It seems like so long ago, but this is a picture of the sunrising over the Joshua Trees at our first camp in the Mojave. There was a reason we chose this site, which I will go into briefly now, but not full detail due to the fact my mother reads this blog and she is already worried enough about me playing Frogger with shopping carts on busy highways.

There are many things to be aware of in the desert. A few of these things you have probably thought of such as extreme heat, lack of water, rattlesnakes. The Mojave even has its own special rattler the Mojave Green. Mom don't look this one up. There are other desert inhabitants that you should be aware of that you may not be aware of such as Merlin.

I am going to try to make this story short as I am texting, but being Southern sometimes inhibits my ability to tell a short story so please be patient. Snow Turtle and I left Hikertown a few days ago and wandered along the LA aquaduct at sunset which was amazing. You actually follow the aquaduct for about 17 miles. It is one of the most ironic stretches of the PCT due to the fact that you are walking on top of concrete that covers a man made river full of water in the middle of the desert and the one thing that you need access to more than anything else, water, you are denied. It is totally cruel.

Nonetheless, we wandered along this stretch into the night to avoid heat. The only light present was from the full moon above which outlined the Joshua Trees that surrounded us and the flat landscape that ran away into forever. After a few hours of walking, we met another hiker named Gut Feeling who continued on with us. She let us know about a man who has apparently been stalking the aquaduct looking for single women. Hiker lore right? There is no way this could be true. Only sane people live in the desert right?

Not five minutes after that conversation a car shows up behind us with its lights off. Keep in mind we are now 7 miles outside of civilization on a dirt road surrounded by only sand and cacti.

The car flashes his lights and pulls up beside us. I quickly scan the car which looks like somone has recently unleashed a Molotov cocktail on the interior and I see the driver politely but his beer between his legs. He proceeds to tell us his name is Merlin and he lives somewhere out here. Somewhere out here you say? Hmmmm so thats a little fishy. My trust is now shaky for Merlin. His next comment sets my heart at ease though. He let us know we didn't need to be scared about his headlights being out when he rode up on us. There was a reason. He did not know how to use them. Don't worry about this though he said he was using his Indian Senses which helped him to drive at night (Please note Merlin was very Caucasian). I let him know this did make me feel better about the situation that at first I thought he was just some meth addict driving through the desert looking for hikers to harass
. Merlin continued to question our new found friend Gut Feeling and...