Day 34-38: Agua Dulce to Tehachapi
Mile 454.4-566.5
Before I start this post I just want to apologize for a lack of pictures in this entry. My GoPro for some reason didn’t charge when I plugged it in overnight in L.A. I did take some pictures on my phone but the scenery was more of what I had seen in the lower areas of the last 500 miles. Needless to say, I’m ready for a change, and one is thankfully coming soon.
After a beach day in L.A followed by a nice brunch that morning, Jonas dropped me back in Agua Dulce around 1:30. I was ready to get back on trail, but .2 miles in I came across a bunch of hikers in the middle of town getting some shade, and I couldn’t resist joining them. Before I knew it, an hour had passed and I realized I still wanted to make 11 miles. It was a tough climb up and over a mountain, followed by a short descent to camp.
As a consequence of the late start, I did not get to camp until around 7:00. It was still light, there just wasn’t as much time as usual to relax at camp.
The next day was pretty straightforward, with an easy climb early on and a tougher one after lunch. I ended up camping with a huge group at the beginning of the second road walk in a week.
2 miles into the road walk, we all stopped at the Rock Inn for huge breakfasts to prepare for the next 12 miles of road. This one was far worse than the first, as it was way hotter, and the tarmac made it even worse. I suffered through, and then hiked the next 6 miles to the end of the day. These miles hurt more than they should have, which was concerning considering my ambitious plans for the next day.
That night I stayed at Hikertown, a strange yet interesting fake town with cheap, bare bones rooms. I stayed in one and only got 3 hours of sleep, and was up and at it at 3 A.M with the lofty goal of making my first 30 mile day of the trip. The first half of the day was along the L.A aqueduct through a corner of the Mojave Desert. And it’s flat. Really flat. Due to this heat, most hikers do this stretch either overnight or in the early morning. I got it over with as fast as possible through the early morning and was done with the flat 17 miles by 9:15. Not too bad!
After a moderate break, it was time to go uphill through a wind farm. It was getting hotter, but I felt good until the last mile of the climb. 1 mile out of 24 being painful wasn’t too bad and I felt I was well on my way to 30.
After an hour and a half in the shade at the top, I got moving. There was another climb coming up at the end of the day. Before that, I cruised through 4 miles of small up and downs with relative ease despite the heat. 28 miles done. I felt good but it turns out I would really have to earn that elusive 30. The climb was up real loose sand with basically zero shade. By the end I was super sore but couldn’t believe it. By 5 P.M, I had walked 32.1 miles. That night called for lots of rest and sleep.
The next day was a simple 17 to town. I went real fast and got down by 1:00. I really wanted some food and showers.
At this point I’ve got 6 more days of desert hiking left. They’re gonna be the driest and most exposed miles so far. Guess it’ll be 1 last hurdle before the beautiful mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
