DAY 41: TEHACHAPI BLISS AND I'M NOT KIDDING

miles: 11

Fantastic views in the night from my sleeping bag AND I slept relatively well!

Ben, not waking up in the a.m.

The 11 miles down to Tehachapi were a breeze, as my eagerness to get to our hotel room got stronger with each step. 

I fantasized about the shower, the clean bed, the meals... These luxuries were so close I could barely stand it. I've never wanted anything so badly, to be able to just lay down and stare into space, comfortably, no slanting, no rocks, no poking dried leaves, no wind, in a temperature controlled setting.

There was Trail Magic! WITH CHAIRS! Just a few miles to go...

Everyone enjoying the magic...

Burn zones and wind mills for miles.

We reached Willow-Springs Road!! Civilization in sight! 

The luckiest people in the world, we snagged a ride in about 30 minutes. Sour Cream and Busted in the bed of a truck, having to lay flat so we didn't get a pulled over and given a ticket. The drive was short and our 2 trail angels gave us a mini-tour if the city, complete with local history. They even dropped us off at the entrance to the Best Western, where we would be taking a proper zero day. HALLELUJAH.

I will not even attempt to articulate the emotions that washed over me as I opened the door to our suite. 

How do I describe the joy? The elation. The emotion. The pure bliss.

First things first: shower #1.

Next: lay flat in the clean white sheets for 3 hours staring at the ceiling, absorbing the stillness, the quietness, the softness.

The clean-ness.

I've noticed that when I've been walking for hours on end each day, it's sort of like being in a car all day. Not in a carsick way, just in the way that you don't want to be moving anymore, you crave stillness. Or at least I do. The only time I'm still is when I'm sleeping or resting, and when I'm resting... I'm usually sleeping. 

We finally mustered up the energy to walk to "T.K.'s Pizza" down the road.

Glazed over, Ben and I inhaled a giant pizza & root beers. Everyone else joined us. 

Back in bed. 

After plenty of quiet time, we joined forces with beers... Feeling the weight of the last section slip away. Knock on the door, it's our long lost friend Manchurian (aka Patrick) and the rest of the "PRR" in tow. We started with some if these guys at the border back on April 20th and hadn't really see then since! It was quite the reunion - even had dinner together. 

Jacuzzi ended the night- perfection.

DAY 39: MOJAVE RAIN

miles: 24

Today began in the freezing misty rain and ended in the dry desert sand.

I don't think I've ever experienced such drastic weather/terrain/climate conditions.

5:00am wake up at Sawmill - it had rained over night! Everything was moist and we packed up quickly. Ben and I were out of camp first and booked it to stay warm. We were pleasantly surprised when we hit the 500 mark. It was 6:45am, and we were standing there, staring at this monumental feat.

500 miles. Wow.

The fog and drizzle were thick so we quickly took a photo of the 500 mile marker and were on our way. The landscape was beautiful in the mist and I felt the wind in my sails. I felt like I could go 10 miles straight this morning. We sort of had to, in order to get to the water cache.. I was dangerously low on water and needed to keep moving.

Ben and I checked the few water sources that were on the water report, they were "guzzlers" which are basically underground tanks of some sort that collect rain water. They are often covered and require you to dip into the water. I looked in one of these water tanks and witnessed a white, decaying lizard and immediately got up and walked on. No thank you, dead lizard water. Nope!

I will wait until we reach a better source.

The mist was beginning to soak my body and my entire pack and I had to repeatedly stop and put items away in their proper dry bags. I had waited too long to get my rain gear on, so I was already properly soaked by the time I did - not good.

Shivering, hiking, miserably wet and cold... what a day so far. Wasn't this supposed to be the hottest section of trail?

We all rendez-vous'd at the water tank down on the road. We'd come 12 or so miles already. Decided to make some lunch, despite the fridgid temps and miserable moods. Lunch was to be a quick affair today, had to keep moving to stay warm. We were officially entering the Mojave Desert at this point and had been planning on triple digit temperatures and sunburns. Not today!

The clouds turned dark black as we moved further down onto the desert floor. Thrilled to be out of the clouds, hoping the weather and temperature would be better, we were disappointed when the real rain started. Being out of the clouds meant being under them, at this point, which means: raining.

We marched on.

The dramatic weather made for a change of scenery and was a spectacular sight, actually. The contrast of the Mojave Desert against the low, seemingly tornado producing, clouds was striking. I took many photos. Angela and I hiked behind the others for a while, stopping often for photo opp's and wardrobe changes. Morale was looking up.

Once down at the road, we debated as to what we should do: stop here and go to Hikertown (a strange "Trail Angel" sort of place right on the trail) and be content with a 20 mile day OR continue on and get some of the Mojave Desert out of the way this evening while the weather was uncharacteristically cold?

We decided to hit up Hikertown (to say we did, for respite from the increasing wind, to take photos, to say we did) AND hike on from there, going as far as our legs would take us that night.

Hikertown.

Ooooookay. Hikertown is a unique place on the trail - it is a faux western-ish facade of a place, a small cluster of rooms, buildings, trailers, chickens, dogs and double-wides. Wind swept through the middle of Hikertown and gusted, blowing up chicken feathers, garbage and sand. I felt like I was on a movie set... perhaps a horror movie? Is that going too far?

Confused, we wandered around until we found someone to help us find our way to the area where we could relax. The hiker lounge - yes. The hiker lounge was located in a large garage. There was a woman in the kitchen portion of the garage, busily making sandwiches, scooping up bowls of ice cream, and shuffling through the refrigerator.

I was a little creeped out, to say the least, but we were happy to have shelter from the wind and collectively decided to make our stay a short one. Then I fell asleep, in the recliner, in a distorted position. I guess I was more exhausted than I had thought.

Ben, Sour Cream, Angela and Starfox all ate gigantic meals and bowls of ice cream. I snacked on my trail food to save money. We wondered if and when Dr. Slosh and Smiles would catch up - we missed them. Back at Sawmill, Dr. Slosh had been limping due to a lower calf pain... we hoped he wasn't hurt enough that they had to get off of the trail....

Hikers were coming and going, disheveled from the long day in the elements. We all gathered together in the garage and quietly rested and ate. Familiar faces, some we hadn't seen in a while, a few new ones. Most of the others would be staying the night here at Hikertown, something I could not imagine doing, but it was slightly tempting only because of the wind. I questioned whether or not it was wise to go out into the Mojave along the aqueduct in these conditions - could we sleep out there? Was there a reason why people DIDN'T sleep out there? If it wasn't too hot, is it insane to assume we could just walk across the entire Mojave Desert tomorrow? All of these things went unanswered.

Most people tend to night hike the Mojave or do something creative in order to get across it. It is a long, flat, windy as hell, dreadfully slow, and USUALLY HOT, section of the trail that is pretty rough for most hikers, most years. It seemed like we were lucky that we got such cool weather and we wanted to take advantage of it by going out as soon as possible, to beat the heat, in the event that it suddenly got hot tomorrow.

Busted (another hiker we have come to know in the past few days), a 36 year old, fun lovin' girl who had ben hiking with Starfox previously, has decided to set out with us.

With much reluctance, we packed up, buckled our belts, and set out on our way.

The trail from here follows the open L.A. aqueduct - which is really neat. The sun was setting behind us and the wind was picking up speed but was not nearly strong enough to be a problem, at this point.

Us walking the aqueduct.

Our camp spot.

A few miles later, the aqueduct becomes covered and the trail follows it, like... on top of it. We walked single file on top of the aqueduct for hours, singing along to the tunes on Angela's speaker. It was a blast. To walk on an aqueduct, during sunset, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, was mighty fine.

After we had come a total of 25 miles for the day, we decided to call it quits. We had found a relatively wind-blocked spot right next to the aqueduct in which to pitch our tents. Ben and I thought it would be a good idea to pitch the tent in the event that sand was an issue in the night (we didn't want sand mouths). There were also lots of pokey bits flying around and I wanted to avoid popping my sleeping mat (my NeoAir). So - we set up the tent, enjoyed one of the craziest sunsets yet, and were loving life. Hell yeah!

DAY 38: SAWMILL

miles: 20

Today was somewhat unremarkable in terms of hiking.

Got a lift out of the Anderson's after the pancake breakfast - first thing in the morning. It felt good to get back out on the trail after so much lazing. I think I had had my fill of lazing - every hiker gets to the point where they feel antsy and long to be back out on the trail, and after a full zero day... I am more than ready. Hikers who were behind us were already pouring in, and I felt the urge to start hiking, more than ever before.

The pancake set up at he Anderson's!

Leaving Green Valley was an uphill slog, to say the least. Why is it always uphill? It's, like... always uphill. Never downhill. How is this possible?

Feeling particularly heavy, lethargic, and uncomfortable, I was slow slow slow slow slow slow slow.

Why the lethargy now? I didn't have an unreasonable amount of food. I didn't have a lot of water. It's crazy how sometimes, for no particular reason, you will feel UNBELIEVABLY STRONG, and at other times, you will feel RIDICULOUSLY SLOW AND WEAK.

Today it felt as though it was my first day out on the trail. Was it the rest? Had I not eaten the right nutrients? I was adequately hydrated, nourished, felt well in general, and was very very very well rested! It wasn't even hot. Ugh.

I pushed throught it, at the back of the pack. Angela, Ben, Starfox, Sour Cream and Focus were way up ahead of me. Focus is a friend of Starfox's from Australia. They prepared and flew over here together and have only been loosely hiking together. Today we hung out with Focus quite a bit, he's great company.

Huffing and puffing (not even high elevation!) I worked my way up the mountain with my bag full of bricks, becoming increasingly frusterated with how difficult the hiking was for me. I tried to let it go, but it was just... baffling!

I made it through.

We all made it to the Sawmill Campground in the evening and it was getting W-I-N-D-Y. Ominous weather, really, making us all very nervous.

The campground was devoid of flat, adequate camping spots. Nice. Ben and I searched for an appropriate spot for EVER. All of the flat spots were littered with glass and all of the glass-less spots were lumpy bumpy. Eventually we settled on a spot ON the dirt road in the campground, down low under the trees. We were completely sheltered from the wind and felt lucky to have such a great spot. All of the others were up above on the hills and their tents appeared to be whapping in the wind. Yikes. Has the wind already begun?

We marched over to Dr. Slosh and Smiles' camp site and gathered around their picnic table eating supper together. The sunset was stunning, purple, pink and orange puffy clouds! A stunning sunset is gorgeous... but it also indicates a change in weather... I shivered at the thought of what was to come. Rain? Is it going to rain? These were the thoughts racing through my head as I went to sleep, listening to the horrific winds in the tall trees above.

DAY 37: ZERO IN PEACE

miles: 0

Lounging, dozing, resting, napping, snacking, eating ice creams, taking country strolls, napping, supine position, lounging.... that is all today was.

We haven't ever had a zero day quite like this, they always tend to involve chores, and even if the chores are done, we may be stressing, or hurrying to complete some task. Not here.

At the Anderson's, taking it easy is encouraged, and it is easy to stick around their house because they live in such a tiny "town". They live in Green Valley, California - a teensy town of a few folks. There is only a gas station and a small diner. It reminded me of Alsea or even Tidewater, Oregon where I have some family.

We went to the gas station store a few times to get ice cream, snacks, and beer, but that was about all we did.

Dr. Slosh consumed an entire gallon of ice cream: Caramel Delight.

We painted our nails red.

There were 2 huskies lounging around.

We gorged on pancakes in the a.m.

Hot dogs were served for lunch.

Taco Salad was served for dinner (again - yes!)

Dance party commenced at 10pm. Shit be gettin' wild tonight!


P.S. It has been hard for me to find the motivation to type on my iPhone at the end of the day so blogging has not been a priority and I apologize for the bursts of posts. I am trying to figure out how to blog more consistently, but it is hard. There are so many things every day I wish I could relay to you folks at home, it's something that I think about while I hike - and I try to take mental note of all of the thoughts, stories, and things I want to share, but they leave me by the end of the day sometimes.

I've decided to start jotting down thoughts as I go throughout the day. We'll see how that goes, maybe it will help?

I miss you all. Love love love -----------

DAY 36: THE ANDERSON'S

miles: 14

CANNOT BELIEVE WE HAVE ALREADY MADE IT TO THE ANDERSON'S!

Let me explain: The Anderson's are some of the trails most notorious Trail Angels (along with the Saufley's of course). They let hikers into their home, camp on their property and feed hikers three meals a day! Whereas the Saufley's are referred to as the place to get your chores done, the Anderson's is where you go to sit and do nothing - to relax in the most ultimate way. There is a sign there that says "Hippie Daycare". The anticipation has been high and we've been looking forward to coming here for a long time now, and can't believe the day is finally here!

Waking up was hard, even without having done the 24 beer challenge, we didn't get to sleep until 1:00 in the morning.

Angela, Ben and I had camped a few meters shy of the highway where the water cache was in a tiny, soft, secluded spot right off of the trail. Sour Cream and Lunchbox were at the water cache, and Smiles and Dr. Slosh had been lost in the night. We weren't sure where they had stopped or when we'd see them next, but planned on seeing them at the Anderson's.

But what did I see when I popped my head out of the tent that morning? Bleary from lack of sleep? Was it Dr. Slosh? Yes, that is Dr. Slosh standing on the other side of that bush (only visible from waist up) holding up a beer in a beer cozy, grinning like a lunatic? Yes. Yes that is Dr. Slosh, happy as can be.

He was holding up his 18th (maybe 20th?) beer.

It was just the sight I needed to see to get me going in the morning. The laughing never stopped after that.

Angela on the left and me on the right: the view of our packs.

We made it to the first cache and filled up, knowing it was quite a hot distance to the next water cache (provided by the Anderson's themselves).

Just a photo of one of the random PCT trail registers... These are often in the weirdest spots! 

The hiking wasn't too hot, nor was it too steep. It WAS gorgeous, though. I don't know about anyone else, but I love the green type of desert: shrubs, bushes, chapparal, everything low to the ground but green green green! Wildflowers blooming, cacti mixed in occasionally...

The miles flew by with the help of my iPod and the next thing I knew, I was rounding the corner to find a hidden oasis within the trees. Are those people? Is that... are those... COOLERS? FULL OF POP AND BEER!?!?

Jaw dropping - literally. Everyone cheered and held up their beverages.

Stunned, I flung the pack down and jumped hurdles to get to the cooler. Just a few beers left! I had a beer and a Dr. Shasta. I had been ahead of Ben and Angela and had the pleasure of watching them stumble upon this Trail Magic: priceless.

Dr. Slosh and Smiles made it there as well! Here we were, all of us, one happy, thriving, trail family sipping cold drinks in the middle of the rolling hills. It was Sunset, Games, Reason, Lunchbox, Dr. Slosh, Smiles, Sour Cream, Ben, Angela, and I. Games and Reason are a great couple from Arizona who have been hiking with Sunset off and on. It was the first time I had officially met them.

We lounged in the shade for a while, before pressing onward to the Anderson's (only a few miles away).

Starfox, Busted and others arrived just as we were leaving... I love seeing hikers come across Trail Magic.

A rest break from the heat (no one is posing, this is natural).

The last few miles got HOT. Hot enough to dampen my spirits... but once the highway was in sight (the highway we'd be hoping to hitch a ride on) I spotted a van with all of it's doors open.

Hmmm... I secretly hoped it was a Trail Angel just WAITING to pick up hikers as they trickled down the mountain, but deep down I stifled those hopes so as not to be disappointed.

I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED - IT WAS A VAN OPENING ITS ARMS AND INVITING ME IN! Sour Cream and Ben were already in the van when I got down to the road and music was blasting from the car. It was Little Steps! She's a Trail Angel who is hangin' out at the Anderson's shuttling hikers to and from their house! THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE!!!!

Smiles and Dr. Slosh were up on the ridge, within eyesight, and I waved them to hurry and get down to the car. I watched as Smiles quickened her step, both of them racing down the mountain.

All of us in the van, flying to the Anderson's in an air conditioned vehicle, I felt lucky.

As we pulled up at their home, "Casa de Luna" is what they call it, we saw 30-40 other hikers dressed in hawaiian shirts lounging in the front yard. They began the slow clap, and soon, we were being celebrated as we emptied the vehicle and retrieved their packs.

Wow, the cheering! The clapping! Hey guys.

Every time a vanload of hikers gets dropped off, everyone else does the slow clap and cheers them on - it's quite a spectacle.

We were whisked away and given a tour of the property and a run-down of how it works there. There would be Taco Salad dinner at 7pm and pancakes from 6-9 in the morning. Wow.

Wow wow wow wow wow.

After the tour, we all set off to find our respective camp spots. Their property vaguely reminded me of the Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley (where Pickathon is held) in that it seemed to stretch forever into the woods. This was a low, thick, manzanita forest and thankfully there were plenty of secluded camp spots to choose from. Ben and I chose a quiet spot near the back and Sour Cream camped a few spots over from us.

It was very peaceful. We rested and unfurled our sleeping mats and bags, prepping our beds before going down to the party.

Dr. Slosh, Smiles, Ben and I.

The Anderson's are known for their unbelievable hospitality and sometimes "party" atmosphere. We'd heard it was a great deal of fun and were excited to start mingling and eating and drinking.

The huskies chillin' on the futon.

The beautiful manzanita forest.

Terrie firing up the grill.

There is an outdoor kitchen area, multiple chairs, recliners, futons, couches and blankets. There is a clothesline full of Hawaiian shirts from which to choose from. Everyone wears one.

The "The Wolf Pack"...

Eugene, Oregon. The atmosphere reminded me of Eugene and made me nostalgic for college. It felt a little bit like the Campbell Club or the Whiteaker Neighborhood... I began to miss home, slightly.

The taco salad was to die for. When they told us what would be served, I couldn't even begin to imagine how they could cook enough food to feed the 60 hungry hikers... But they pulled it off! A vat of beans, a vat of rice, heaps and heaps of olives, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc.

We were instructed, by Terrie Anderson herself, to wash our hands and get in line, the line winding out into and up the street, as the starving hikers eagerly waited.

SO. GOOD. SOOOOO GOOOOD. And filling!

As the night wound up (dance party, strobe light, tables and chairs being rearranged to make room for a dance floor) I was winding down, exhausted and extremely sunburnt from the heat of the day. It was fun for a few hours, but most of our crew had retreated to their sleeping quarters by about 11pm. That is like 2:00am hiker time.

9:00pm is considered "hiker midnight". It was well past my bedtime. Perhaps tomorrow I can manage to keep my eyelids open longer!