Bigfoot left at sunrise trying to outrun the expected heat. Stanimal and I were ready to go at 7:50 a.m. There were no natural water sources for 25 miles between Agua Dulce and Green Valley. We had left Hiker Heaven with 4 liters of water per person and had to go 3 more miles to the first water cache maintained by the Andersons,trail angels based in Green Valley. When we got there,we found the cache almost empty. Stanimal and I managed to extract the last two liters which we shared equally. We later found out that the cache was restocked just minutes after we had left.
The heat was almost unbearable now. We had to make it another 6 miles to the hiker oasis,a luxurious cache also maintained by the Andersons. Soon I was completely covered in sweat. Every time we stopped for a short break,hordes of biting flies started attacking us and drove us crazy,so we had little choice but to keep moving. At 12:30 p.m. we finally arrived at the oasis,the outpost of the Andersons’ famous Casa de Luna in Green Valley where we would stay for the night. The huge cooler fully loaded with ice cold sodas and the camping chairs in the shade of some trees were like heaven as the temperature was knocking at the 100° F mark in the shade according to the thermometer at the oasis. Besides Stanimal and me,Mojave Rain,Cheeks and Elk were at the oasis. We stayed until 4:20 p.m. when the heat finally started to level off a bit,and then set out to get in the final 7 miles to Green Valley. The trail was slightly downhill,so we could move fast and arrived at the Green Valley Ranger Station at 6:30 p.m. Only minutes after Stanimal had called the Andersons,Joe Anderson showed up with his van to give us a ride to his house. However,we did not take off right away,but waited for the other 4 hikers that came down the mountain a couple minutes after us.
Upon our arrival at the Anderson’s Casa de Luna,we were greeted by numerous other hikers and Joe’s wife Terrie,and were then given the welcome tour around the large property which included a nice Manzanita forest in the backyard where most of the hikers set up their tents for the night. At sunset dinner was served:huge amounts of the famous Andersons’ taco salad to satisfy all the hungry hikers. I love taco salad,but after today’s 17 miles through the heat it tasted even better!