June 2nd, Wednesday: We hiked from Mill Creek Fire Station to Messenger Flats and then on to the North Fork Ranger Station through the heat–we’d been gradually realizing that the Garmin Inreach promise of 72 degree days were outrageously incorrect. It was more like 90 degrees or higher today…maybe 95. Hikers ahead of us reported that the trails were obstructed with brush, poison oak and poodle bush, which was absolutely correct. Towards the end of the day’s hike we saw a baby rattlesnake cuddled into the warmth of a small rock–just as if his mama had tucked him in for the evening.
We camped at North Fork with a host of other hikers. Trail angel (and multi-time PCT completer) Ron hosts at North Fork, offering phone plug ins, water, and a plethora of sodas, chips, and trail stories for six weeks every hiking season. I’ve adored all the 20-somethings on the trail, but this evening was the first time I got to visit with a group of folks 60 or over–Chris, Mark, Ron and another hiker* and I sat in Ron’s broken down camp chairs and talked about long distance trails; it was wonderful.
*Unfortunately I’m not remembering his name, although I recall he was a past marathoner and was struggling with shin splints on the trail.
June 3rd, Thursday: Got up around 530am with all the other hikers taking down tents all around us and were on the trail by 630. We hiked to the Acton KOA (hot, hot, hot!), dumped all our gear and slack packed the next ten miles to Agua Dulce (we had previously shuttled the car up to Agua Dulce). Oh my gosh–it was SO hot. It was noon. There was no shade. It was all hills. Freddy was able to hammer down 15 minute miles (with just a day pack) but Chris and I straggled along with our sun umbrellas. We were thankful for the highway underpass–cool shade! We drove back to the KOA and thrill of thrills, had a swimming pool waiting for us. Oh joy!
June 4th, Friday: We made an early morning decision to zero at the KOA–we had too much heat the day before and needed a day to eat and re-hydrate (and be in the shade and in the pool!) The KOA had been pretty crowded with hikers the previous day, but was empty Friday except for a huge family party a few sites over. Many tios, mommas and little kids running around, playing in the pool, and playing dominoes, reminiscent of my own extended family’s gatherings decades ago.
Two young men hikers (well, they were both about to turn 30) came in mid-afternoon–Link and Cheetah–friends since middle school. They borrowed our car to get to the post office and resupply. We had a great discussion after they got back about the following question: “if there’s positive force in the universe (God, Spirit, whatever–doesn’t have to be theist), what do they want you to be doing right now?” Answers so far: “tell the truth”; “help the world as much as possible”; and “be as authentic and as good a person as I can be.” More hikers came in and coalesced over at Link and Cheetah’s camp. We ordered food at Wences Bistro in Acton. Southern CA seems to be the location for gigantic servings and we shared with the young’ns at the next camp.
June 5th, Saturday: We hiked from Agua Dulce–including two miles on the road through town. Spent siesta visiting with Frito and his parents (they were resupplying him )–we happened upon them as we were crossing Bouquet Canyon Road. All three of them were delightful to talk with as we sat in their camp chairs and drank their completely delicious frozen Gatorade. We got to about mile 471.3 where we camped in a little oak grove–our first time cowboy camping (i.e. camping without tents).
June 6th, Sunday: Hiked from our little oak grove to Lake Hughes road to find the truck and then drove back to get the car parked in Agua Dulce. On Lake Hughes road we met a man who hiked the PCT a few years ago shuttling between his truck and motorcycle.
We drove up to “Hiker Town”, which was probably not what any of us expected. It turned out to be a compilation of fake little houses (labeled Town Hall, Doctor’s Office, Schoolhouse, etc.) False fronts on container units? A leftover roadside attraction from the 1950’s that happens to be on the PCT? We stayed in the Town Hall for $20 a night. Freddy stayed in the Doctor’s Office. We finally met Ralphie, the mandolin player we had been hearing about on the trail, and had a tiny little jam at the Hiker Town gazebo as the day’s hikers were getting ready to hike the aqueduct that night. They were so excited!
June 7th, Monday: We went back and hiked the last six miles we missed yesterday, and spent a good part of the day visiting with Sock Monkey, Ranger Danger and Danny on our Town Hall front porch. Sock Monkey and Ranger Danger were staying in “Bank”–see interior decor photo below.
Got to play some more fiddle today. Shuttled a car over to the end of the California/Los Angeles trail section (right in the middle of a wind farm) and, returning back to Hiker Town, made the most beautiful discovery of cut melon with chile powder at the Neenach store. Frito and Just Right came in pretty late that night and we lent the car out again so JR could get her supply box from the store. Early to bed for us, with a 4:30am wake-up for our own Aqueduct hike.
June 8th, Tuesday: Left at 5am for the Aqueduct! We heard so much about the heat and difficulty of this section, and here we were, wearing our down jackets as we started out in the morning. We were lucky that the temperatures had–miraculously–become unseasonably low for mid-June. The hike was fine–just a couple miles of the open California aqueduct (tried to take a photo reminiscent of California painter Ray Strong’s famous oils of the same but were hampered by the lack of light) with the remaining 15 or so miles on pipe, cement (the aqueduct covered over) or dirt road. No problem! We finished the section, left a cache of treats, shuttled a car forward, then hiked a few more miles for a total of 20 for the day. We cowboy camped again–this time in high winds, in the middle of a few bushes–among hundreds of wind turbines.
June 9th, Wednesday: hiked up a ridge, down a ridge, filtered some water in the almost non-existent Tyler Horse Canyon Creek, then continued up another ridge and past numerous false summits to finally, finally get to mile 549–a trail angel’s set up with patio umbrellas, folding chairs and water. Thank you Daniel! That was a beautiful afternoon.
We visited with JR a bit (who arrived at 549 somewhat later in the afternoon) and then headed towards Tehachapi. The idea was to camp just a few miles from the Tehachapi Willow Springs trailhead then hike the rest on Thursday morning–thereby maximizing our time in town on Thursday and Friday. Cowboy camped–again in high winds and among wind turbines.
Hit kilometer 885/mile 550 today!
June 10th, Thursday: Windy, windy hike to the trail head–practically blown into the hillside! Passed through a charming tunnel of Joshua Trees on the way.
Drove back down to the aqueduct to pick up the truck and distributed the rest of our treat cache to hikers just finishing that section, then on to Tehachapi. Our beautiful hotel allowed us to check in early–showers and, as soon as possible, food–are in order. Masks seem to be optional in town, despite state law to the contrary. It’s strange to be the only folks wearing them.
Three and Some Trees 
Wonderful story of your adventures. Ralph and Elaine
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