Author Archives: Jake

18 miles

Of course, the desert is hot and dry, but damn! It hit 103 at lunch today. We sat underneath some old mining equipment, but the ants eventually got too numerous and we had to move elsewhere. The Joshua Tree we used next was a great new spot, but I couldn’t sit still and chose to keep moving instead of just baking sitting still. By luck, it was starting to get cloudy. We had a mile or so of downhill followed by about 4 uphill that was all sand. We’ve been in the desert for over 40 days, and today felt the hottest. Tomorrow is forecasted to be even hotter at 107. We’re gonna start super early, just like we did for the aquaduct, and race the sun. Also, today we relied entirely on water caches. The two are maintained by one guy who goes by Devilfish. He contributes a ton of information to the water report as well. Right before we went to bed (we were camping at the cache in some adjacent tent spots) he pulled up in his truck to check on the cache. Super nice guy and, again, wouldn’t take a donation. Pricepoint and Honeybear caught up to us, which was fun. I thought I saw Pricepoint the day we came out of Tehachapi, but we didn’t catch up to them that night so we couldn’t be sure. The next morning we passed by a tent that matched theirs, but we didn’t know if it was theirs. We suspected it was, and all of the trail registers ahead of that point were missing their names, so it seemed like we had passed them. No big deal, but they do bigger mile days and a double zero seemed out of character. So we assumed something had happened. Well, it turns out, they did double zero because Honeybear caught a cold and they’ve been taking it easy the past few days. Mystery solved, and yay! we know some people again. We’ve been between bubbles, which seems to be closely-tied to our town stops and relatively relaxed mileage. We can crush miles, but we don’t do it all the time. Some tramilies seem focused on going as fast as they can, and that’s cool too, but we’re just trying to keep going. We’re old! These college kids just blaze right past us and talk about doing 30s or 40s. No, thanks. I’m happy with teens for now, occasional 20s. We’ll (have to) ramp up more miles per day later on, after the Sierra.

19 Miles

The morning was hot and I ran out of water so it was a slog to the water source. We passed the 600 mile marker! About 100 yards before the junction to the side trail to the water, I passed a rattlesnake that was beside the trail. Much too close for comfort. I stopped and warned the next hiker (Marcus from Wrightwood), and we used sticks and tree bark to get it awake and moving away from the trail. The water source was a typical pipe spring with trough, but the pipe was not flowing. Instead, we scooped water that was trickling under a barbed wire fence, right next to some cow shit. Yuck. We filtered it, and so far so good. Martin arrived as we were finishing up filling our bottles, but he did not like the scooping idea. He eventually pulled up the end of pipe going into the ground and found it packed with mud. I gave him one of our tent stakes to try to unclog it and sure enough, it started flowing again. We went ahead to break for lunch. The first shade spot was in some tall grass so we didn’t stay long. Ticks were showing up and I didn’t want to get bitten again. So we hiked a bit further. The next spot was on some rocks so we only had to brush off a stray ant from time to time. Around 3, we hiked on. The next water source was supposed to be good and it sure was! Martin was already there and he planned to stay at the campground across the road. We filled up on the cold, refreshing water and then pressed on to our campsite. It was nice being able to drink as much as I wanted at dinner because I had been so dehydrated all day after stretching one liter for so many miles. The more I drank the more calm and normal I felt.

16 Miles

The tree served us well and we had a calm night. Gazelle passed by our tent as we were packing up. We later passed him on our way to the water source. He caught up while we were filtering. Two dudes on dirt bikes rolled in as well. They initially seemed alright, but eventually the louder of the two started making bad jokes. When he said, “Know why it’s good our bikes are black? Cuz black bikes matter! Haha!” I was done at that point so I joined Marie who had already walked away. We had planned to take a break at the spring so despite those idiots hanging out nearby, we still had a nice time off our feet. We walked a couple more hours then stopped for lunch. Shade was easy to find since we are getting more and more patches of real trees. We hung out for about 3 hours before starting back up. It was still blistering hot, but clouds on the horizon looked like rain. We got our hopes up for some rain, but none came. Still got to enjoy the shade though. We arrived at camp and I am now thinking I didn’t get enough water for tomorrow. I was thinking we had 6 in the morning, but we have 9 before our next spring. Cooler morning temps should make it okay. We’ll see.

11 miles

To get back to trail we arranged with the bus service to drop us off along the highway, which makes it super easy not having to deal with hitching or calling trail angels. I’m excited to get back on trail because we’re so close to finishing the desert. I’m ready for some change. From the highway we climbed up from the road and into some denser terrain. Lots of trees and large bushes that provide shade and wind protection. This is awesome. We were the only ones at this campsite so we took the best spot. The wind howled above us, but the tree we were next to was blocking almost all of it. Should be a good first night back on trail.

0 miles

Starting the day with pastries, a sub, and a pretzel from the German bakery (Kohnen’s), we used our extra day to do nothing. Gotta rest. The po’ boy we got from the bakery was our lunch and it was huge! Still ate a big dinner too from Perfetto’s. During the day, Marie and I replaced the guylines on the tent with thicker cord. I also hung an extra piece to the hoops that came in the tent so we now have a clothesline along the top of our tent to dry out clothes. Got new shoes, tent stakes, and some new pants shipped to Ridgecrest.

0 Miles

Slow moving morning followed by breakfast at Kelcy’s where we ran into the owners of the ostrich farm! We thanked them for the great place to camp and they said they were going to add showers and laundry next year. Picked up our resupply food at Wal-Mart and Albertson’s, then got Del Taco to eat in the room. Laundry was done, along with other town chores. We had been trying since Big Bear to get steaks for dinner, but didn’t have any luck. In Tehachapi, there’s a place called Jake’s Steakhouse. We had to go. There was some mess up with our order so we had to wait awhile and I had to switch from the prime rib to top sirloin. Didn’t matter though, the steak was fantastic.

17 Miles

Not much sleep last night. The guyline that split back in week 1 has been tied back together a couple times, but usually holds just fine. Last night the line pulled through the tensioner around 11:30, and then split again at midnight. At that point we replaced it with a bit of cordage we had picked up in Wrightwood, but hadn’t used yet. I’m a dummy and should have done that already, but was going to wait for our zero in Tehachapi. Marie helped me get the new line run while frantically trying to keep the wind from taking the tent in the middle of the night. Oh, and a big spider decided to crawl on my foot during all of this so it was not a fun time. The wind went on for a while, but the new cordage held perfectly. In the morning we filtered water out of the dwindling flow of the creek that was beside our campsite. We carried out for 25 miles plus water for cooking because the water sources from here to the highway are dried up and the caches are not reliable. The climb up out of Tylerhorse canyon was fine. Sand isn’t fun to walk on because you always lose a bit with each step, and most of the climb was sandy. The grade wasn’t too steep though, so it went smoothly. At the top at mile 549 there was an oasis. Trail angel Daniel had set up two umbrellas for shade with chairs, had a fully stocked pantry of fresh fruit, and just refilled water jugs. It was a welcome surprise to every hiker that came through: Shortstop, A.L.W.A.Y.S (a long walk after years of software(hah!)), Tiger Blood, and Mosey. We thanked Daniel and headed up a bit further to find a spot for lunch. We found a little spot in the trees (the few that existed in this stretch) and ate. While we were there a little bug fell near me and I poked at it a little. It looked like a little rock with arms and would pull them in when threatened. Didn’t think much of it, but later at the hotel I found what might be a tick bite. I suspect that bug had bitten me and I hadn’t noticed. Of course, I started googling for ticks and such and I think it was a Pacific Coast Tick, and as long as it wasn’t carrying any diseases I should be fine. I’ll have to keep an eye on the bite the next few days to see if it develops into anything. Cruising down towards the highway, we passed a bunch of windmills and dreaded the night of wind-interrupted sleep we would surely endure. Instead, we chose the shorter path and took a hitch from Willow Springs Road. To my delight, Magic Man (trail angel from Lake Morena and again at Scissors Crossing), was there doing his thing. Was nice to see him and (very briefly) catch up. The hitch into town was from a guy paying it forward. He had done sections of the JMT so was into hiking and happened to be driving home from work. He dropped us off at our hotel, we checked in, and then browsed the hiker box. Ready for our double zero of relaxation.

24 Miles

Today we hiked the aqueduct. Up at 2:30, on trail at 3:15, we watched the sunrise and the moon set. With Joshua trees all around it was a nice walk. The moon was nearly full so I put away my headlamp within the first mile or two. Leapfrogged a bit with another group, but didn’t see them again until lunch. We ate under a bridge while shooing away a squirrel that had no fear of humans. Hikers need to stop feeding the animals. Really glad we started as early as we did. The mid day weather was super hot, but the wind was probably the worst part. Felt like we were marching against it and not making progress. We arrived at our campsite/water source around 2 and quickly grabbed more water and found some shade. Everything after that was much slower. My legs are beat and these knees are yelling at me. Got 17 to do tomorrow so we can nero into Tehachapi the next day. I’m looking forward to town so I’m hoping the miles fly by in the morning. We have to carry water for the 17, camp, and the following 8 miles the next morning to get to the highway. Gonna be a heavy pack for the morning climb out of this canyon.

17 Miles

Was up a lot of the night with stomach pain, but eventually got some sleep. Woke up to roosters around 4:15 and then in and out of sleep til about 6. Started the road walk just before 7. The group was Jim, Ana, Maverick, and Dean. We started the day taking short breaks every hour since that’s how Jim and Ana are hiking, but we split off at lunch because we like fewer, longer breaks. Along the way, we passed the 500 mile marker!

Towards the end of the road walk we saw a group of hikers hitching a ride in a truck. As they passed a Ziploc flew out of the bed. We walked up and grabbed it (it was someone’s poop kit) and carried it up to the spot where the trail resumes. Ate lunch in the shade a bit away from all other hikers. Looks like most people are hitching around the closure. Which puts most people in a good spot to stay at Hikertown tonight. Might be too many people for us, but we’ll see. The remaining miles were hot, and exposed, but we rolled into Hikertown and it seemed packed. All the “rooms” were taken, but we hung out a bit and were able to snag one. Hikertown is kind of a weird hiker oasis next to the highway. They have all these “rooms”, which are little buildings that look like the set of a bad western movie. The hosts were nice and we were very glad to be able to stay and use the water and sink. We made our dinner chilling on the sofa out front of one of the louder groups’ “room”. They didn’t mind us being there, which was cool, but they later became the group that was keeping everyone awake by being loud and obnoxious late into the evening. Hiker midnight doesn’t care if it’s your birthday, we got miles to do super early tomorrow. Ana needed a spot to crash so we let her take the back section of our “room” and we all turned in early for our big day.

15 Miles

Had a bunch of hikers around us last night, which led to lots of snoring and loud conversation in the morning. We rolled out and got to a water cache 4 miles away around 9:30. Continued on to the road closure at mile 486. Road walked to the Rock Inn for burgers and beers. There were probably 2 dozen hikers there, so a definite bottleneck for anyone that was hiking near that bar today. Some people hitched past the closure, some road walked to the end of it, and we decided to split it up. Quail Run Ostrich Farm allows hikers to camp on their property, so we walked the 2 miles from Rock Inn to Quail Run with Jim, Maverick, and Ana. We had been leapfrogging with Maverick the last couple days, Ana was rolling with Jim, and everyone wanted to stick with the mileage that we had come up with to split the days before Tehachapi. So we all hung out around the stage and checked out some ostriches. Never thought I’d camp near ostriches on this trail, but definitely a fun way to break up a road walk.

12 Miles

Woke up to an awesome view above the clouds. Simple Soul passed us as we were tearing down the tent. Caught up with him at the water source, and eventually Crackers joined him. There was a potential cache about 2 miles ahead so we only grabbed a little water before heading down to the road. Sure enough, the cache was well-stocked. We filled up and took a break for a snack. The next 5 miles were a mix of gradual climbs and some slight downhills. Easy rolling. We found a nice little tent site tucked off the trail that had some shade so we stopped to enjoy it. Ate lunch and watched people hike on by. Marie took a cat nap and I listened to some music on my phone. This is the first time I’ve done so on this hike. It took 471 miles to get me to crave music in the woods. I need some different songs to get stuck in my head all day. We started hiking again and knocked out the remaining few miles. We set up the outer part of our tent over the tyvek like we always do, but skipped the inner for awhile so we could stretch a little in shade. Sam later showed up and stopped for the day. A few other hikers joined us and our site filled up. We all ate dinner at roughly the same time and eventually hiker midnight arrived.

18 miles

The KOA was surprisingly respectful of hiker midnight, but I wish the hikers had afforded the same courtesy in the morning while hovering around the restrooms. Today is Marie’s birthday! She thinks her birthday is a week long, sometimes she wants it to be her birthday month. We left the KOA around 7:45, which by hiker standards is fairly late, but we seemed to be among the first to head out. The climb out with full resupply is tough, but we made it the 10 miles to Agua Dulce around noon. Marie picked Maria Bonita’s for lunch so we ate huge burritos and a ton of chips with salsa. Also big beers. It was enough to force me to loosen my hipbelt on my pack when we left. We are dry camping tonight so we needed to bring water for the climb out of town and for dinner later. The remaining 8 miles were mainly uphill, but it was worth it for the campsite we got. Great views, plenty of wind cover, no highway noise or trains.

0 Miles

Packed up and out of the room around 8, walked down to the grocery store to get our resupply. Since our ride was taking us to a different spot we had to figure out a new plan for resupply, which put us at needing 7 days of food compared to the 3 we originally planned. We grabbed food, chatted with Marcus and Lost & Found On the Trail, both of whom we had chatted with outside the Jensen’s yesterday when we were gathering information about how to get around the closure. After hastily shoving all the food into our bags, we shipped out the bounce box, grabbed burritos to-go from Bigfoot Bowls, and then waited for our ride to Acton. Brian was a friendly gentleman and took us an hour up the road to the Acton KOA. Since we’re skipping so many miles we decided we could hang out here at the KOA and do another zero. Ran into Dirty Knucks, Nivil, and a bunch of other hikers I don’t recognize. Later on, Sysephus, Studio 54, and Tim showed up. We had chatted with them back at Cleghorn, but I had forgotten their names. I’m terrible with remembering names, but I’m doing my best.

0 miles

A good portion of the day was spent trying to figure out a ride around the fire closure and then figuring out our resupply strategy up to Kennedy Meadows. Mountain Hardware is primarily a hardware store, but carries a ton of hiker supplies and is the hub for all things PCT in Wrightwood. We grabbed phone numbers from their list and by signing their register they have us PCT pins. Score! Headed back to the room and did laundry in the tub, refilled various things out of the bounce box, and cleaned out my cooking pot and spoon. We intended to get a steak dinner, but struck out on that (two towns in a row!) and got burgers instead from the bar next door. While waiting for our food we heard back from Brian, a trail angel, who agreed to take us up to Acton around the closure. That was a bit further up than we wanted, but beggers can’t be choosers. We got our food, felt more relaxed now that we had a ride arranged, and settled into our room for the night.

5 miles

Casual morning, on trail around 7:30. Passed by some ski lifts and had a great view of Mt. Baden-Powell. We’re planning to hitch around the fire closure, which includes skipping the mountain, but that’s okay. We had packed microspikes all the way from the border because Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. Baden-Powell are known to hold snow late into the season and have some sketchy parts that could require traction. With this being a drought year, we haven’t had that issue so we’ll bounce our spikes ahead to Kennedy Meadows. Cruised the 5 miles to the highway where we met up with Flying, Snowflake, and Bill Nye. They had a reservation at the “spa”, which includes a free shuttle. We were able to get in on their ride and made it into town by 10:30. Got breakfast at the Grizzly Cafe and then waited for the brewery to open. Had beers at Wrightwood Brew Company, grabbed our bounce box and surprise package from the post office, saw Jim, Sophie, Sam, Pricepoint, and Honeybear at Bigfoot Bowls. Caught up with them and discussed the fire/road closure. Checked in at Mt. View Cabins and opened our shipments. So many delicious snacks and socks and extra plastic bags! Such a treat for hungry hikers, and the socks were just in time because I had to toss a pair because of how many holes I had worn in them. Thank you so much to Jim and Missy!

17 milesI could hear other hikers getting around in the morning before I wanted to be awake. Eventually we both sat up and started the morning routine. Topped off water at the cache before rolling out around 7. Hoops was still around, but took off while we filled up. We expected the same misty, shaded morning we had yesterday, but instead it only stayed shaded for a few miles before we were up above the clouds and in full sun. The views were great all day because of the way the clouds settled into the valley we hiked yesterday. We caught up to the whole group from last night while they were stopped for a break. The break was for snacks and booking rooms for the resupply in Wrightwood. It also seems that half the group is switching from taking a nero and a zero, to just a nero. We’re old, so sticking with the nero + zero. 5 miles tomorrow morning and then a hitch from Highway 2. We’ve heard that the road is closed, and we’ve heard it’s only partially closed. There may still be chances at getting a hitch, so we’re gonna try it. My trekking pole finally gave up on the bent tip so I will have to figure out some replacement tips in Wrightwood or maybe further up the trail/shipped. The metal that housed the tip will just get beaten up in the meantime before I can replace the whole tip. When we got done with the climb up to Huffy Campground, we found Bill Nye, Snowflake, and Flying. They were sticking with the nero + zero. Marie and I went down to get water from the spring, about 200 feet down a steep side trail. On the way I kept getting a stinging sensation near my ribs/back and thought maybe my pack straps were giving me chafe. While Drip was filling her water bottle, I took off my shirt to inspect the chafe only to find that it was some bug that was biting me. Looked like a caterpillar or mealworm thing, but it fell to the ground and I lost it in the duff before I could stomp the hell out of it. That jerk. We had a killer sunset tonight despite the wind that was testing the limits of our tent. It held up well, but we did have to restake a couple that got pulled. Looking forward to some quiet, uninterrupted sleep tomorrow in town.

19 miles

Wind was howling all night, but the tent held up great. The slight chance of rain didn’t materialize so we got lucky with the weather: cloudy, windy, and cool. Craving McDonald’s, we moved quickly hitting Mackas around 1. The hiking was fun, starting by climbing up into a misty cloud. Along the way we passed Flying, Snowflake, and Bill Nye The Hiking Guy. Then we came down to the highway over a series of ridgewalks and through a canyon.  It was packed inside and out at McDonald’s, but we got our food fairly quickly. We sat in the shade of some trees at the end of the parking lot. Anywhere we go along trail, I find myself looking for other hikers. If you find one, there’s almost always a nod or waive. More often than not you learn a short story about them, talk about mileage and camp destinations, and exchange names. There’s usually a good chance you’ll see them again further up the trail. After I ate a Big Mac, large fries, large Dr. Pepper, and half of a 10-piece, we casually finished the last 5.5 miles to camp. One of the tips of my trekking poles bent after it got stuck between a couple rocks, and eventually loosened enough to fall out of the socket it was held in. I used a couple rocks to hammer it back in, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll hold forever. Tonight, camp was the Swarthout water cache. The trail angels in Wrightwood are great. They know we have a long water carry tomorrow and they restock it (I’m told) everyday during peak season. A huge help to us. There are three wood chairs next to the water where hikers can sit and eat while *not* sitting on the ground; luxury. Hoops and Forrest were already set up when we pulled in around 4:30, but we eventually were joined by Flying, Snowflake, Bill Nye, Dirty Knuckles, and (briefly) Nivil. Talk is of the fire closures (apparently, there are others now) and how to get around them, and, of course, food. The Acton closure is the main focus because it’s in our next section after Wrightwood, but that’s a problem we can figure out in town. A big climb tomorrow, but last trail day before our nero & zero. Ready for a shower! Oh, and we gave ourselves trail names. Hoops had made a comment that Marie and I know each other the best so we took that advice and Marie came up with Nose Drip for her (since she has a runny nose a lot out here) and Pole Drop for me (because every time we pause and I set my trekking poles against my hip belt, one of them falls). So, for short, we are Drip and Drop.

14 miles

Didn’t sleep well because the wind gusts kept pulling stakes out. Finally, around 11pm, I got the pitch and stakes worked out. By morning the wind had nearly stopped completely, oh well, learning opportunity. A quick 3 miles to water, then another 5.5 where we stopped to have an early lunch, knowing we’d be having a short day. We sat beside the highway in some shade and ate our lunches. Two other hikers came by, Hoops and Forrest Gump. Hoops said that sleeping near the hot springs last night was awful because people were blaring music until midnight. I guess we all struggled last night. Forrest is now the second Forrest we’ve met, but first trailname Forrest. We continued on and the trail walked us around Silverwood Lake. The water had a few boats, jet skis, and fishermen, but not nearly as crowded as I would have expected for a Saturday. Maybe the wind was keeping people away. We leapfrogged Hoops right at the junction to drop down off the trail and go to Cleghorn Picnic Area. It just so happens that Road House Pizza will deliver there so the three of us put in an order. It was damn good pizza (also got a Pepsi and Sunkist, also damn good). There were a few other hikers hanging out in the shade near the water fountains so we all hung out waiting for our food to arrive and talking about what’s ahead and where to stay in town. There’s also word of a fire closure in the next section before Acton, which might make our planned resupply there change to Agua Dulce. Will look into that later. After devouring pizza, we followed the confusing, but sufficient, directions to the Silverwood Lake Campsites, which has a $5/night spot for hikers. We took hobo baths in the bathrooms, pitched the tent nearly perfectly in the most wind-protected spot we could find. I want a good night of rest tonight, we have 19 to do tomorrow, but best of all is that we can hit a McDonald’s right off the trail. Woo!

20 miles

On trail around 7, was hot by 10. Got water at a day-use area that had a bunch of litter. More miles until we stopped for lunch next to Deep Creek. Poison oak welcomed us to the spot, but we avoided it as best we could. Got in the creek briefly to soak our feet. Water was cold, but felt great. Passed the infamous hot springs on the way to camp, but didn’t stop. Hot springs on a hot day doesn’t sound nice. Plus, there’s some sort of amoeba reported to be in the water near it that can be fatal. No thanks. Planned to do 17 total miles for the day, but our idea to improvise a campsite did not work out. Ended up doing 3 extra miles to get to a semi-decent site. Hoping the wind doesn’t destroy the tent tonight.

19 miles

I think we might have been the first ones out of camp this morning. However, I also think we stopped the earliest despite doing 19 miles. As usual, the day started off cool, got hot, then cool again in the evening. Our water source was the start of Holcomb Creek, which was barely moving and covered in algae when we filled up. Later in the day, we crossed the same creek and it had grown in volume and flow rate so filling up again was much easier and less disgusting. We planned to sleep at the Holcomb Crossing Camp, but when we got there it looked like some day hikers had already snagged the spot and I assumed they wouldn’t be keen on sharing. We went another half mile to Bench Camp and had the place to ourselves. The creek ran behind the camp, which made it easy to rinse out some clothes; everything is dusty out here. I normally cook my dinner and hangout outside the tent in the vestibule area. Tonight was the first night I couldn’t do that due to mosquitos. I hope the nights of chilling outside the tent are not over yet.