November 9

The three of us woke up and left camp, drawing a "6:00" in the dirt to let the other three know when we left camp. Everything went well during the day. All of the water was where it was supposed to be and the warm sun was never too hot. Forrest and I waited for Nat, Jane and Smooth at a water source and within an hour they showed up after hiking since 4:30 am to catch us. I went ahead to catch Louis and share the news that Smooth was still ok to hike and that our border tagging plan of the 13th was still in play. I caught Louis at his lunch spot where he was watching the trail to the north to see if we would catch up to him. From there, it was only 2.5 miles to trail angel Mike's place where fried chicken, potatoes, salad and cookies were being prepared. We were starting to get sucked into the vortex when, just before sunset, Jane snapped out of her trance and put on her pack. That started it, and we all followed her out. I am camped with Nat and Jane, Louis and Forrest are ahead and Smooth is behind. We will all meet up at different times tomorrow during  the hike because of the limited water sources.