Just as Many Windmills as Wildflowers

California, Section E: Agua Dulce to Tehachapi Pass

Charles and I are now 558.5 miles down the trail. We technically have eight more miles in this section, but it is easier to get a ride from Tehachapi Willow Springs Road instead of Highway 58. The miles will be completed though.

Day thirty-five was a nice partial zero (near-o) spending time at Hiker Heaven and resupplying at the store. We set out mid afternoon and hiked about eight miles to camp on a ridge.

Day thirty-six we woke up in a cloud with all of our gear wet or damp. For the most part the hiking was uneventful. We had a nineteen mile hike to reach a small town called Green Valley. We successfully hitch hiked to the home of two trail angels, called Casa de Luna. They let hikers stay in their huge back yard and cook breakfast and dinner. Charles fit right in as hikers are given a choice of Hawaiian shirt to wear. Many hikers paint stones to place throughout the property, which I took the opportunity to do.

Day thirty-seven was another fairly uneventful day of hiking. We had some uphill climbs in the desert and explored two small caves. Our afternoon hike took us back into the mountains. We camped for the night at Sawmill Camp, a nice open area with many large oaks.

Day thirty-eight we passed mile 500 early into our morning. As our hike progressed, we passed through a beautiful area with oak trees. Our afternoon was a downhill hike to reach Highway 138 and a place known as Hiker Town. Hiker Town is an area assembled specifically for hikers in the style of an old mining town (I wish I had taken a picture of it!). We planned on staying there, but the shuttle going to the market only runs until 5:00PM and we got there at 5:30PM. In need of more snacks to make it to Tehachapi, we got a ride to Wee Vill Market and stayed there for the night.

Day thirty-nine was the day all PCT hikers dread in the desert section. This was also our longest day at twenty-four miles. We hiked through the Mojave Desert and over the Los Angeles aqueduct and pipeline. Apart from a canal we walked next to in the morning, walking over the aqueduct was just following a concrete road. Many hikers will night hike a majority of this section to avoid the heat. Lucky for us we had a relatively “cool” day. This section was was flat with little change in grade, which actually makes for a rather boring day. We both listened to music for the majority of our hike to do something other than look at Joshua trees.

In the afternoon we walked through a small wind farm. I was pretty excited for the windmills and thus ended up with way too many pictures of windmills (they basically all look the same). For most of the day we had a tail wind, until our last six and a half miles. We walked into a strong head wind as we headed up about 2,000 feet. We camped for the night at Tylerhorse Canyon where the wind howled all night long. Charles woke up to find some of his belongings several yards away.

Day forty we only had seventeen miles to reach the road that takes us to Tehachapi. We had an uphill climb in the morning, dropped into a valley, and immediately went uphill again. In the afternoon we passed through a burn area with many wildflowers. And because we needed to see more windmills, the trail took us through one of the largest wind farms in the world.

The parents of one of Charles’ friends, the Hewitts, are letting us stay with them for day forty-one. We are taking a much needed zero day before heading toward the Sierra Nevada.

Bonus material: Charles’ impression of a windmill (the actual clip plays vertically).

Charles’ Section

On this section of trail I’ve been reading Colin Fletchers “The Man Who Walked Through Time”. In this book the author walks through the Grand Canyon for two months, and so much of what he experienced gives words to my thoughts out here on the trail. This week I’ll leave you with a section of his thoughts:

“On this journey I might find-beyond our present intellectual answers, but in harmony with them- some kind of new personal solution to mans ancient and continuing conundrums: “Where do we come from?” “What are we doing here?” For by living so close to the web of life and to the foundations across which it stretches I might in the end gain some tentative insight into the pattern on which both have been built.

I did not understand, there under that juniper tree, how this vision would fit into my own small life. But it did not matter. I understood enough.”