Day 42-47, (may 18-23) miles 558.5-615.9


























 I spent 3 whole days in Tehachapi. It was a really nice trail town and Barbara and Richard were great hosts. They let hikers borrow bicycles to get around town which makes town days much easier. On day 43 Angel and Ian arrived in town after taking 2 weeks off due to injury. They brought tons of trail magic to give to hikers passing through, including a pizza oven and lots of fresh dough and toppings.


I also slack-packed the 8 miles between Willow Springs road and hwy 58, leaving my pack at Barbaras. I jogged a lot of it and getting that section done will make the next water carry much easier. That night I watched the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie in a theater downtown, which was really fun. I found some new (ish) shoes in a hiker box (a place for hikers to drop unwanted gear/food), the same exact kind and size as my old ones. They seem to just be a few hundred miles more new than my old ones. 


On day 44 Ryan, Alashua, and Carter all arrived in town after not seeing them in two weeks they came over to Barbara’s for lasagna dinner made by Angel. It was great catching up with them and we all enjoyed the incredible sunset and a thunderstorm off in the distance.


 On day 45 it was time to get back on trail. Angel, Ian, Chris and I all got a ride to the trailhead by a trail angel named Abel. Starting at highway 58 was the longest water carry of the trail so far, 16.8 miles. It started with a several thousand foot climb, my heavy pack filled with 4.5 liters and 5 days of food. Most of the climb was in the heat, but it actually cooled down significantly at the top. There was cloud cover and distant thunderstorms.


We set up camp at the water source at mile 583.3,  16.8 miles for the day. There was a good sized group camping there, and the water was a small trickle coming out of a pvc pipe.


It was an 18.8 mile day on day 46, split up by a water source a mile off the trail. During lunch it rained for about 20 minutes which was very refreshing. We were walking through wind turbines for half the day, then the scenery got really awesome toward the end. There were a lot of downed trees covering the trail for a few miles, but we encountered a trail maintenance removing them crew so they will probably be cleared soon. 


I camped at mile 602.1 with many other hikers


The morning of day 47 consisted of walking through beautiful tree cover with lots of water. During this latest 85 mile section, there isn’t a ton of water, but here there was some every .5 mile or so for 6 miles. It felt great to not have to carry 10 extra pounds. At the last water source I took a long siesta before beginning a long descent. 


The tree cover quickly thinned out and was replaced by more desert chaparral. At  mile 615.9 I set up camp where there is a water cache maintained by local trail angels. Cowboy camping that night I saw the most incredible stars I’ve seen on trail, and possibly the best sky I’ve seen in my entire life. With the complete absence of light pollution and clouds I was able to clearly see the milky way.


Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 25, 2023 at 4:17 PM

    Loved the pics you shared! As always stay safe

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 27, 2023 at 9:12 PM

    I did not expect the beauty of the sky to be such a prominent theme in your journey. Beauty in abundance! ~~ Pr. Tim

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 27, 2023 at 10:05 PM

    Great photos and fun to read about your experiences. So glad you got to experience the night sky without light pollution,..an

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 27, 2023 at 10:06 PM

      Amazing experience of creation. Cheryl

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15-18 (aug 21-24) mile 2395.8-2466.8

Image
  On day 15 I left Snoqualmie Pass, heading back out into smoky air. I felt the air was just fine to breathe and I didn’t notice any irritation all day. It was a 5 mile climb out of the pass gaining almost 3000 feet. Halfway through the climb a man named Karel Sabbe passed me running up the mountain, and I’ve been following his entire hike online. He is attempting the fastest known time on the pct and he left the Mexican border 42 days ago averaging almost 60 miles a day.     The record is 51 days so he’s well on pace. At the top of the climb the trail went across a narrow ledge called the Kendall Catwalk. People make it sound like it’s super scary but I didn’t think it was much worse than a lot of other places on trail. The next 10 miles were through the beautiful Alpine Lakes wilderness, but I didn’t take many pictures because it was hard to see the scenery through the smoke. I set up camp at mile 2414.8 for a 20.7 mile day By the morning of day 16, the smoke had fully ...
Read more

Day 20-24 (Aug 26-30) mile 2466.9-2554.5 (+11 hike to Holden Village)

Image
  On day 20 I got back on trail at Stevens Pass loaded with five days of food. I started late and got 12.8 miles in setting up camp at mile 2479.6.   On day 21 I went through some incredible alpine scenery, with the colors just starting to turn to the fall reds and oranges. I stopped for a while at the spectacular Pear Lake and had it all to myself. I passed a very significant milestone of 1000 miles hiked on the pct combined with the desert section. I began to see a big cloud of smoke billowing from one of the fires that is burning just a few miles off the trail. I ran into a forest service ranger who was telling hikers about the upcoming fire closure and to be cautious of the nearby airplane lake fire that is steadily growing. So far that fire hasn’t closed the pct but it might if it grows any further. I set up camp back in the smoke at mile 2502.9 for a 23.3 miles day. On day 22 I awoke to a strong campfire smell- the wind had blown even more thick smoke into my direction f...
Read more

Day 2-3, miles 11.4-36.1

Image
Day 2-3, miles 11.4-36.1 Day 2 (april 8) was when the nerves of starting the trail started to recede, letting me focus on the experience of hiking the trail. The day started with hiking down into Hauser canyon, then immediately hiking back out of it. It is the first decent climb of the trail, and it actually felt pretty good! It was nice not having to carry a ton of water from Hauser creek, because there was a stream at the top of the climb.  By noon I arrived in Lake Morena, the first town on the trail. I ate Lunch at the Oak shores malt shop with Chris, Alashua, and Elizabeth from the camp the night before. The three hours I spent at Lake Morena was really chill and relaxing, and a group us were resting in the shade at the campground there.  I set up camp at mile 23.0, eventually joined by 5 other thru hikers: Chris and Elizabeth from the night before; Jinx and two-tone, 2 experienced Appalachian Trail thru hikers; and two-tone’s friend Jamie from new york. On day three (apr...
Read more