I'm alive!

After 7.5 hours of driving I reached Fort Stockton around 1400 and ate
at the Dragon Buffet, stocking my stomach.. I'd certainly be needing
it.
1730 I walked into the Panther Pass Visitor Center.. told them I'd
like to do the Outer Mountain Loop. The lady there was in training &
looked worried. She called in her higher up who asked all kinds of
questions to test my preparedness.. then an older ranger with a look
of experience comes & says I won't make it.. that they'll have to save
me.. or I'll die. Wrong tactic on his part.. I wasn't scared.. & I
already knew to be cautious. Eventually they took my info. & agreed to
let me do it.
That first night I didn't start hiking until 2000, so I camped perhaps
a mile or so up the trail: within the basin. The area in the basin is
very similar to the hill country in places.. a lot of junipers and
such, but certainly some different wildlife like tarantulas, bears,
and some plants of the scrublands outside the basin (which I'd soon be
acquainted with). And then I slept....