This is the continuation of my Desert PCT section hike, the final post of 3, notes for each day…
Day 26, Sunday, April 20th, 1000-2000
13 miles to just outside Agua Dulce, Mm 457.4, 2250/1570, Elevation 2950′
Leisurely morning, took it slow packing. Visited other grocery store in town, higher-end but fair prices and quality stuff. Discount bin had good bars and PB. Large sandwich to go was bomb! Ate half and packed out other half. Met friendly guy and asked him for a ride out of town. Miykael was guitarist playing classic rock, tight red pants, yellow high tops, and rod Stewart shirt. I love all these characters I meet hitching! He’d just bought a newish van to travel and live in. Seat up front full of stuff, so I had to climb in the back of the van, which felt pretty sketchy. Worked out fine. He drove me straight to the trailhead and we talked for a while after. Got on the trail pretty late in the day, but a nice breeze kept it tolerable. Went up a big hill past neat conglomerate rock then down under highway, tunnel into Vasquez Rocks State park. I took my time walking the beautiful Canyon, then past the space rocks and to the visitor center where I finally ate my sandwich and bought a few sodas for cheap. I relaxed on their nice Adirondack chairs for over an hour and scouted a potential stealth camp behind the VC, could easily be done. Instead, I walked the last mile to town and got some stuff from the small grocery, including very delicious ceviche. The Agua frescas were particularly delicious and they had packages of jerky for cheap. I walked the rest of the way to the Oasis Hiker Camp and bought a few more resupply items. Saw Kidzmeal and Anna there. The place was nice but a few too many people, so I walked out of town into the dark for a campsite in the hills. Agua Dulce felt a bit sad after the loss of Donna and Hiker Haven.
Day 27, Monday, April 21st, 0700-1900,
25.5 miles to S Portal rd, Mm 481.2, 4570/3620 down, Elevation 3900′.
Great day. Up and over first ridge early, passed group of 6. Down, 10 miles by 10, passed Chip and Trip couple. Walked hard until water cache at Spunky Edison rd. Short break, then hard push to San Francisquito Canyon rd. Hitched in to go to smokehouse but it was closed for Easter…what a disappointment. So I bought a bunch of junk food at the gas station but there was also a food truck with oven-baked pizzas. The lady gave me a whole pizza for free! It was so delicious, best pizza on trail! Walked 1.5 mi back to trailhead because I didn’t feel like hitching, plus I rinsed my clothes in the sink at the gas station and didn’t want to get in a car wet. There were a bunch of hikers camping at the fire station so I kept going for another 3 mi up to a water tank and nice campsite along old dirt road that was gated at the top, so seemed safe enough. Camping amongst a lot of oak trees well protected from wind. The terrain was quite a bit of up and down and In-N-Out, somewhat exposed to sun, so I put up my umbrella for half the day.
Day 28, Tuesday, April 22nd, 0640-1630
22 miles to Bear Campground, Mm 504.2, 4000/2500, Elevation 5350′
Very quiet overnight, not cold, not wet, A+! Downhill to river where I camped in 18, met Granny Gear on climb out of valley, cool lady from Santa Barbara that I probably met at PCT trail days in 23 at Purplerain booth. She was wearing a PR kilt. Slowed down to talk to her so didn’t make 10 by 10. But started walking Maxwell rd 7N23A and made up some miles. Had lunch up high on top minor peak, under oaks. Tired and crampy afterwards. Walked trail from mm496 through trees, very nice, to Sawmill camp, used toilet, took nap under oaks. Met Kidsmeal and Anna at another intersection, back to rd rest of afternoon. Collected water from another tank on hill, hiked to campground and called it early. Easy day and pretty chill. Nice to hang out at picnic table with friends.
Day 29, Wednesday. April 23rd, 0600-1950,
25.5 miles to Mojave desert wash, Mm 529.6, 1550/3900 down, Elevation 3050′.
A bit of a fitful night sleeping on a slant (didn’t notice when I was setting up), but still logged restful night on Garmin watch. Early morning to get to Hikertown before heat. Cool pictures on top Libre mtn and nice morning through oaks. Marine layer filling oceanside valleys. A bit windy, downhill for good bit then winding in and out of desert hills. Passed 1 couple. Lots of flowers and green grass. Very beautiful. Hikertown was pretty quiet when I first arrived. I took a shower and then caught the shuttle to Neenach Cafe and Market. Got a burrito, milkshake and a few items, prices were pretty expensive. Hung out while charging. Hitched a ride back, filled up water, back on trail around 4 pm. Strong west wind keeping temps pretty comfortable, blowing at side then on back. Had hiker dinner with Anna and Kidsmeal on top a cement square on capped Aquaduct. Then walked for another hour to a small wash for a solo camp. Nice protection under juniper and sides of wash almost touching tent sides…perhaps smallest yet. Still feeling some wind, but as good as it gets in the exposed desert. The PCT takes a dive down through the Mojave along the LA aqua duct, bypassing the crest mountains to the west due to private property issues surrounding a mine. This is likely to become a problem elsewhere as the circus of clowns “running” (ruining) the country (into the ground) sell off OUR public lands to their billionaire friends. Hike the PCT and other long trails while you still can!
Day 30, Thursday, April 24th, 0600-1800,
28.5 miles to willow springs rd, Mm 558, 5100/4000, Elevation 4100′
Up for the sunrise, shortly caught up to Kidzmeal and Anna. They stopped just before me night before and got battered by wind all night. My wash was perfect. Walked with them most of morning. Stopped at first water cache but didn’t need much. Many hikers walk the Aquaduct at night to avoid the heat and sun, but the conditions were pretty mild this day. I only used my brella for a few hours. Left the pipeline for trail through the wind farm. Good conversation with my two companions. Passed a rattlesnake just inches off the trail, took 3 of us to go by before it started to rattle, scared the crap out of me since I was last. Also saw a whiptail lizard and a horned lizard, good pictures of both. Made it to Tylerhorse canyon creek where I camped in 2018, took a lunch break. Imi and Bush (Australians) caught up, as well as Louise. Big climb out of the canyon and then a surprise water cache, same location as one in 2018 (Mile 549 Bar and Grill). Met group of six hikers, tumbles, redbeard, kiki, kitty, eyelashes. Did another quick couple hours of hiking down to Willow Springs Creek and road. Pitched tent under oaks and enjoyed the evening with the Australians.
Day 31, Friday, April 25th, 0600-0820
7 miles to Hwy 58, Mm 565, then ride into town with Alan, 1100/1300, Elevation 4100′
On the trail early so I could meet up with Alan and GF Sarah. They were in SoCal for the weekend, timing worked out perfectly. Made it just in time for them to wake up (slept in car overnight at TH). Met Sarah for the first time. Drove to Cohen’s German bakery and had nice breakfast together. Alan drove me to the post office to pick up a package and then to Barbara’s Hiker Hut, where I arranged to stay. Spent the rest of the day there, since it was several miles into town and all the loaner bikes were out. Ate lots from the hiker box. Met other hikers Shenanigans, Jeremy, Jason and Tom (Tbags!)
Day 32, Saturday, April 26th, zero in Tehachapi.
Got rides into town and back to Hiker Hut 4 times, not even really trying. Mailed another package home, went to bakery, did laundry at a hotel, ate some sushi, did resupply shopping, hung with Anna and Kidzmeal and went to dinner at cafe with them. Randomly got ride from Clint back to Hiker hut at end of day. I didn’t even stick my thumb out, he offered ride, then also ride to trail next morning. Rained pretty hard off and on all day, could see fresh snow in the higher elevations. Needed the brella for doing all my chores around town. After all the time I had in town, I still failed to commit to a date and flight at end of section. Didn’t want to leave the trail!
Day 33, Sunday, April 27th, 0800-1810,
21 miles to Mm 587.5, 4260/3420 down, Elevation 4730′.
Not much more rain overnight and tent wasn’t even soaked in morning. Clint gave me a ride to the TH early. I marched up the switchbacks in the cold and wind, lost thermodrop when the biner broke, so I couldn’t even read how cold it was. Bitterly cold wind chill, snow, fresh footprints on top the ridge. Took long lunch break in a protected saddle to make warm meal…sun partially out. Road walk (part of trail) along ridge, then nice trail in junipers and pinon pine. Met Navajo Joe, Navajo Thor, and Pebbles. Had very nice conversation with them. Gave me special treats. Met Imi and Bush, Anna and Kidzmeal at spring. Camped at nice spot with them, protected in the trees, maybe same spot as in 2018. I haven’t repeated hardly any of my campsites from that first PCT hike, not surprisingly, really.
Day 34, Monday, April 28th, 0640-1700,
23 miles to Landers Campground, Mm 610, 4470/2960, Elevation 6250′
Not too cold overnight. Still cloudy and foggy through much of day, but less wind. Caught up to Steady, nice guy from NC. Hiked with him awhile. Got a little ahead and crossed a road going to Miller spring, where I was charged by sweet-looking brown moma cow with a large calf. I passed close by to her because she looked harmless enough, not alarmed, plus that calf was big enough to defend itself. Right as I turned to my back to her, Steady yelled a warning, and I saw her charging from behind. I instinctively ran a short ways, realized that was wrong, then turned to make a stand. She stopped but refused to back down. It took a lot of yelling from both of us before she ran off, bucking like such an ornery cow. Hiked with Steady to Robin bird spring. Took long lunch, dried tent. Ran into Anna and Kidzmeal right after and hiked with them rest of way to camp. Aussies and some others all there, fun crowd, had fire. Less miles than I wanted to do but worth it for the social hour. Plus very nice camp among the pines.
Day 35, Tuesday, April 29th, 0620-1830,
25.6 miles to near Skinner Peak, Mm 635.4, 4850/4200, Elevation 6880′
Great day! Frozen slushy water and frost on tent in morning. Cold spots in my quilt overnight. Warmed up quick so must have been a cold sink. Nice climb through Monzogranite boulders early morning, nice descent on crushed granite sand. Passed group of 4 women that I’ve been seeing since ranger cabin above Acton. At Kelso rd water cache by 9 am. Grabbed a few liters. 15 miles to next cache through desert. Up and down on sand but not too hot. Very nice day and beautiful views of Mojave desert, Mt Baden Powell, San Antonio and even San Gorgonio. Could see ridge with wind generators (previous day). Arrived Bird Spring pass water cache just after 2 pm. Jeremy Aussie guy and Jason from Barbara’s were there. After 30 minutes a truck arrived bringing more water and treats…fried chicken and donuts plus soda, beer and snacks! Mike and Terry from near Lake Isabella were so nice. I stayed for another 2 hours while Steady, Aussies and Kidzmeal and Anna arrived. They all decided to camp near cache, but Steady pressed on, then finally I started up climb at 5pm. Immediately passed a rattlesnake, but temp nice and views so great, yellow flowers too. Camped at very top next to Steady. Wind picked up after sunset, tent pretty exposed. Ugh.
Days 36 and 37 (zero in Lake Isabella), Wednesday, April 30th, 0640-1700,
18 miles (half mile to Skinner Peak and to cabin for spring) to Walker Pass campground, Mm 652.5, 1630/3400, Elevation 5120′. Very windy overnight but slept pretty good. Tent not beat up too much. Really nice sunrise. Hiked to top of Skinner Peak 7126′. Pretty good views and logbook. Could see San Gorgonio, Whitney, Baden Powell and Mt Gleason. Also Telescope peak and other desert points. Really nice trail through oaks and pinyon pine…foraged excellent Pinon pine nuts! Really slowed me down but good nutrition! Then burn area and road walk. Took 1\4 mile road to McIvers cabin and spring. Jim kind of unusual hiker there, needed food, so Steady and I gave him some. He’s carrying a small pack and other stuff in his hands. He looked a bit rough and was talking to himself but seemed nice enough. Rest of trail down to pass very easy and so nice among flowers. Met Huckleberry and Kiss at the campground. We waited for promised trail magic (FarOut post) at campground but it never came. After 1 hr, I went to hwy to hitch. 2nd vehicle was VW van with sweet Israeli lady Micka and cute boxer. We had very nice conversation and she dropped me at Grocery Outlet in Lake Isabella. Bought too much food and then ran into Huckleberry and Kiss since they’d gotten a ride with Leigh, who then offered her place to stay. So I went home with them and had a nice dinner and zero. Next day, Mr Fabulous (Fab) and Akuna came to stay, too. Fun hanging out with everyone. Felt bad for Leigh as she has a job with the BLM, things not going well being a government worker. Sad.
Instagram Post: PCT Days 33-37 Tehachapi to Walker Pass. A lot happened in this stretch. I left Tehachapi still in the grips of a storm that dropped a few inches of snow. Whereas it was beastly hot and dry going south into Tehachapi in 2018, this time around, it was bitterly cold. The wind was blasting, which chilled me to the bone. The next day remained pretty cloudy but the recent precipitation brought the green…it almost looked like the Pacific Northwest! The green grass also made the cows feisty… For the second time on a long distance Trail, I got charged by a mama cow. If there hadn’t been another hiker a ways behind me to warn me about her charge, she might have gotten me. The next day, the trail descended into the low desert and I benefited from the dedication of so many trail angels that help to keep the water caches full. After carrying up to 2 gallons of water on my desert hike, I now really know and appreciate the value of such kindness. We lucked out at the Bird Spring cache and got trail magic from Mike and Terry as they came to refill. What lovely people! The last day on this section started with a short detour to the top of Skinner peak. I was so excited to see my first glimpses of the Sierra in this section, but unfortunately I’d have to hike through the Sierra at another time. At Walker pass, I had the pleasure of hitching a ride to Lake Isabella with a very nice lady and a boxer in a VW van…classic, then had a wonderful stay with Trail Angel Leigh. It was so nice I decided to take a zero there. I really didn’t want my trail time to finally come to an end (for now).
Day 38, Friday, May 2nd, 1020-2000
22 miles to Mm 675.3, 5650/3920, Elevation 7000′
Terrible sleep worrying about getting back to the “real world”, eager to get back on trail instead. But finally I managed to commit to a date and flight out of Reno, getting off trail at KMS. Leigh made amazing souffle for breakfast. Peg gave Huckleberry and I a ride back to pass. So sweet and she takes cool cruises around the world, also used to work for BLM. At Walker’s pass, saw tramily that I met at cache with umbrella before Tehachapi. Very nice everyone, plus new person Guac, who was so funny. Also Shenanigan, Chip and Trip arrived and continued up hill. Big climb but well graded and nice temp and breeze. Grand views of Ridgecrest and of some white granite the Sierra are so famous for. Then over to backside and through desert-like valley that had Joshua trees (last sighting), then over small pass and back into another valley. Stopped for water and dinner at small creek, then continued up another big climb. Passed Jim the unusual hiker, gave him some PB and a bar. He wanted to buy me stuff at KMS to pay me back, but I declined. Felt bad for him. Passed campsite at top where Shenanigan stopped. Continued another mile to ridge camp overlooking Ridgecrest. Super windy but somehow campsite to far north of pass was pretty protected by trees. Pitched tent among line of rocks and it worked great! Wind howling but good white noise.
Day 39, Saturday, May 3rd, 0700-1820
29 miles to Kennedy Meadows General store, Mm 703.4, 4260/5100, Elevation 6000′
Rodent ran off with one gaiter overnight. I didn’t like them anyway…not Dirty Girl/were inferior. Campsite same as 2018, or one just to the south. Easy miles along and then down from ridge. Trail Magic at Chimney Rock campground thanks to Jim, Kim’s dad. He’s over 80 and still going on rafting trips. Was a rafting guide on the Kern. We talked about rapids on GC. I ate 2 pancakes. Continued up for 2 miles, passed on water from spring, 10 more miles to next. Through a burn area but overcast so not hot. Scenery kind of blah up and over this mountain. Plus the rock type meant lots of gravel. Crushed granite resumed at bottom of mountain. Took long break at the creek, water pretty silty. Met another hiker, Jiyuu, there briefly. Walked only a few more hours to arrive KMS general store at end of day, Jiyuu rang the bell for me. Didn’t even know that was a tradition…I guess not for SOBOs. Store open for a bit longer, got some refreshments, Jiyuu bought me a beer. Nice way to officially finish my desert hike! Finally other hikers to celebrate with. Feeling so sad about getting off trail, plus also hard to see all my friends continuing on over next few days.
Aftermath: Sun-Tuesday, May 4th-6th. While in Lake Isabella, I got in touch with Trail Angel Jay Go and secured a ride to Bishop with him on the 6th, where I was to meet Alan again (who had a job interview there). So I camped at KMS for another 2 nights, which was fun because it was quiet the hiker reunion. Plus the dogs and hiker-friendly cat provided endless free pettings and snuggles. I got to hang out with and say goodby to 7Up, Anna, Kidzmeal, Bush, Imi, Louise, Samwise, Goodwill, Huckleberry, Kiss and ton more. Everyone I met over the past few weeks seemed to be there. I almost grabbed some snow gear to continue on. But I knew my quilt wasn’t quite warm enough, I didn’t have enough layers, and a myriad of other excuses. I felt I also needed a break after hiking 1,690 miles already…that’s 1k miles more than anybody else had on their feet. I went farther on this hike than I’d already planned to and I needed to reassess some things for the future.
Tuesday-Friday, May 6th-9th. As planned, I met up with Alan in Bishop and we did another fun 2-day road trip on the way to Reno. We camped at Horton Creek the first night, did some hiking around Convict Lake, then hiked a loop near Glass Creek/Obsidian dome (cool lava!), then drove around June lake for lunch next to Silver lake (where I caught a duck, of course, renamed Duck Snatcher Lake). After, we went on another short hike along Mono Lake, checking out the tufas. We finished the day and second night camping at Buckeye Hot Springs. Incredibly, we camped right next to 2 women that had also hiked the PCT and a bunch of other trails. We instantly recognized them as thru-hikers, since they had a Duplex tent. The hot springs were so awesome. We went for a morning soak again, where I watched a dipper come and go from its nest above the springs. We also met yet another PCT thru-hiker, soaking in the springs with his GF. We drove to Gardnerville, grabbed some groceries, and settled into the amazing cabin where Alan was staying right on the other side of Kingsbury pass/Heavenly Ski resort, outskirts of Lake Tahoe. We even went for a short hike on the Tahoe Rim Trail, up to Castle Rock. Brought back such fond memories of my thru-hike of the TRT in 2023! Alan made an incredible dinner. On Friday, he drove me to the Reno airport and I flew to Denver to visit family for a few weeks. It was such a wonderful way to wrap up my long journey, especially since since Alan was such an integral part of it. From Parker, AZ all the way to Reno, NV! And man, are the eastern Sierra amazing, or what! I could spend a lifetime exploring the area.
Thanks for following along and I hope to start posting more about my PCT SOBO Sections in July. I’m going to attempt to re-hike WA and OR in one go, then skip down to the Sierra to do some version of the PCT/Sierra High Route.