continues the reputation the owner has set in the industry of the most respected driver training instructors in BC. CDTC has been training clients for over 30 years.

 Columbia Drivers Training Center

25-1525 Broadway St., Port Coquitlam, BC, BC V3C 6P6

604-945-9933

 https://www.cdtcdevelopmentcentre.com

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