Day 35 - pct mile 529 to mile 549

After a short, warm, night at the spot we crashed in last night, we finally got up and got moving just around 7:00. We were still last to move from the campsite. And also had some hikers pass us, who, we assume, started before sunrise from Hiker Town.

Will trucking past me, in between the wind turbines

The first 5 miles towards the Cottonwood cache were like last night - a flat and boring road walk. The views are not all bad. There is something hypnotic in seeing all those wind turbines rotate together. And the heat wasn't THAT bad. And we had a nice wind to keep us chilled and relatively dry.

Will, Alpine Start, French Toast and two others which hall remain nameless (Sorry, I don't remember their trail names) at the Cottonwood cache

At the cache I drank a liter of Gatorade (from the powder) and had some snacks, before heading on towards our next stop, another 6 miles ahead.
We made a short nap stop on the way, and still managed to get to the Tylerhorse Canyon before it got to hot. We stopped under a nice, somewhat shady, tree on the left, and later discovered that "everyone" went down to a bigger tree, a bit off the trail to the right. Oh well. We still rested there for a couple hours, to let the heat pass.
We finally left to finish off our day at around 14:00, with about 7 more miles of climbing to reach the water cache at mile 549.
It was indeed a long climb, but we got there at the end. The cache had some gallon bottles with water, and a big stack of half liter bottles as a bonus. So we were all good.
A short while later Salt Shaker and Xtra Smile came along. They did what we did from last night. Only they started before dawn, this morning. So it's 30 miles with no full sleep. Very hard.
Early-b came in as well, as did Pedi, Quinoa, Soap Box and Half-n-half. Some of them camped here, and some went a bit further on.
Only a short day into town tomorrow.

Day 34 - Oasis cache to the middle of the Mojave

A very very long, and different, day.
It all started with a nice walk down towards the Green Valley Road, where Casa de Luna is. The trail was easy, and I especially enjoyed watching the trail climb up the mountain on the other side of the road, knowing that it was inside a fire closure, and I won't have to climb it.
We got to the road at about 10:00, and Cheese came in just after. Terry Anderson, the owner of Casa de Luna, just passed by with her car, and picked us up to the famous hostel.

Butters and Idan in Casa de Luna

Upon reaching Casa de Luna I was immediately given a beer. Then I was led to the Hawaiian shirt rack, where I picked one up for the duration of my stay there. The whole atmosphere was very laid back and relaxed, and it is really easy to decide to just stay there for a day or two. Every night is taco salad night, and the party is always on in the front yard, but at the back there is a manzanita grove, for quiet camping and sleeping.
We resisted the temptation and headed out at about noon, planning to hitch around the closure (no road walk for us). We met Sunbeam and Arctic at the gas station, eating ice cream, so we bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's as well, and shared it. It was a hot day.
Hitching the ride out of Green Valley wasn't easy. It took us about half an hour, when finally the local plumber stopped and took us to Lake Hughes. There it got worse - we tried hitching along with the Australian Girls (Mozi and Emu), but nobody stopped. Probably because we were too many. After we split, and headed down the road a bit, we finally got a ride in a pick up. The driver then also stopped for Mozi and Emu, and later for Alpine Start and French Toast as well. So we all got our ride into Hiker Town - our second trail Angel of the day.

Alpine Start, French Toast and Mozi on the ride to Hiker Town

On the ride to Hiker Town

Hiker Town is a bit different. We just went to the common area, and sat on the sofas until the heat of the day passed. The place was packed with hikers, some who actually did the road walk, and many were heading out at the evening.
Snail Trainer met a friend of his there, who bought a lot of beer and curry take out for everyone. After he left, Idan said he looked like the head guard from Prison Break. And then Snail Trainer said it was indeed Wade Williams - the actor from Prison Break. So Idan scored some points there. Apparently Snail Trainer used to date the actress from the ah-ha video "Take On Me", and she was friends with Wade's wife, and that's how they met. Funny story.
Anyway, we left Hiker Town at about 18:30, heading out for our first night hiking. The trail is all flat and boring for the following 17 miles, and quite terrible in the daily heat.

The open LA aqueduct

At dusk it was much more bearable. We got to the open LA aqueduct, and walked along it for a short while, and then headed into the Mojave desert on the aqueduct road. The sun set, and it was still quite warm, and we just kept on walking on those roads. When the moon rose, we didn't even need our head lamps. But it still felt like we were hiking extra miles at the end of the day, and not like we only did 7 before that. So every step hurt.
I took some ibuprofen, and was surprised to find out how that chemistry really does make the pain go away. But when we reached the point where the trail left the aqueduct road, at 22:20, we called it a night, and set up camp. Along with some other hikers who stopped here before.
Well, that was an experience.

Day 33 - Hiker Heaven to the Oasis cache

I managed to postpone our exit from Hiker Heaven until around 9.
At one point a group of hikers was digging a 6" deep trench for a pipe for the gray shower water to go to other side of the yard, instead of into the troublesome septic tank. I lent a hand.

A view back on the trail. Nice switchbacks.

Yesterday a reporter from Backpacker magazine interviewed Donna Saufley for their next issue. And since then a photographer was hanging around, shooting hikers doing hikers' stuff at the Heaven. He had a blast with all the hikers digging and moving dirt, you will definitely see some photos from that bit. I think he made every effort to avoid getting a photo of me, so I won't be on next month's cover. Or anywhere.
Well, we finally left the Heaven, and I got a good hug from Donna. I was surprised she remembered my trail name, and she wished me to enjoy my hike. It was very nice.
We got a ride to the trail head, saving us some annoying in town road walk, and headed out. The weather was hot, but it was a bit windy which kept things all right for me.

Siesta and Bomber having a nap.

At first we climbed up a small ridge, and saw Agua Dulce from the top. We finally reached a nice shady tree at the end of the climb, and met Cheese, Bomber and Siesta resting there. We joined in, and had a short nap, before heading over to the next spot.
That next spot was the first cache of the day. Another nice shady spot, the same cast of characters, and a shorter nap this time. From there, it was mostly a climb.

Nice view on Bouquet Reservoir. Sadly, we didn't end up there.

After finishing that final climb of the day, I put on some music to run the final, short, bit down to the cache. I reached it to find Baby Wipes resting a bit before heading out to Casa de Luna, and Gabriel and French Toast, who just reached there before me.

Baby-Wipes and Cheese at the Oasis Cache

Alpine-Start and French-Toast

The sodas and picnic chairs were very nice, and we rested for a bit before looking for tent spots. It wasn't easy to find a good tent spot around here, but we managed to find a relatively flat area in between some trees, on the other side of the trail.