Week 12: Tehachapi to Ridgecrest

 Day 80 ( June 19 ): Going "Wild"

I woke up at 3 AM and was at the bus stop by 4:20. Somehow I  misplaced my 1/8" foam pad. I was dropped off at the Trailhead ( the same place Cheryl Strayed, author of "Wild" started hiking from in 1995 ) and started hiking at 5:15. 

I made the stupid mistake of going past the water cache without checking/ filling my water bottles. As a result, I had to hike 16.8 miles with a 1,700 foot elevation gain with only 2.5 Liters of water. I didn't even Camel Up ! Good thing it was cool.

About 2 miles in, I  passed a hiker camped on the side of the trail. He passed me by 9 AM and I  never saw him again. 

I made it to Golden Oakes Spring at 2:30 and started to collect water. The spring was such a small trickle that it took an hour to collect and filter 6 Liters of water. There had been some concern during the previous week about some of the water sources on the trail being contaminated.  About 2 dozen people got sick with a gastrointestinal illness of some kind ( I found out later that a lot of hikers came down with a similar illness in the same general area last year ). It was such a worry that the water jugs at several water caches were dumped on the ground and replaced. Because of the water question, several people decided to skip from Tehachapi to Walker Pass near the end of desert. By the time I reached Tehachapi, it looked like the water was safe to drink. At any rate, I didn't get sick. As I was collecting water, I was joined by two hikers, "007" who got his trailname because he resembles the actor Pierce Brosnan and a German hiker, "Starlord" who had hiked from Campo to Tehachapi in 2019. 

Starlord and 007, left me in their dust. I had hoped to hike 27.5 miles but I  was to tired as I  started up the final 5 miles, so I  turned around and found a good campsite in the forest near the windfarm. 

Day 81: Movin' Entirely To Slow !

I was lazy this morning and slept in until 5:30. I was on the trail at 6:15, but for some reason, I was just to slow.

All the blowdowns reminded
me of the San Jacintos 

t took me 13 hours to hike the 21.9 miles to Landers Meadow. Granted there was a 1,500 foot charge in elevation, but still.

Another milestone 

The spring at Landers Meadow is the best water source I have seen on trail. I was able to collect 2 Liters of water in 10 seconds.

The latest in Wind Turbine Technology:
Invisible Turbine Blades

One thing I  have noticed is a numbness and tingling in the big toes of both feet after I have been hiking for a few hours. Something I need to get checked out.

Day 82: Long, Hard Afternoon

I got an earlier start today ( 5:30 ) and pushed fairly hard. I made it to the large water cache 7 miles away in 3 hours.  Not bad !

The white tape indicates the
water has been replaced

Thank God the cache was full.
Drinking water from cow ponds ? UGH !!

Three miles past the water cache, I caught up to Starlord.

The afternoon hike to Bird Spring Pass wore me out. Part of it was the hard, uphill climb on a sandy stretch of trail.

Remnant of an old mine

Old mine equipment 

Starlord and I  rested in the shade about a mile from the top for about 90 minutes before completing the slog to the top. We Finally shuffled into Bird Spring Pass at 6 PM. T Rex was there, which surprised me. I thought he would be further north. 

In addition to the large ( 200 + gallons ) cache of water, there were a few surprises: a bathroom scale and several external batteries to recharge our devices.  I weigh 192.2 pounds in my hiking clothes ( I weighed 230 when I started) and my pack weighs 28.5 pounds ( including a three day supply of food ). T Rex decided he was going to hike the 3.3 miles uphill to the next tentsite. I was so exhausted it was all I could do to set up camp and cook dinner.

Day 83 Rain, Rain, Go Away

I woke up at about 3 AM and was thinking of getting an early start when I saw a flash of light and a rumble of thunder.

So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Yes I am professionally lazy ( aka "Energy Efficient" ) sometimes. Get over it.

When I  woke up at 5:30, the weather forecast on my Garmin Inreach called for a very slight chance of rain, with no serious accumulation. So I  packed up and was heading out at 6:15.

Starlord was hurting after his first 3, long, hard days on the trail ( he had started at the highway Trailhead on the 18th ), so he decided to rest a little longer. 

The sky was cloudy when I  left camp and it sprinkled on and off for the first hour or so. At 8 AM it started to rain.

It took me almost 2 hours to reach the tent site where T Rex had camped last night, but he had already left. The first two hours was a hard 3.3 mile, 1500 foot climb up into the rain. At 9 AM it started to rain fairly hard. Thank God I hadn't shipped my rain jacket forward. 

After I reached the top, the rest of the hike was a fairly easy, mostly downhill hike to Walker (sometimes referred to as Walker's Pass: there was a debate about the "proper" name on the Facebook group) Pass.

I made a "necessary" side trip to use a certain set of facilities in the campground just off the PCT. In addition to the rain, I  got pelted with 3/16" ( 5 mm ) hail a few times. 

Because I was cold and wet, I only drank the 1 Liter breakfast drink I had mixed ( normally I would drink 5 Liters of fluids during a 20 mile hike ) and I  only ate a small packet of Applesauce and a piece of beef jerkey. Upon reaching the PCT Trailhead at Walker Pass, I called a Trail Angel, "Pancakes" and she came and picked me up.

Day 84: First Zero in Ridgecrest

Ridgecrest is a city of about 20,000 people near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, where the latest weapons for the US Navy fighter jets are developed and tested. 

I was totally exhausted and so I slept most of the day. The tingling/ numbness is also in the balls of my feet. I contacted Morgan ( the Physiotherapist I met in Idyllwild on May 1st ) via Facebook and she thought that the cause of my tingling was my shoes and insoles getting worn out. In the evening. Pancakes gave me a tour of Ridgecrest before driving to the Trailhead to restock the water cache behind the Walker Pass Monument. 

There is an argument happening on Facebook as to who is or is not a Trail Angel.  There is a Facebook group for Trail Angels in the Walker Pass area, but people who ask for money aren't allowed. Personally,  I think that is wrong. I don't have a problem with paying a reasonable price for someone to drive miles out of their way to pick me up and to be hosted in someone's home. Pancakes charged me $10 to drive to Walker Pass to pick me up and drop me off at her home. It must be at least 15 miles, one way,  from her house to Walker Pass. So at $6 a gallon,  $10 doesn't even cover the cost of her gas. She is charging me $30 per night, but that includes free laundry, free showers, and at least two home cooked meals a day.  I think I am getting a good deal. 

Day 85: Second Zero in Ridgecrest 

Today I did 4R ( Rest,  Refit,  Recharge and Resupply ). I slept a fair bit this morning.  Later "Pancakes" took me to Walmart so I could do resupply.  I also bought new insoles for my shoes. Hopefully they will do the trick. If not, I will buy new shoes in Kennedy Meadows which is only another 2 or 3 days hike from Walker Pass. In the afternoon I used a homemedica foot massager and my toes and feet are much better.

Day 86: Third Zero

Did laundry in the morning. Spent the rest if the day soaking my feet and relaxing. In the afternoon I rode with "Pancakes" when she drove to Bird Spring Pass to pick up a hiker "Purple Rain", who was having knee issues. It took us about three hours to drive to Bird Spring Pass,  pick up Purple Rain and return to town. Mostly,  because half of the drive was on dirt roads.

Day 87: Fourth Zero

My tingling toes kept me up most of the night. I had hoped to resume hiking, but wasn't ready when "Pancakes" left to take other hikers to Walker ( or Walker's: your choice ) Pass at 6:30. I will contact Morgan again and see if she thinks I should see a doctor.  If not, I will get everything ready to hit the trail tomorrow. If things go well, I should be out of the desert (HALLELUJAH !!!) in two or three days.