The Tehachapi Zero days

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In the previous 46 days we had only 3 zero days – that’s basically 1 day off every 2 weeks. Yep, we’d had half days, walked the final 10-15 kms into town to resupply and leave again or left after resupply and lunch to get back onto the trail. That’s life on the trail. As I’d mentioned in my last post, the local PCT trail coordinator had given us a lift in Tehachapi and hooked us up with Brenda who was taking a wee break from Trail Angeling. It turned out we would stay 3 nights at Brenda’s and what a lovely time we had.

We “Slack-packed” a 13km section of the trail on our first day. Another day of Wind turbines, Brenda dropped us at one trail head and drove to the other. She then walked in our direction and joined us for a lunch break just past halfway. We ended our journey by taking Brenda out for a late lunch at a German Cafe. A late dinner and then movie night on the big screen in the theatre seats. Late to bed but a wonderful day.

The next day was our proper zero day, up late, popped into town to go shopping and bought some new socks. I even managed to have a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. After dinner the day was completed with another movie night – “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” – to help Grant with his Kiwi education. A late night, not to worry, we’d decided on a 2nd zero given the weather forecast for tomorrow was awful.

So, zero day number two. Another sleep in, slow breakfast and no frantic packing. Into town again, this time to resupply and buy a postcard for Mum. Returning home, I mowed the lawns out the front of the house while Grant weed eated everything else. Anna had cleaned the upstairs bathroom from top to bottom and had totally cleaned up the kitchen. Brenda has had up to 20 hikers staying per night and works night shift so any help around the place is always welcome. Dinner, a bit of packing and an early night – tomorrow starts a new 5 day section of the trail across a mountainous area.

Hikertown, the LA Aqueduct and Tehachapi

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Up extra early, could already hear the first few rain drops on the roof – thank goodness we weren’t hearing them from our tent. Coffee, Bacon, Eggs and Hashbrowns cooked up in the kitchen. Left at 7:00am armed with our umbrellas, Grant had his ground sheet fashioned into a poncho.

Up the road and next to the uncovered Aqueduct eventually joining up with the LA covered Aqueduct. Bit slippery in the rain but we managed. This section amongst hikers is infamous for being super hot, long and dry – many night hike it. Lucky us then, cool, wet and very scenic walking through the Joshua Tree forests.

Rain stopped before lunch time, we’d covered 21kms by noon. By now we were in the middle of gigantic wind turbines, thousands of them, big and small. Eventually we did have to gain some altitude and arrived at our canyon campsite at 5:00pm. 38kms in 10 hours including a lunch break was a very descent day – also a new record for us. Nice to pitch the tent and eat in the dry. We could see it still raining down on the plains. The Mojave crossing was complete and nothing like the hype we had read before.

Rained overnight but not much. Our only water source was very silted so we had to be careful with our water. Bacon and Eggs on wraps for breakfast. Huge zigzags and sidles were taxing given my lack of water, just as I ran out we reached a trail angel site, water, fresh fruit, biscuits and cakes – wonderful!

Shame about the dickheads on their motorbikes racing around on and off the PCT track. Met Jim on our way to the main road, he’s the local PCT coordinator doing a track inspection. Although living in the opposite direction, he gave us a lift in to Tehachapi and arranged for us to stay at a Trail Angels place where he dropped us off. Thanks Jim!

Our trail angel had until recently hosted up to 20 hikers per night – our trail angel (Brenda) had taken a few days off trail angel’ing to run a couple of CPR courses and complete her last Masters paper – hence empty house for the 3 of us. Shopping, shower, dinner, updates on my phone then a relatively early night as I was bit tired, 65kms hiked in two days can have that effect on you.

Day 37 – Zero Day – Lancaster

On By René Duindam2 Comments

Yep, due for a Zero Day, our third in 37 days. On the one hand Lancaster was very relaxing, on the other, a huge eye opener. People on the trail ((A)-‘Mericans’) warned us that Lancaster wasn’t necessarily their choice of destination for anything, let alone a zero day. Undeterred, we accepted this warning as a challenge and went anyway. The evening before had already been an eye-opener looking for a sit down restaurant to eat at – we eventually found a lovely Mexican place that was almost due to close – all the rest of the places nearby were the worst assortment of crap American takeaway drive-thru’s (worse than even McDonald’s). We eventually walked back to the motel in the dark past semi deserted streets and say a few drug dealing business’s operating.

The “Americas Best Value Inn” was actually quite nice, big pool, picnic table area, trees, WiFi, clean rooms, nice shower, laundry facilities and included breakfast. Around 50% of the occupants appeared to be residents, low income (no income) families on food stamps with school aged children. We had a lovely breakfast and coffee then did our laundry.

Walmart

Once finished, we Uber’d to Walmart – our first ever Walmart experience – and yes, we were traumatised. The Warehouse in NZ is already bad enough, this place was 20 times the size of a “Red Shed” and sold absolutely everything you could imagine, even cars. The amount of potential consumption of junk goods was amazing, the carpark was full, and now we fully understood why the previous evening we had passed so many closed stores. Enough said.

Back at the motel, chilled, 2 swims and relaxed by the side of the pool all afternoon – nice! Cooked our own dinner at the picnic table and BBQ area by the pool. Even had fruit pie with fruit salad for dessert. Caught up with emails and did some other stuff with the WiFi, packed a bit and went to sleep. We shared with Grant “Call me Daddy” who has been walking with us for quite a while now. We first met Grant in San Diego at Scout and Frodo’s place but he started the trail a day behind us. We met again by Scissors Crossing and have been together since Idyllwild. Great fun!

The next morning we had arranged for a trail angel to pick us up around noon and return us to the trail-head. After breakfast I managed to talk to both my boys on What’s App. A treat indeed. Then came the second traumatising event in Lancaster. Anna and Grant had heard shouting that sounded like angry rapping coming from the other end of the motel. Turned out to be a homeless black woman who had tried to do her washing in the laundry. Sirens could then be heard, first one, then three police cars appear. Next minute there are 12 police cars in the motel driveway, I thought they were filming a movie. 15 police officers, all with weapons drawn advanced towards the by now screaming woman.

She had her hands up and repeatedly said for them not to shoot her. To add insult to injury, the 2 female officers swapped hand guns for pump action shotguns, another had a teargas grenade launcher. The woman had apparently brandished a knife at the motel manager. Wow, this is the “real” urban America, almost like the Wild West. We all were shocked by the experience. I realise it’s a rough area with drug problems, but this was so over the top, it wasn’t funny. Enough said about that, too.

We left once Mary arrived (our trail angel), posted my old Exped mat by return mail and headed back to KOA Campground to continue, albeit only 16kms, to Aqua Dulce and Hiker Heaven.

KOA Campground to Hikertown and the LA Aqueduct

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We left the KOA Campground late at about 2:30pm, only 16kms to hike, the trail climbed gently over rolling hills which were pretty barren. We walked the tunnel under the highway and entered the most magical canyon – apparently it’s featured in numerous movies – and onto Vasquez Rocks (Google it). A road walk to Agua Dulce and pizza for dinner before carrying onto Hiker Heaven. The place was run by a lovely couple who provides many amenities to hikers and a place to put up their tents. Luckily there were only around 25 hikers staying so we managed to get a flat tent site.

Vasquez Canyon

Nice to sleep on my new Exped mattress! Woke to a very misty morning. No need to rush, we had planned on another shorter day. Had lunch in town at a lovely little cafe then set off up the road and eventually into the hills. It became surprisingly cold crossing the hilltop. We found a nice little tent site just by Bear Spring, the only water source across this section. No sign of Grant who we left at Hiker Heaven sewing his homemade sleeping bag. The clouds threatened rain so it was good to stop early. Luckily the sun returned for a dry evening and night.

After losing weight for the past 6 weeks I decided to try Bacon and Eggs for breakfast like Grant to increase my Protein and fat intake. Made for messy cleanup of our pot with all the extra fat but boy did it taste good!

Very heavy mist again making things a bit cold to start with. A nice gentle downhill to start the day, crossed a sealed road and climbed in the lifting mist uphill. The rest of the day we spent endlessly sidling, crossing a saddle and finding kilometers of sidling to the next saddle – Equestrian trail – 10 degree slope maximum is the standard for the PCT. Green Valley road eventually appeared, no one would stop to give us a lift to the Petrol Station 2 kms down the road. Walked. Almost 30kms today.

Ice cream and food for resupply. Tried hitching back up the road and got a lift from a lovely couple who suggested we stay at their place. Wonderful! Shower, sleep inside on the flat in the lounge. What kindness. We were the first hikers they took home. A lovely couple who keep Goats that they have trained to be “Pack Goats”, yes, you read right, Pack Goats. The goats carry their gear when they go hiking. They all had Lord of the Rings names – it was brilliant. Thank you so much Clark and Joanne. The following morning they went to work early and left us to have breakfast, pack and lockup. Hopefully we can see them again when we enter the Sierras around Lone Pine.

Pack Goats!

Because I had WiFi I could call Kevin and wish him a Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday Son!

Even more misty this morning than yesterday and cold. Learnt that Grant had stayed at Casa de Luna in Green Valley and was already on the trail ahead of us. We climbed out of the valley, nice walking in the cool morning air. Down the other side and across a sealed road to have lunch. Finally caught up with Grant again at the spring. Nice! Cold and misty was the order of the day, it never really warmed up. Off a ridge we found a derelict campground that hadn’t been used in a while. Windy, cold and misty atop the ridge we were following, down the alternate track to a gorgeous old campground, it was calm and sunny. Found a lovely spot, water in the creek and a picnic table to sit at. We wondered why the trail information didn’t point this out.

A lovely night down at the unused campground, the wind only heard in the tops of the trees. A great breakfast, packed and left by 7:30am. Had a wonderful day on a dirt road that ran parallel to the actual trail. Great views, access to further campgrounds for breaks and lunch and the water cache. Down off the hill through absolutely beautiful trees with flowers and bright green grass underneath. Zigzagged to the bottom of the hill – 2 Rattle Snake encounters – camped at the bottom of the hill by a stream. I even managed to have a foot bath to help my sore swelling toes – wonderful.

Up super early, wraps for breakfast and gone at 6:23am. Only 10kms to Hiker Town, to do laundry, resupply and get ready for the Mojave Desert open section along the famous LA Aqueduct. Arrived at around 9am, got the “School House” (see photo), all the little huts at Hikertown have different theme names. Spent the remainder of the day chill’in. Bought food for the next 2 days plus dinner. Washed our clothes, had a shower and sat around in the sunshine chatting with other hikers. Nice place. Thanks Bob!

Hikertown

Wrightwood to KOA Campground, Acton

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Sharon, our lovely trail angel took us to the trail head where we exited the previous day. Walked down to Vincent’s Gap to find another trail angel setup at the carpark picnic table giving out trail magic – she made me a hamburger and coffee – Anna had fresh fruit and a cold drink.

Trail Angel with Trail Magic

From here we had to climb Mt. Baden-Powell, our last snow area before the Sierras. Left at noon and zigzagged our way halfway up the mountain before reaching the snow banks. A little further we gave up the zigzagging to climb up directly as we couldn’t stay on the trail anymore. Around 1000 meters of climbing and we arrived just below the top in roughly 2 and a half hours. Hard work made more so with the snow.

Great views all round and a well deserved coffee by the roots of a 1500 year old Conifer. Continued along the trail which ran along a set of ridges covered with snow banks. Hard going sometimes without our micro-spikes but not dangerous. Eventually camped before Little Jimmy Campsite by massive fallen trees. A bit of snow melting to cook our well deserved dinner with. Lovely campsite but cold at around 3000 meters.

Little Jimmy Spring

Popped 2 more baffles on my Exped sleeping mat, thank goodness I pick up a replacement mat in 4 days times. Freezing cold in the morning. Packed up and walked down a spring to have breakfast. Very misty today, thank goodness we crossed the mountain yesterday. Had to road walk a section of the trail due to a track closure – 4 huge slips in the big rains of the winter. Misty all day, even rained after we finished early for a couple of hours. Campfire at the campsite though in the evening, enjoyed more so by the hikers arriving late in the day.

Cold but fine in the morning. A pleasant day spent sidling above and below the mountain road. Sadly a number of fires had destroyed quite a bit of forest. The remainder predominantly in the gullys was beautiful. Crossed the 400 mile marker today – around 660kms so far. Day 34 finds us still averaging around 20kms per day. Pretty consistent.

Cold again this morning, we were sheltered from the wind overnight but rounding the first bend around the mountain we found ourselves freezing even more. The day slowly warmed up. The day became a blur of burnt areas followed by lush pine forest, similar to yesterday. We eventually climbed up and over a saddle before dropping down to a vehicle accessible campsite with toilets. Sunny and warm, flat tent sites and picnic tables. Nice evening.

Not cold this morning, thank goodness! Almost all downhill to KOA campsite, our end point for this 5 section. My new replacement Exped mat was waiting for me. Thanks Exped – great service! A section hiker from Korea (Joe) drove us into the town of Lancaster and took us to a couple of motels before we decided on another “Americas Best Value Inn” with swimming pool to stay at for a well deserved Zero Day. 36 days and only our third day off – should be great!

Thanks Joe and Exped!

Wrightwood, Cajon Pass to Wrightwood

On By René Duindam1 Comment

We’d taken an Uber from Cajon Pass to Wrightwood so we could resupply. We still had to do the two days of trail but had heard numerous stories from other Hikers how arduous and hot it had been. Being smart hikers we hatched a sneaky plan to avoid the heat and do something a bit different. We had a lovely day in Wrightwood until it was time to hitch back to the trail. Easy hitch and back where we left the day before. We started walking at 4pm and did the first 8kms to the dirt road by 5:45pm.

Passed amazing rock formations. Not too warm either. A quick dinner then up for the big climb. Because it was relatively cool and the PCT is graded for horses, we climbed very quickly. By 8pm we turned our head torches on and continued in the dark. Amazingly we saw two Bobcats and a number of Kangaroo Mice in the darkness. Special treat for night hiking.Another two and a half hours later and we were buggered. We’d made it halfway and it was time to find a camp site. Easier said than done but eventually scrambled across a dirt road to a small hillock and found the perfect spot. Tent up, snack and bed by 11pm. Awoken the next morning by an amazing sunrise.

Still a bit tired we left early to hike in the cool morning. As the sun came up the views became more spectacular. Through forests above Wrightwood we made it to the snow line and again had to navigate the snow banks, this time without our microspikes. No problem really.

Eventually we made it up and over the tops and down to the road end carpark to hitch back into Wrightwood, this time from the north. Mission accomplished, tiring towards the end but well done. Back in Wrightwood we hooked up with a lovely Trail Angel who put us up for the night for free. Well deserved hot showers, laundry done and a wonderful evening with a great person.

Thanks Sharon!