Day 28 – 36 | Mile 377.9 —558.7 | Acton & LA Aquaduct

To avoid the heat through this stretch, we did a lot of night hiking resulting in the quality of my journaling to deteriorate and I missed summarizing some days due to fatigue. This is the recap of what I do have and remember.

Day 28 | Mile 377.9 – 392.9

We watched the sunrise from the summit of Baden-Powell with about five other hikers. From the summit, we hiked down to Little Jimmy Spring and Campground. It was a difficult section as there was quite a bit of snow obstructing the trail and multiple foot paths to follow, some easier than others.

We worked our way through a wildfire burn area covered with poodle dog bush. Poodle dog bush is supposed to be a worse version of poison oak… so it’s in your best interest to avoid it. Next, we had to climb Mt. Williamson. It was a very difficult climb; full sun exposure and steep. I stopped at each burnt tree on the way up to have some refuge from the sun in a sliver of shade. At the base of Mt. Williamson before the climb, a guy named Just Be introduced us to the term “PUDS” and explained it means “Pointless Ups and Downs”. It has become a common phrase for us now. Just Be skipped the climb and took the road around Williamson. Smart move.

We had lunch at the top of the climb. I spilled half of my cold-soaked ramen lunch which was devastating.

After hiking down the other side of Williamson to the road, a 5 mile stretch of trail was closed due to endangered frogs. This closure pushed us onto the road where we ended up road walking for nearly the same distance.

While on the road we saw a cardboard sign zip tied to a campground post indicating trail magic on June 1. We thought the sign must have somehow survived from the previous year as none of us realized it was now June. When it finally clicked, we diverted from the road and started down into the campground. We finally saw Ray, the trail angel, at a picnic table grilling up burgers, hot dogs, tons of snacks and water, sodas, and beers! Needless to say, we were very grateful for the food and Ray was more than happy to feed us all. We arrived later in the afternoon and by that time, Ray had fed a few groups before and then a few groups after us. Long day for him. Legend.

We decided to stay at the campground that night to unwind after the Mt. Williamson climb. Other hikers streamed in to also stay the night and we had a campfire.

Day 29 | 392.9 – 420.8

I had a great sleep at the campground and felt recharged. We left camp at 6am and finished the road walking alternate route in roughly 2 miles before rejoining the trail. We had done 10 miles by 10am; a goal we generally aim for to cover some miles in the cooler temps. In total, the road walk omitted about 2-3 miles of trail and one PUD.

We had read that there may be more trail magic 22 miles from where we camped last night so we were motivated at the prospect of more food and kept our pace up. By the time we arrived, the trail magic was no longer around but another hiker’s friend had met her at the same trail junction to resupply and hang out. Emily, the hiker, had just left when we rolled in to the parking lot and her friend was packing up. Her friend ended up giving us the extra food and drinks she had brought for Emily and chatted with us for a while. It was very kind of her!

That night we had a beautiful tent site overlooking Palmdale and Acton. We caught a beautiful sunset over the mountains and had an early night.

Day 30 | Mile 420.8 – 444.3 | Acton

Last night was the closest I’ve ever been to a mountain lion. I woke up around 1:15am to it calling out. The call was so loud the cat must have been within 50 ft. of our tents. I knew it wouldn’t bother me inside the tent so I wasn’t too worried. I texted Riley and Lando to warn them but neither of them received the message to stay in their tents. All ended fine and all things considered I slept pretty well. In the morning we tried to find paw prints and maybe located one.

The day felt long with lots of elevation change, up and down. My energy levels were low and didn’t have the pick up. Every water source was overrun with bees adding to the challenge of water collection.

There was a very long descent down into Acton and Cleopatra caught up to us despite leaving Wrightwood a day or so after us. She moves quick. There was a nice, cold stream about 4 miles before town at the bottom of the descent where we stopped to soak our feet and take a break.

We caught a ride into Acton to resupply and stayed behind the 49er Saloon. The owners  started welcoming hikers the previous year and were extremely accommodating. They have all the necessities for us to regroup in town including charging, free camping, and bucket laundry. Very friendly people. The only downside was the camping was 50 ft. from train tracks so there were some loud moments at night.

Acton was a big milestone for us as it marked the end of a 200 mile section of trail that heads directly West. It started back at Big Bear and just before Acton is where we began to head North again.

Day 31 | Mile 444.3 – 464.0

We had a slow morning leaving Acton as we had to resupply at the grocery store and get a ride back to trail. This also marked the first day of the heat wave that would severely impact our hiking over the next week or so.

The plan was to hike 10 miles in the mornimg Agua Dulce to get lunch and wait out the afternoon heat. It was an interesting 10 miles that had us hiking through some neat terrain. We passed the Vasquez Rocks that were featured in Star Trek when Kirk fought Gorn. Really cool geology. We also went through a drainage tunnel about 100 ft. below the Interstate offering some much needed relief from the heat.

In Agua Dulce, we ate at a Mexican restaurant and took advantage of Taco Tuesday. Fantastic. Neck Tie and Cleopatra caught us and joined for lunch here as well.

After lunch we hiked another 10 miles to camp. It was a grueling 10 miles. Even though we started at 6:30pm, it was still very hot until about 8pm. We had a huge climb coming out of town and it brought some group member’s spirits down. It was our first time hiking at night and once the sun went down, the temperature was sublime and made moving much easier. Neck Tie and Cleopatra caught us again on the uphill and stuck with us until camp.

Near the top of the climb, I was in the lead of the group and I noticed movement 50-75 ft. ahead and my stomach sank. I thought it was a bear or mountain lion. Turned out to be this guy named Greyhound moving without a headlamp in the dark trying to find the trail again. Freaked me right out.

There were reports from that morning of two mountain lions in the area but we didn’t see any. We did however see a tiny owl perched up in a tree and a Skunk. Our water source after the climb was this fairly pathetic spring where it was extremely difficult to not capture a ton of sediment in the water as well. All while keeping dozens of spiders at bay. Made it to camp around 11pm.

Day 32 | Mile 464.0 – 485.7

From this tent site, we needed to make it 14.5 miles to the Green Valley Fire Station before midday to beat the heat, get water, and have shade. The temperature rose quickly in the morning forcing us to take lots of breaks and slowed our progress. We made it to the Fire Station just after 1pm and it was insanely hot. The group had dispersed because we were all moving at different paces and handling the heat in our own ways. I think everyone rolled in fairly dehydrated and worn down from the heat. There wasn’t much talking.

When I arrived to the Fire Station, I was handed a fresh mango popsicle from another who had a vehicle temporarily due to some injuries they sustained. It was magical and really lifted my spirit.

There were about 7-8 other hikers at the Station and we used the garden hose to wash down and cool off. It was lots of fun and felt great. We stayed at the Station for a good five hours relaxing in the shade and hydrating before setting out again.

We left after 6pm to hike an additional 7 miles which of course began with a climb out of the valley. Thankfully, we were heading West and the hill provided early shade. Riley and I fell behind from Pandora and Lando. We saw a kangaroo mouse up close; what a little cutie.

We arrived in camp around 10pm but had the option of hiking or hitching an additional 2 miles into Lake Hughes to meet Neck Tie and Cleopatra to stay at their Airbnb. We decided to stay on trail and camp where we were. It was a nice spot near a stream with flat sites. We also did not feel like road hiking 2 more miles into town and hitching would be difficult that late. Happy to end there.

Day 33 | Mile 485.7 – 504.3

Woke up to the sun roasting our tents at 8am after a sleep in. It was already so hot and our tent site was unfortunately fully sun exposed. We debated hiking 4 miles uphill to some shady spots or going into Lake Hughes to a restaurant. We decided that given the heat already, it was a better option to go into town to wait out the heat again.

We didn’t have any luck hitching into town so we started road walking the 2 miles into town. About half way, a trail angel pulled up and gave us a ride to the Rock Inn restaurant.

The restaurant was very accommodating and let us stay as long as we wanted. We had bottomless iced coffee pitchers and some food. The trail angel came back to pick us up around 3pm and brought us to her house where she gave us towels to shower, set us up on Netflix, and us drinks. We had pizza delivered and watched Shrek and Talladega Nights. What a great afternoon.

She took us back to trail around 7pm so we could start night hiking. The hike started with climbing 3000 ft. over 15 miles where 1000′ of that was immediately out of the valley. We ended up road walking 5 miles to avoid a section of trail overrun with poodle dog bush. Unfortunately, this added an additional 600-700 ft. of elevation gain. We saw two separate skunks that had their tails cocked and ready to go. We gave them space and slowly passed.

We hit a 500 mile marker three separate times over the course of 1.5 miles. We, of course, listened to The Proclaimers each time which really kept our spirits and pace up. Water sources were big cisterns used for firefighting. They just had small rectangular openings in the top to reach in and scoop water.

We made it to camp at 2:30am, quickly set up, and passed out. Our tent site was an abandoned campground that was quite nice. I really enjoyed the night hiking. The temperature makes it worthwhile.

Day 34 | Mile 504.3 – 517.6 | Hikertown

Long descent down into Hikertown. Hikertown is not a real town at all. It is a quirky private property filled with small buildings decorated to look like the services available in a small western town. Some of these buildings are available to stay in, others are restrooms, some are storage, and the “post office” building is actually used for parcel pickup.

We didn’t spend much time in Hikertown and hitched further down Highway 138 to the Wee Vill Market. The market is a convenience store with a small kitchen serving up food. You can also camp beside the store for free. It took us about an hour to get a hitch to the market.

The four of us debated how we were going to approach the stretch between Hikertown and Tehachapi. The 41-ish miles between the two involves 18 miles along a section of the LA aquaduct with minimal shade followed by 23 miles through the Tehachapi wind farm that again, has minimal shade. Riley and I wanted to head out immediately to tackle the 41 miles. Lando and Pandora wanted to spend the night and following day to rest and then head out in the evening. Eventually, we decided the sensible thing was to rest up and start the following evening.

Day 35 & 36 | 517.6 – 558.5 | LA Aquaduct

It was a fairly windy night camping beside the store. Everything inside my tent was coated with a layer of fine sand. We spent the whole morning and half of the afternoon hanging out at the store eating and socializing with other hikers.

We met Willy Wonka (trail name) who is attempting a Fastest Known Time (FKT) record for the PCT. We were asking him a bunch of questions regarding the logistics and training. I highly recommend you follow his progress on Instagram or his website (https://www.allllwright.com/). As of writing this, he is recovering from a foot injury from his first attempt and will begin his second attempt before the end of June.

Took us an hour to get a ride back to Hikertown and the trail. Ended up catching a ride with a guy, Costanza (trail name), who would be doing trail magic that night along the aquaduct. His vehicle was fully loaded with food, drinks, and camping gear as he was planning on sleeping on trail for people passing through overnight.

We left Hikertown around 6:30pm to start the aquaduct. The 18 miles of the aquaduct were nearly flat making the hiking nice and easy.

The aquaduct turned from a steel tube to a large buried concrete duct.

We caught a beautiful sunset through here and were able to hike largely by moonlight for most of the aquaduct. The silhouettes of the Joshua trees in the moonlight lining the trail here were both very welcoming and unnerving as they often looked like people in the darkness.

Costanza passed us in his vehicle around 7 miles into the hike offering to slackpack us. Slackpacking is where you only carry essentials like snacks and water in your pack and someone else takes your heavier items up trail to a rendezvous point. We turned down the offer as we were feeling pretty fresh to tackle the 11 miles to the meeting point. Shortly after, after only a couple of more miles, we regretted turning down the offer. Lesson learned, when a slack pack offer arises, take it.

We arrived at Costanza’s trail magic around 2am. He had gone to bed in his tent but he left all of his food and drinks out and protected from the wind for hikers to take as they passed. We stopped for about 45 minutes to snack and recover before continuing on. A bold kangaroo mouse kept coming right up to us and our packs trying to get some food. We were using his vehicle as a shield from the wind. One thing to note, is this section of trail passes through the Tehachapi wind farm, the second largest farm in the country, so it is amply windy.

We slowly continued on through the wind farm and began climbing. The details through here get a little foggy. Dan/Pandora and Riley were leading up ahead with myself, then Lando trailing. Kangaroo mice were all over the trail here and I almost stepped on a few! They would come running out of the darkness across the trail in front of you and blend in with the washed out colour from my headlamp. Ri and Pandora got lucky and saw a badger.

We kept moving until about 5:15am and it was starting to get bright. We decided to take a quick break to rest and ended up falling asleep for 30 minutes on the ground.

After the restful 30 minute sleep, we had 18 more miles to go before the road to Tehachapi. Dan decided to keep sleeping so Lando, Ri, and I continued on another mile to a water source. At the source, Lando decided to stop and sleep longer. Ri and I pressed on.

Over the next 8 hours, Ri and I moved slowly through the wind farm, up two steep climbs and then a long, 9 mile descent. By the time we reached the road, my feet were terribly sore and Ri and I were a bit delirious and wiped.

At the top of the bigger climb of the day, Willy Wonka came running by us. We were blown away by the speed at which he ran the flats and downs. Massively impressive.

In total, it took us about 21 hours, including breaks, to cover the 41 miles between Hikertown and Tehachapi. I don’t know how we did it and I can’t imagine attempting it again.

We arrived at the Tehachapi Junction around 3:15pm and got a ride with Farmer John, a local. He dropped us off at McDonald’s where we ate some well-deserved McFlurry’s. What a flipping day and night.