Day 47

Trail miles: 19.8

Total: 621.9

I like having my tent up when I have the time and it’s not too windy even when it’s hot, because it’s the closest thing you get to having your own room on trail. The campsites are usually tight so people camp on top of each other. Last night was no different. Lots of hikers everywhere, which I am grateful for. I heard there were mice around too, so I didn’t have to deal with them in my tent. Tonight I will be cowboy camping though because we are in another wind tunnel and not a lot of rocks around to holster my tent. Should be warm enough that I will sleep ok. I may have to put my headphones in for the sound though.

I got up at 5 again and was on my way by 6. I was a lot more relaxed getting up this morning and was able to do everything I wanted without feeling like I was running late. I was still one of the first ones out of camp. I guess not too many people care about the heat or I’m just a very slow hiker….still. I hopped off trail 7 miles in to get water at the spring, and I’m glad I did! That had to be one of the most beautiful areas on trail so far! The spring was clear, cold, and flowing heavily. I sat down and had some breakfast essentials with coffee. I’m glad I took the time to enjoy that because I was transported back into the desert very shortly after. I made it to the cache around lunchtime, which was a mistake. It was so hot even being overcast, and there was no shade anywhere. The water from the cache, I am grateful for, but it was such a disappointment compared to the spring. The temperature of the water could have been used to make hot chocolate. I met the Daley family finally at the lunch spot. You can find them on Instagram at DaleyWalks. They are hiking with 3 little ones, and the mom is carrying the youngest. Before I left, two men in a jeep rolled up and handed out candy and bags of goodies! I got Doritos, dark chocolate, Reese’s, fruit snacks, and a little cake! The best part was the chocolate must have been in the cooler, because it was chilled! I tried to get moving around 1:45pm, but after 2 miles I had to find shade and wait another hour. Camp is by a dirt road with a picnic table and some bushes to try and stop the wind. I had chicken tortilla soup for dinner and Milanos for desert. Now I am set up for the perfect viewing spot for the blood moon!

Day 46

Trail miles: 18.8

Total: 602.1

I thought I would have woken up somewhat relaxed since I am on my own schedule now, but I need to get 20ish miles done and I had that aggressive bull to worry about. I left at about 6:30am with 4 liters of water. Good thing I had that much because it was probably the most I have sweat on trail, even with my umbrella. It’s common to find a couple people struggling with dehydration on trail, so it’s best to try and spare a little water if you can or even a packet of electrolytes. I met Happy along the trail today and we walked together for a bit. She is from Germany, which is pretty much where every foreign hiker is from. I also met a couple from Aachen, where Kiersten lives! I told her I would wear a PCT shirt to see if anyone recognizes the trail, and she said do it! Even if no one else does, maybe they will see me over there. 

There was a detour apparently that is not on the FarOut app, which makes me nervous if I can’t rely on my phone, then I’m just relying on the trail signs and footprints. Someone said it added on a couple miles that I have no way to calculate. It all worked out, though, and it’s a good thing I see hikers everywhere on trail.

I passed the spot where the latest bull sighting was and thought I was in the clear, but next thing you know I hear loud and constant mooing from the bushes down trail. I grabbed my stuff and got out of there before it came into view. I stopped early for lunch around 11:00am because I was so hungry and my feet hurt again. I had tuna on a bagel. Then I slept until noon. The next four miles were just my dripping sweat. The hill is what really got me. I was chugging water. I took a break in some shade, but quickly got moving again out of boredom and the fact that the flies were so annoying. It was best too that I climbed the hill, because there was service there. There were a lot of blowdowns to climb over during the last stretch, and of course I added a few more scrapes to my knees. I made it to mile 600! Sad that the gang couldn’t be with me, but I’m sure they’ll be around for 700. I’m sleeping next to the spring so unlimited water again! There’s a ton of hikers here again, which is great because I do not want to camp alone. I’m not sure about tomorrow, because there’s a cache at 14 miles and that doesn’t seem like enough miles. I’ll try to see where Happy is camping tomorrow.

Day 45

Trail miles: 16.8

Total: 583.3

It was very tough to get out of bed this morning. I was not ready to give up my queen bed all to myself. I got my stuff together and put my stinky hiking shirt back on. I had a coffee again and this time a breakfast sandwich with egg and sausage. I went over to the computer with my remaining time to backup photos from my camera onto my external drive. Much easier to do on a computer than my phone. I ordered a dry bag for my camera for the river crossings coming up. I need to keep up with my finances more on the trip, because I’m just spending money when I need to. Right as Ted (who I now found out is a creep) got to the pastry shop to pick us up, we found out Brad was taking another 0 in Tehachapi, no reason other than he wanted to. Krista is already taking a break from trail to heal her foot, so it was down to Raechel and me. Soon after we started hiking, Raechel fell behind to pee, but I never saw her after that. I got a text saying she was very sick and had to head back into town for a night or 2. Not sure what the cause of it was, maybe something she ate. I was already too far up the hill to turn back, so I kept going. I got to the water source by 6:00 pm and started filtering. My arches were really hurting me today. I think I might have to get some different inserts than what these shoes offer. I am staying at the spring tonight where there are other hikers around. I have to make it to the next water source tomorrow if I have hopes of camping near people again, which will make tomorrow a 21 mile day. So early wake up call!

Day 44

Trail miles: 0

Total: 566.5

Another day of relaxation! This time a lot of the hikers we knew have made it back on trail, so we spent the time to ourselves. We went to the post office where either Amazon, USPS, or UPS had lost my package, so I wasn’t able to patch my sleeping pad just yet. The Tottenham game made up for how sad that made me because they beat Arsenal 3-0 and we got to watch it in the hotel room as we ate leftover charcuterie fixings. I took a walk around town to try and find a fuel canister, but I came up short. We jumped in the hot tub again and Brad brought over sushi. And later that night we watched I Care a Lot of Netflix while we packed our things. I could have spent another week here relaxing so I am sad to leave, but there’s a lot to look forward to coming up on trail!

Day 43

Trail miles: 0

Total: 566.5

Woke up to a wonderful continental breakfast!! We had waffles, muffins, eggs, oatmeal, bagels, cereal, and lots more goodies. I was able to bring some upstairs to weave into my resupply. I’m hoping to use the bagels for tuna sandwiches and the peanut butter for my oatmeal. The coffee bar was even better. I was able to mix hot chocolate with coffee and add French vanilla creamer. Just enough to pep me up for our resupply trip. A trail angel, Curtis, drove us to Walmart where he did his grocery shopping along side us. It’s like Dancing with the Stars, but resupplying with the thru hikers. We are, again, blown away and so thankful for the kindness. I got 5 days worth of food. I already had 3 dinners so I added Velveeta mac and cheese, where you only add hot water to, and stir fry noodles. I have some dehydrated beans so I bough Jersey sticks to hopefully create some type of lunch wrap. I have to do something different because I can’t eat peanut butter and jelly anymore. It was nice while it lasted. My food bag seems to weigh a lot lighter than after the last town, but I think that was because I sent myself stuff from home, which I probably didn’t know any better before I started. Also I end up accumulating so much non substantial food items like hot chocolate, jelly packets, and chocolates that have melted in the sun. So I got rid of a lot of those. I need more fuel though which I haven’t found yet; a task for tomorrow. I also need to pick up my package from the post office and patch my sleeping pad. It would be so nice not to have to blow it up a couple times a night. Town chores suck. But it’s nice that they are spread out over 4 days. For lunch, we had the tramily over for a charcuterie spread. I found my new favorite snack: a cracker, smoked Gouda, salami, apricot preserves, and a strawberry. We ate in the pool area and bounced between hot tub, pool, and snack table. It was great because our hotel pool was indoor so we didn’t have to worry about cold Tehachapi winds. I bought a 2 liter of Dr Pepper, but I should know better that hikers only drink alcohol in towns. So I have to finish it on my own tomorrow. I’m sure Brad will help me. A quick shower for everyone and we were headed for more food at the Red House BBQ restaurant. My thought process was I wasn’t hungry enough for ribs or brisket, so I got the catfish po boy? With a side dish of mac and cheese of course. That’s where I learned about the rogue bull apparently terrorizing hikers around mile 590. We will definitely pass up that campsite. Anyway, the restaurant owner was super cool and friendly. She gave us leftover ribs and brownies which were delicious. Now I sit alone in the hotel room watching Survivor and I’m very happy about it. The group always goes later and for more beers than I can handle. Early bedtime for me as usual!

Day 42

Trail miles: 4.3

Total: 566.5 

Hitching distance: 9.8 miles, 14 min

Woke up dark and early to catch the bus. It was so cold that I kept my sleep clothes on, because I will be doing laundry later today so it won’t matter if it’s all sweaty. The wind blew us around on our 4 mile trek. It’s amazing how well the bushes protected us from the windy; I’m very grateful for them. And speaking of yesterday how I said how stressful pooping was, a truck totally drove down one of the dirt roads in front of me as I was wiping. I thought at least it was somewhat dark before the sunrise. But come on, no one is around and on those roads all day and night and then as soon as I poop, someone shows up. Anyway, we ran into some cows on trail that were scared away as we got closer. They had two babies with them! One had large horns that was kind of scary, but it didn’t do anything but eat grass and stare at us. We got to the bus stop over an hour before the bus was scheduled to arrive so I started eating a cliff bar and warming up water for a cappuccino. But before it came to a boil, we we offered a ride by Ted the trail angel who had just dropped off two hikers on their way north from that point. He dropped us off at the coffee shop, because we still have to wait a couple hours for the hotel. The party shop was so cute. It was German themed and of course I had to send a bunch of snaps since Kiersten is now living in Germany. We met a very nice ultra runner form Australia with a baby at the coffee shop. Since we had to wait for the hotel room to be ready in the afternoon, we went to the thrift store to grab a $2 town outfit and took all our stuff to the Wash Tub laundromat. By the time that was done, I still had some time to kill so I used the hotel computer to create a document for what I need to be send to Kennedy Meadows in preparation for the high Sierras. I’ll need an ice axe for sure and maybe a bear canister if I’m not renting one. Our room is so nice, thanks to my parents for hooking us up! There’s 3 beds so I got my own queen bed. Krista, Raechel, and I went to see Dr Strange and there was an entire eight grade class there being loud during the movie. The movie was alright, but the real villain was the screaming baby in the front of the theater. I’m so excited for double zeroing in a Marriott! Resupplying tomorrow at the Walmart and maybe Dollar General. But first, continental breakfast!!

Day 41

Trail miles: 21.9

Total: 562.2

Rough night last night. I had to keep tucking my nose in my sleeping bag to keep it warm. My spot was sloped so I kept sliding down my sleeping pad. When I woke up I was probably the coldest I have been on trail. Filtering water took a while and my gloves got wet which made me even colder. We hurried up the hill toward the sunlight to warm up again. We went back and forth a bit on whether we should hitch into town tonight, but we couldn’t get the Marriott to cooperate. Krista called the bus which will come tomorrow at 8:16am. We had a 4 mile uphill climb and at the top came across a little area with cabinets, water tanks, and chairs for hikers. We took a short break there and a lunch break 6 miles further down trail. On our last leg of the day, the wind picked up again. It wasn’t too bad coming down the hill, but then we started walking through the wind turbine farm. We were lucky to find these large bushes bunched together to make camp behind. They are perfect and act like a wall against the wind. And there’s so many that we each get our own. I can barely feel the wind in my tent. It’s good that I was able to set it up, because it is going to be cold tonight. I had a very chill afternoon. I made Shepards pie and hot chocolate and watched some YouTube videos. It’s loud because we are basically underneath an endless row of wind turbines, but I’ll put my headphones in and it will fade away. A lot of people were slack packing this section. That is when a hiker gets dropped off and picked up after they hike so they only have to carry the bare minimum for the trip.

I have to mention how difficult it is to go to the bathroom sometimes. First, I’ve accidentally trained my pee response to go off full strength as soon as I take my pack off. So when I’m hiking it’s fine, but as soon as I sit to rest my back, I have to pee immediately, like it’s an emergency all of a sudden. Then there’s trying to pee in these open fields. I just find what bushes I can and pray no one is coming. That’s good because it quick, but going number 2 is another story. It’s always stressful. I’d hate to have someone turn a corner on trail and see my cheeks in their face. I try to go off trail, but it’s not always so easy. And trying to dig a stupid cat hole in rocky ground is just a nightmare. Especially when you waited till the last second, because pooping in the woods is not something you want to do.

Day 40

Trail miles: 22.7

Total: 540.3

What a day! Unlike any we’ve had on trail so far. We got up a little later today because we were waiting for breakfast and coffee to be served at Hikertown, which was 7-8. I got up to go to the bathroom and my pillow blew away and hit another sleeping hiker. I had to run and get it, and said sorry as I passed the guy. The biscuits were so good! I wanted more because I am now always hungry. We said goodbye to Lifeguard, Metric, Tal, and Seabear who weren’t headed out yet. Metric was resting his foot for a day or two. We hit the Aqueduct pretty quickly and just as quick as it showed up, it disappeared. But just enough time for Raechel ti squeeze in a joke as she pointed to a duck in the water calling it an Aque-duck. She was very proud of that one. The whole day was on a dirt road that was very flat. There were a lot of animal footprints in the cement pathway, which made it look like different animals were walking across it while it was drying. We pretty much hit the same mileage though that we usually do. The wind made it cold so I kept my pants on during the peak windy times. We met up with other hikers after lunch to help entertain the most boring part of the trail. I began a book on the flat section then switched to music for motivation during the hills. And then the wind picked up so bad in the last couple miles that I had to walk at a 30 degree angle to the left to stay on my feet. We stopped early to sleep in a campsite that might have more coverage than the one up the hill. There are about 10 or 15 other hikers here huddle around the tree for wind protection. Luckily I was still able to use my stove for dinner and now the wind has kind of died down. Still has its moments though, but not as often. We hope to wake up before it gets bad again and do 15-20 miles. The next water source is the last one before Tehachapi so lots to carry!