Section Four: Agua Dulce to Tehachapi, 110 miles, 6 days, 5 nights, 12 mile trail closure, 20,895/-19,822 feet of elevation gain/loss
Day 18: 13.8 on trail miles, 2 off trail miles, Agua Dulce to Oak Camp
I walked from where I parked my car in Agua Dulce to the trail (about 2 miles). The first day was a very steep climb out of Agua Dulce. There was a ultra marathon race on the trail that day so I was passed by 50+ runners doing either a 25 mile or a 50 mile race. By the end of the day I was actually walking faster then some of the participants and I had a few good conversations with some of the races organizers. They ended up offering me some Oreos, water and some salted potatoes at one of their aid stations which was pretty tasty after a long hot day!
This is my first water source on this section, I shared it with a humming bird who landed right next to me and drank from the board the water was running onto. It was a special moment.
This is the largest acorn I have ever seen!
During the very hot afternoon I caught a glimpse of a lake! But the trail isn't called "Pacific Valley Trail" so I didn't get to see much more of the lake than this.
I met up with two other thru hikers at the camp I was aiming for the night.
BevMo, Mr. Monopoly and I camped in a cute little oak grove where we were very protected from the wind but there were mosquitoes!
Day 19: 15 Mile on trail walk, 12 Mile hitch, 12 Mile trail closure, Oak Camp to Guzzler Camp
In the morning I walked with BevMo, who is a retired micro-biologist from San Diego. We did 6 miles to a road crossing where a fire closure stopped us from continuing on the trail.
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| So green! |
We ran into Mr. Monopoly (he has the serious mustache you'd expect with that name) and SOBO Stew from Washington at the road. The four of us hitched into the small community of Lake Hughes and got lunch together.
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| Out of place packs |
We had lunch at a biker bar and lodge type place. The grilled cheese was very tasty but I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have chocolate milk shakes, I really wanted one! At lunch we ran into a section hiker the others knew (I forgot his name, he was a Doctor and was hiking on a schedule). He talked the others into road walking the highway 10 miles from Lake Hughes to Hiker Town instead of heading back up to the trail and doing the 22 trail miles to Hiker Town. I didn't like the idea and wasn't in a rush so headed back to the trail alone.
It was a steep, hot, dirt road walk back to the ridge on the other end of the fire closure, but view from the top was very rewarding!
I even had a little cell service from up here!
Once the trail left the dirt road it was a magical fairy land forest with a glorious cool breeze.
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| Miner's Lettuce (You can eat this) |
More giant things! These leaves are usually closer to a nickle in size!
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| 'Marah' or Wild Cucumber (Can't eat it, but without the spikes and dried it makes a good loofah) |
Two miles from my goal mileage for the day I ran into Blistered Goat and Trudger. They are two friends from Northern California who have been working on walking the PCT in sections for the past five years.
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| Pretend this sign says 300 because I'm still missing 190 miles of mountains that are south of this. |
There is grass in my hat because the gnats were really awful in the this area and the hanging grass kept them away from my face, it looks silly but it was very effective.
We stumbled upon a very nice meadow 0.25 miles away from my goal for the day so we stopped and set up camp.
Blistered Goat and I left our packs and walked the extra 0.25 to pick up some water from a guzzler for the night and the next day.
Day 20: 15.5 Miles, Guzzler Camp to Hiker Town
Day three was mostly down hill and more fairy tale forest. And no more gnats!
Beautiful!
The view down into the Mohave section of the PCT. We could see patches of California Poppies making large splotches of orange on the hills on the other side of the desert.
Trudger started having issues with his knee with all the down hill and he decided he was going to have to quit the trail in Hiker Town.
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| 'Trail maintenance' |
The flowers were everywhere and amazing!
Seemed like every turn in the trail I wanted to take another picture!
The trail finally dropped down to Highway 138 and where it crossed the highway there is a little trail angel place called Hiker Town. It's set up like a mini old west town with little houses with names like Doctor's, Flower Shoppe, Bunk house, Jail, for hikers to sleep in for $10. There were showers, laundry and couches to hang out on. Another one of Blistered Goats friends came to pick up Trudger and join up for the last 40ish miles to Tehachapi. I got invited to join them for dinner in Lancaster at a local pizza joint. Pizza after a few days on the trail is so incredibly tasty, especially when surrounded by such fantastic company.
I stayed in the Flower Shoppe, the one on the far right.
Day 21: 20 Miles, Hiker Town to Tick camp
I woke up before sunrise and headed out with Blistered Goat (his friend ended up having some foot pain and didn't think it was a wise idea to join us after all). It was a fairly flat day across the Mohave but it was going to be shade-less and probably brutally hot so we wanted an early start.
When we ran into the aqueduct another guy 'Science Guy', (retired but still teaching middle school science for fun) caught up with us. He wanted some people to walk with for the next section.
It turned out to be only mid-eighties with a breeze which wasn't as bad as I was expecting, we made good time, almost 3 miles an hour down the dirt road and did 12 miles before noon.
We found a small bridge which provided the only real shade we'd seen all day so I crawled under it to take a break from the sun and cool off a bit. Yes, I did thoroughly check for rattlesnakes and other creatures first!!!
Science Guy and Blistered Goat talked baseball and life advice all afternoon, the quote of the day was "Pain only hurts". That shiny bit in the top left in the picture above is a large solar panel field.
We hit a water cache generously stocked by the guy who runs Hiker Town about 17 miles down the trail. There was also a non-potable (but filterable) faucet where we picked up enough to get us six more miles and through the night.
We walked through a large wind turbine field that had looked impossibly far away only the day before.
I'd never seen a Joshua tree fruit before, I didn't know they existed! We reached camp at the 20 miles mark (these twenty miles days are getting easier every time!)
It was in a bit of a windy area but I was fairly protected behind this tree. The tree had a large empty nest in it, Blistered Goat thought it could be a raven's.
I discovered that the field we were camped in was full of ticks and this made for a rough night. I could barely sleep that night because I kept thinking ticks were crawling on me and once I did get to sleep I had a terrible dream about giant snakes and getting lost in outer space. The sunset was glorious that evening though!
Day 22: 14.7 Miles, Tick Camp to Cozy Camp
I woke up in time to watch the moon set and to find this little (actually pretty big) buddy had joined me. Fortunately didn't get any ticks in the night, hooray for bivvy sacks!!!
There was a big up hill to conquer that day and we had a fairly early start.
We hit the last water source before Tehachapi three miles into today's walk. Science guy decided to stop here for the day and rest his feet because his blisters were getting too bad.
This was the last reliable water source for the next 23 miles. As beautiful as the desert has been this spring, I'm looking forward to getting to some sections where I won't ever have to carry 12+ pounds of water. It does however give me a whole new appreciation for wells and city water.
Lots of lizards today! Big ones, small ones, ones with horns, I wish I knew more about lizards.
I was craving an apple and my feet were a bit tired after climbing from the flat area in the background to about 6300' and around the next corner just when I had started to look for a nice rock to sit on or maybe a little shade we stumbled upon some amazing trail magic.
Cases of water, chairs and a basket of apples!!! Amazing!!
The trail is a magical place! I love it more and more everyday!
We set up camp on the last flat spot before a few miles of switch backs.
Another amazing sunset! The Moon rose just after the sun set and it looked huge!
At night you could see the lights from a few highways and towns far in the valley below. The wind turbines were all blinking with little red lights. All of this combined had a spectacular effect and between this view and my little fire I was cozy and more content then words can describe.
Day 23: 13.8 Miles, Cozy Camp to Tehachapi Pass
It was one of those mornings where you wake up excited to be exactly where you are, doing exactly what you are doing, just excited to be you, very alive and very awake.
We live in such a beautiful world!
The whole hill side was covered! The smell was indescribably delicious!
The Pacific Crest Trail 'Desert Segment' is now complete! I'm still missing a good 190 miles or so south of this section but it's mostly in the Angles National Forest and San Bernardino Mountains, which still have some snow at this point. I plan to tackle that part in a couple weeks.
Fuzzy flowers!
Finished the 14 mile day before 2 pm and ended up waiting in the shade of a highway Do Not Enter Wrong Way sign to wait for Blistered Goat's friend to pick us up. Ran in to a couple of older gentlemen about to start a 30 miles section to the north with incredibly heavy and classic looking gear from the 70s (except one guy was also sporting a go-pro)! They asked me what I could remember about any surprises in that section and they drooled over my gear, I think I might have convinced them to upgrade a bit.
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| Parking at the Tehachapi Pass Trail Head |
Blistered Goat's friend was incredibly gracious and brought us watermelon, ice tea, and wet hand towels left on the dashboard in a zip-lock (amazing idea!). When we arrived back to his house and Blister Goat's car, it felt like we were all old friends. Blistered Goat gave me a ride back to my car in Agua Dulce and I drove back home. (Thanks again, you guys are both awesome trail angels!!!).
There are some truly amazing people on the trail! As always, I cannot wait to get back out there!
I walked from where I parked my car in Agua Dulce to the trail (about 2 miles). The first day was a very steep climb out of Agua Dulce. There was a ultra marathon race on the trail that day so I was passed by 50+ runners doing either a 25 mile or a 50 mile race. By the end of the day I was actually walking faster then some of the participants and I had a few good conversations with some of the races organizers. They ended up offering me some Oreos, water and some salted potatoes at one of their aid stations which was pretty tasty after a long hot day!
This is my first water source on this section, I shared it with a humming bird who landed right next to me and drank from the board the water was running onto. It was a special moment.
This is the largest acorn I have ever seen!
During the very hot afternoon I caught a glimpse of a lake! But the trail isn't called "Pacific Valley Trail" so I didn't get to see much more of the lake than this.
I met up with two other thru hikers at the camp I was aiming for the night.
BevMo, Mr. Monopoly and I camped in a cute little oak grove where we were very protected from the wind but there were mosquitoes!
It was a steep, hot, dirt road walk back to the ridge on the other end of the fire closure, but view from the top was very rewarding!
I even had a little cell service from up here!
Once the trail left the dirt road it was a magical fairy land forest with a glorious cool breeze.
We stumbled upon a very nice meadow 0.25 miles away from my goal for the day so we stopped and set up camp.
Blistered Goat and I left our packs and walked the extra 0.25 to pick up some water from a guzzler for the night and the next day.
Day three was mostly down hill and more fairy tale forest. And no more gnats! 
Beautiful!
The view down into the Mohave section of the PCT. We could see patches of California Poppies making large splotches of orange on the hills on the other side of the desert.
Trudger started having issues with his knee with all the down hill and he decided he was going to have to quit the trail in Hiker Town.
The flowers were everywhere and amazing!
Seemed like every turn in the trail I wanted to take another picture!
The trail finally dropped down to Highway 138 and where it crossed the highway there is a little trail angel place called Hiker Town. It's set up like a mini old west town with little houses with names like Doctor's, Flower Shoppe, Bunk house, Jail, for hikers to sleep in for $10. There were showers, laundry and couches to hang out on. Another one of Blistered Goats friends came to pick up Trudger and join up for the last 40ish miles to Tehachapi. I got invited to join them for dinner in Lancaster at a local pizza joint. Pizza after a few days on the trail is so incredibly tasty, especially when surrounded by such fantastic company.
I woke up before sunrise and headed out with Blistered Goat (his friend ended up having some foot pain and didn't think it was a wise idea to join us after all). It was a fairly flat day across the Mohave but it was going to be shade-less and probably brutally hot so we wanted an early start. 
When we ran into the aqueduct another guy 'Science Guy', (retired but still teaching middle school science for fun) caught up with us. He wanted some people to walk with for the next section.
It turned out to be only mid-eighties with a breeze which wasn't as bad as I was expecting, we made good time, almost 3 miles an hour down the dirt road and did 12 miles before noon.
We found a small bridge which provided the only real shade we'd seen all day so I crawled under it to take a break from the sun and cool off a bit. Yes, I did thoroughly check for rattlesnakes and other creatures first!!!
Science Guy and Blistered Goat talked baseball and life advice all afternoon, the quote of the day was "Pain only hurts". That shiny bit in the top left in the picture above is a large solar panel field.
We hit a water cache generously stocked by the guy who runs Hiker Town about 17 miles down the trail. There was also a non-potable (but filterable) faucet where we picked up enough to get us six more miles and through the night.
We walked through a large wind turbine field that had looked impossibly far away only the day before.
I'd never seen a Joshua tree fruit before, I didn't know they existed! We reached camp at the 20 miles mark (these twenty miles days are getting easier every time!)
It was in a bit of a windy area but I was fairly protected behind this tree. The tree had a large empty nest in it, Blistered Goat thought it could be a raven's.
I discovered that the field we were camped in was full of ticks and this made for a rough night. I could barely sleep that night because I kept thinking ticks were crawling on me and once I did get to sleep I had a terrible dream about giant snakes and getting lost in outer space. The sunset was glorious that evening though!
I woke up in time to watch the moon set and to find this little (actually pretty big) buddy had joined me. Fortunately didn't get any ticks in the night, hooray for bivvy sacks!!!
There was a big up hill to conquer that day and we had a fairly early start.
We hit the last water source before Tehachapi three miles into today's walk. Science guy decided to stop here for the day and rest his feet because his blisters were getting too bad.
This was the last reliable water source for the next 23 miles. As beautiful as the desert has been this spring, I'm looking forward to getting to some sections where I won't ever have to carry 12+ pounds of water. It does however give me a whole new appreciation for wells and city water.
Lots of lizards today! Big ones, small ones, ones with horns, I wish I knew more about lizards.
I was craving an apple and my feet were a bit tired after climbing from the flat area in the background to about 6300' and around the next corner just when I had started to look for a nice rock to sit on or maybe a little shade we stumbled upon some amazing trail magic.
Cases of water, chairs and a basket of apples!!! Amazing!!
The trail is a magical place! I love it more and more everyday!
We set up camp on the last flat spot before a few miles of switch backs.
Another amazing sunset! The Moon rose just after the sun set and it looked huge!
At night you could see the lights from a few highways and towns far in the valley below. The wind turbines were all blinking with little red lights. All of this combined had a spectacular effect and between this view and my little fire I was cozy and more content then words can describe.
It was one of those mornings where you wake up excited to be exactly where you are, doing exactly what you are doing, just excited to be you, very alive and very awake.
We live in such a beautiful world!
The whole hill side was covered! The smell was indescribably delicious!
The Pacific Crest Trail 'Desert Segment' is now complete! I'm still missing a good 190 miles or so south of this section but it's mostly in the Angles National Forest and San Bernardino Mountains, which still have some snow at this point. I plan to tackle that part in a couple weeks.
Fuzzy flowers!
Finished the 14 mile day before 2 pm and ended up waiting in the shade of a highway Do Not Enter Wrong Way sign to wait for Blistered Goat's friend to pick us up. Ran in to a couple of older gentlemen about to start a 30 miles section to the north with incredibly heavy and classic looking gear from the 70s (except one guy was also sporting a go-pro)! They asked me what I could remember about any surprises in that section and they drooled over my gear, I think I might have convinced them to upgrade a bit.
