Last night we camped just west of the Guardians and the entrance to the Ergrauthian Valley. The Guardians remind me of giant gateposts, as our path sits between the two pointed mountainous peaks. The air is hot and vegetation is sparse in this region. The dry riverbed that leads up to the mountain pass looks like a thin long tongue extending from two mountainous teeth of the range. I’m feeling less optimistic about our success the closer we get to this eastern valley as we prepare to walk into what appears to be the mouth of an evil beast.