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We started the morning with a fine breakfast of two poptarts, some tea and instant oatmeal with apple sauce, courtesy of the penny stove I made out of Heiniken cans. We had another ambitious day ahead of us, 80 miles across the desert without services, mostly uphill.

We waited for the minimart to open so we could pick up some snacks for what we hoped would be our last day in the desert and our last extended stretch without services.

The going was slow as we climbed out of the canyons surrounding the lake. We gradually climbed to higher and higher plateaus.

In the last 30 miles we started to reap some benefits of our previous 50 miles of gradual climbing, and picked up some quick miles with some steep descents. Unfortunately the descents were followed by some nasty climbs.

We still had visions of an ice cold soda in our heads which finally became reality about 4 miles outside Blanding UT, our destination for the day. This will be our last night in Utah, tomorrow we reach Colorado. Utah was beautiful but harsh. I have new respect for the pioneers who settled this harsh territory.