Day 36 - pct mile 549 to Tehachapi

Last night was very windy in the campsite. Shortly after I fell asleep I woke up when I heard both of my tent stakes being torn off the ground. It was still early as I got up to stake them back in, and Snail Trainer was just setting up his tent, next to Tim.
I put in the stakes in the ground, and moved some heavy logs over them, to keep them in place. My front stake still managed to get dislodged twice more during the night, until I finally secured it properly.
Apart from the wind, the night was rather warm.
In the morning we headed out to finish this little section and get into Tehachapi. It was only about 10 miles away, which were mostly downhill. Easy.
We only made one short pause on the way, and just after passing a water source (which we did not need) we started seeing the highway from above. This is the most frustrating bit - you see exactly where you need to go, and the trail keeps going in switchbacks, and along ridges, instead of just getting there!
My feet were hurting (not much more than usual, but still), and I just kept going on and on towards the road. Finally, we got there just as Snail Trainer did, and started to hitch towards town.
The third car passed us, and then came back. The driver, from across the road, asked us where we need to go, and whether we carry any weapons. He was quite insistent on making sure we don't carry anything, and even let it slide that in any case, he does. So we shouldn't do anything foolish... He seemed rather worried about giving two stinky hikers a ride for about 10 minutes.
Once we got in the car, his wife and him were very interested to learn about the trail, and how much we've walked so far. They were really nice, and got us right where we wanted to in town.
We were hoping to find a list of trail angels that allow hikers to sleep in their homes, but I assume that unless you run a huge operation like Hiker Heaven, or Casa de Luna, you can't handle the crowds anyway. So the trail angels of this town mainly offer rides around town, and to and from the trail. Fair enough.
We started checking out the local motels. The two Best Western are expensive ($90), so we headed down to the cheaper Santa Fe motel ($70), and crashed here.
After a shower, we got our laundry done, and wanted to head out to the supermarket, mostly to buy food for the day. Idan was just negotiating a ride there, when suddenly I saw Kay calling me from across the street.
Kay was our ride to the KO back from Idyllwild, and she lives in Tehachapi. She plans on hiking the pct next year, so she picks up hikers around town to build up her karma. I think her karma must be huge by now. We told her we were coming in today, but hadn't phoned her for a ride yet.
Well, now we gladly jumped in her car, which already contained Pedi, and she drove us to the Albertsons.
Idan was intent on eating at the McDonald's. So I had a small salad and fries. Yay. And we bought some stuff to keep us through the day (fresh guacamole and not-fresh hummus!), and then headed back into our tiny room (thanks again, Kay!)
We spent the rest of the day just sitting in his room. I took a 2 hour nap. And we tried to get our Sierra strategy working. Apparently we are getting way too early to Lake Isabella, so we'd have to meet up with Yair further north, in Kennedy Meadows. And even then - we might be getting into the Sierras too early. A report from the 16 said there is still plenty of snow over 10,000 feet, and the forecast is for some new snow coming this week. So we might get stuck there for a while. Together with all the other crazy hikers that pass us and run along north.

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 29 - pct mile 384 to fire station at mile 419

So, after a nice warm night at the parking area, we were planning on hitching on the mostly deserted highway in order to get around some closure, and skip the ultra long (19 miles) official alternative and somewhat shorter old alternative.

4 happy hikers, after a wonderful ride down the trail. Thanks, Barbra.

The hitching bit seemed to be the problem. We were just waiting for cars to come around, when Kyle and Snail Trainer came down from Little Jimmy campsite together with Barbra, a weekend hiker they've met up there last night. I immediately zoomed in on the car they were heading to, and asked her if she might be going in the direction we needed.
Apparently, Kyle and Snail Trainer were planning on hitching a bit further than our original plan, and it took very little persuasion to get us on their plan. So, we hitched from 386 to 399. Skipping all detours, and a bunch of trail miles. Sorry.
Down the trail from 399, I admit I wasn't really excited crossing the 400 miles mark. It's not like I walked it all. Oh well. A bit later we got to our water source, and filtered some yellow colored water from a spigot. They tasted fine.
Onward, the trail crossed the highway another time, and finally stopped following it. Near Sulphur spring it got a bit strange, with one trail going down to the water, and the other remaining on the ridge. We weren't sure which one was the pct, so we just remained on the ridge, and made our lunch stop just after they met again. Oh - and we actually took a nap of about 20 minutes!
From there, the trail kinda went up slowly, going over big areas with a lot of Poodle Dog Bush we were trying to avoid. They supposedly cause skin irritation, but I'm not sure I'm sensitive to it at all.
The next water source was a nice spring near the end of the climb, and I had my 1 liter Gatorade drink from it. That was a nice spot.
Just about an hour further, we reached a very nice area for resting, full of hikers. Penguin was just getting there and heading out, and Sunbeam was there (and I didn't recognize her at first with her hat on) and many other new faces.
We rested there shortly, and then I put on my music and headed down the final 5.5 miles to the fire station. It was an easy trail, and I think I raced it in under 2 hours. That was rather fun.
Here, at the fire station we all crashed under a nice pergola, filling up our water, and cooking dinner, and charging phones. After a while most hikers headed down a bit further to the campground by the road, though a few headed out to hike 5 more miles today. That's hardcore!