It was Feb. 17, his final day. Through surreal terrain he called "soft marshmallow soil" and "frosted flakes. " The park's inky night skies are famous for stargazing — a particular draw for someone whose livelihood is intertwined with space. It marked the halfway point of his journey. The wiry, sandy-haired astrophysicist is part of a growing subculture of endurance obsessives — men and women who have set their sights on completing outdoor running and hiking feats and breaking arcane records in the process. Trail south american hike crossword clue printable. He applied to be an astronaut. "Am going crazy with sleep dep and fatigue, " he wrote.
"I'd rather vomit or faint within my home instead of being in, like, 100-degree weather on the valley floor, where if I faint, I'm dead, " Hummels said in late February 2021. Though he frequently described the project as "silly, " it jibes with the ethos of FKT culture. Subscribers get early access to this story. Trail south american hike crossword clue crossword. This was the leg of the journey he'd been dreading the most because of the rough terrain of the salt flats ahead. All he had to do was find water along the way that wouldn't kill him. A clear answer never came. After five hours of restless sleep, Hummels, 43, awoke that day to lashing winds and harsh sun on his face. The charges were perilously low. Hummels felt exuberant as he began his journey at 7, 000 feet, in the snowy Sylvania Mountains.
But there was nowhere to hide on the flats, and he had so many miles to go. When the time came to try, the quest proved perilous. Tests, including several for COVID-19, came back negative. On Strava, a social platform for tracking exercise, Hummels' profile name is Luke Skywalker. Why would people identify potentially hazardous water, when they could just buy it at the gas station or fill up at a spigot? To keep the particulate matter out of his lungs, he strapped on an N95 mask. An irritating leaf blower whirred in the empty expanse. It didn't matter that he'd barely slept the night before or that the bushy Joshua trees and pinyon pines were shredding his skin. Nothing can be stashed along the way. Under the midday sun, the temperature soared past 100 degrees. It was only when the sun came up on Feb. 18 that he felt he might actually make it. When Hummels began to look into hiking the route, he discovered that two intrepid Europeans had already made the crossing and recorded their times at The website is the closest thing to a record book for endurance junkies. Around midnight he reached Eagle Borax Spring, where he replenished his water. It was Saratoga Springs — large, glittering pools teeming with pupfish.
But he still didn't feel well. Civilization is to be avoided. The gas is heavier than air, and Hummels reasoned that it would be safer to camp above its source. Already he'd endured a furious sand storm, dodged vents spewing toxic gas, chugged water laced with arsenic. He scurried past, eager to get away from civilization. Sitting on a thin pad, he whipped a Luke Skywalker Lego figurine — his alter ego — from his pocket. "It's silly, " he said. The terrain on the flats alternated between salt marsh, where his feet sank with each step, and salt stalagmites, which rose between 6 inches and 2 feet.
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