Pic: Isa is packed! Outside my storage unit, Livermore, CA
I spent a few final hours with reliable power and internet to do backups and download some maps of Death Valley, said goodbye to Kiel and Cheryl’s dog, retraced my steps back to Kirkwood, then pressed on to Walker Lake. Between first dinner in Waterloo, a pit stop at my PO box in Kirkwood, second dinner in Gardnerville, and intermittent drizzle and rain and flurries, I arrived at Twenty Mile Beach well after dark.
Walker Lake is a surprisingly large body of water tucked underneath Mt. Grant and US-95 to the west. When I found a spot away from the few RVs already parked for the night, I hopped out and was nearly knocked over by the wind whistling down the valley from the north. Scouting in the dark is never easy, but this is a lake bed in the high desert so I knew shelter would be in short supply. I found a small thorny bush to form a partial eastern fence and parked my car next to it, forming a stout barrier from the strong northerly wind. This worked well enough to set down my tarp without it blowing away. Half an hour later, I zipped into my sleeping bag and passed out without so much as a single episode of Survivor.
Pic: Windbreak, proof of concept.
Danger Beyond This Point 