*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*
Location: The Desert
Start: Green Valley Fire Station – 478.3
End: Sawmill Camp – 498.2
Miles: 19.9
Ascent: 4077 | Descent: 2433
Sleep: Tent
Today was a good day! I had been weary of how the morning would go just because there weren’t any ideal locations for a cat hole, but I figured it out and all was well. We got going around 7:30am and had another decent climb right off the bat. I took it slow in the beginning to give my legs ample time to warm up. Thankfully my achilles wasn’t sore this morning and my legs felt good all day!
The climb wasn’t that long or hard and we had it to the top fairly quickly. Truffles and I hiked together most of the morning. I got cell signal on top of the hill and called my parents and talked to them for a bit. The descent was graded smoothly and it went by fast. There were lots of flowers blooming as well as long range views, so it was a pretty start to the day.
We crossed a flowing creek and collected water before filtering it in the shade just before Lake Hughes Road. We enjoyed a snack break and U-Turn caught up. Truffles and signal and saw a Facebook post about trail magic at the campsite we were shooting for. It was 10:30am and the post said the trail magic would be from 12pm-5pm. That was all the motivation we needed to get moving again!
We set out to another big hill. Truffles, U-Turn, and I hiked together and passed some caves. The comments on FarOut mentioned there were 3 caves in total, but the first one was supposed to be the coolest. The opening was tiny- we had to sit on our butts and scoot in on our backs feet first. Once we were past the opening, the cave opened up into a tunnel that was big enough to stand it. It was obviously an old mine shaft and went fairly deep into the mountain.
We didn’t stay in for long and made our way back into the sunlight just as Gooey was hiking up. We encouraged him to check out the cave and hung around to watch him scurry in and out of the cave. Once we got moving again it was all uphill. We caught up to Pinky and Hangman and hiked with them for the rest of the day.
We kept climbing until eventually we crested the ridge and got to cruise on the spine of the mountain. There was still some up and down through the day, but it was much more gradual from that point on. We took a lunch break in a shady campsite with a picnic table. We tried to keep it short so we could keep on rolling to train magic.
From that point on we walked in the forest service road for the rest of the day. We could see the trail intermittently but chose the road since it was more direct and would get us to trail magic a little faster. Nothing really interesting happened in the afternoon, I listened to my book and ate some snacks.
Just before camp we got water for a water cistern. The water was collected from the rain, but I had never seen a cistern like this! It was basically a covered trough with a very narrow opened to scoop water out of. The water level was low enough that I couldn’t reach it. The comments on FarOut said you’d need really long arms to access the water. Truffles and I got there first and were able to put our CNOCs on a stick to run it through the water. Once Hangman arrived we put his long arms to use and he collected water for us.
We made it to the trail magic at the campsite around 3:30pm. We were so happy that they were still set up! There were hot dogs, tons of snacks, and ice cold drinks. We knew we were camping in the area so we lounged around for a while. Once the trial angels started packing up, the hikers helped to pack their trucks and then wandered around the campground looking for sites.
We put up our tents close to Trevor, 100 Grand, Pigeon, and Starburst. We all ate dinner together at a picnic table and sat around chit chatting well into the evening. Hikertown tomorrow!
Location: The Desert
Start: Sawmill Camp – 498.2
End: Hikertown/Neenah Market – 517.6
Miles: 19.4
Ascent: 2392 | Descent: 4402
Sleep: Cowboy
Today felt like a milestone day. We were on trail around 7:30ish and the trail was absolutely beautiful! Lots of pines, tall grass, and even some meadows. It felt very much like some of the more mellow stretches of the AT. U-Turn even said that those sections were what she imaged to AT being like.
The first few miles of the morning were nice and smooth. We hit 500 miles which felt like a huge accomplishment. We will pictures with U-Turn and Gooey and celebrated all the work we’ve done so far. Truffles and I talked about how it’s exciting to watch the “miles to Canada” number get smaller and smaller. He said he thought that once we’re sub 2,000 it’ll really feel like we’re getting somewhere.
After the mile marker we crossed a dirt road and immediately started going uphill. I think I’ve gotten over my weak spell from a few days ago, and I felt strong climbing. I got cell signal and called my mom and talked to her for a while on the climb.
At the top of the hill I caught up to Pinky and Hangman at the water source. It was another weird cistern that you had to lay on your belly to scoop water out of, but thankfully this one was full and easier to collect water. I filtered water and set out in front of the group.
The next few miles went by quickly, I hiked hard and caught up to Truffles so we could hike together. The trail went through several miles of exposed burned area that yielded sprawling views of the mountains beyond us. We crossed another road and it felt like we were transported into another world- we were back in the mellow meadow with flowers and large trees. It was such an extreme change of scenery but it was a welcomed reprieve.
Gooey and U-Turn caught up to us and the 4 of us hiked together. We started the major descent of the day and U-Turn and I passed the time by talking about our favorite TV shows and our families.
We made it to the water source where we caught up to 100 Grand, Pigeon l, Trevor, and Starburst. We talked for a bit over lunch before their group rolled out. Pinky and Hangman arrived and we sat together dreaming up the food we could eat at the market.
After lunch we only had 6 miles left in the day, but of course those drug on. No matter how many miles I have to do after lunch, they always feel like they take forever! The trail went up and down with seemingly no point and wound around the same hills over and over. There is never a direct path out here, only zig zags to get from point A to point B. The sun was out in full force by this point and there was absolutely no shade to be seen, so the best probably added to my annoyance.
Finally I descended a ridge and ended up on a dirt road heading straight to Hikertown. It didn’t take long to make it to the highway and cross into the Hikertown property. Hikertown seems like an iconic stop on the PCT and it was one of the few places I had seen photos of prior to starting the trail. When I arrived it was a total ghost town aside from 4 other hikers that were milling about in the shade. Hikertown is set up like an old western movie set with small “cabins” decorated to look like store fronts. There was a theater, school house, casino, doctor, market, and many other decorated buildings.
Apparently the reason there were no hikers at Hikertown was because they were all down at the Neenach Market. The owners of Hikerworn bought this gas station/market/grill and shuttle hikers back and forth between the two places. Martha, the owner of Hikertown, was so welcoming when we arrived and brought us out ice pops and called a ride for us immediately to the market.
We fit 8 hikers in a truck (Truffles and I rode in the bed with the packs) and were deposited at the market. There were nearly 40 hikers hanging out on the patio, there was hardly any room to sit! It was overwhelming and I made a beeline for a table and didn’t want to move until the crowd died down.
This section of trail is a bottle neck because Hikertown is the last water source before starting the LA Aqueduct, a notorious 18ish mile long waterless and exposed section of trail. Because of how miserable it is, most hikers choose to tackle the aqueduct at night. That’s what all the hikers at Neenach were planning to do: they loaded up on burgers from the grill and were going to hike out around 8pm and hike through the night.
That meant that the crowd slowly thinned out as the evening wore on, which I thought was a good thing. I don’t usually get social anxiety, but that many people in a small place made me anxious and I just wanted to sit quietly alone in a dark room.
We all got food and chatted with the other hikers we recognized. We caught up with Trip and his wife Kalie and talked to 100 Grand. Our plan is to hike out tomorrow in the late afternoon and do some night hiking, but hopefully still get some sleep as well.
The last of the hikers left around 8pm and there was a small group of us left that were planning to spend the night. Neenach offers free camping behind the store, so we set up our stuff to cowboy camp. Some brave soles opted to stay in the “house” attached to the store, but it was cluttered and smelly and I felt better sleeping outside.
I expected Hikertown to be a weird and memorable place, and it definitely has been that. The owners at least are nice and seem well intentioned. I totally understand why people choose to night hike rather than stay here though. I’m interested to see how the morning goes.
Location: The Desert
Start: Hikertown – 517.6
End: Cottonwood Creek and Faucet – 534.9
Miles: 17.3
Ascent: 643 | Descent: 577
Sleep: Cowboy
We conquered the LA Aqueduct today! I woke up early to sit and drink coffee in the cafe and get some work done on my phone. Thankfully not many other hikers were awake at 6am, so I had plenty of peace and quiet to work on my blog. Keeping it updated has been a labor of love and can feel overwhelming at times, but I know I’ll be so thankful later on for capturing memories while on trail.
I talked to Ninja for a little while once people started stirring. Richard, the market/Hikertown owner, milled about during the morning and was kind enough to bring the hikers some cake and bagels. I got to enjoy 2 cups of hot coffee for free thanks to Richard! He made a run to the store to restock supplies for the market and me and some other hikers helped to him put up things.
After a while the rest of my group showed signs of life. For the majority of the day we sat in the AC charging our electronics and playing on our phones. We were really just killing time until the evening so we could embark on our night hike of the aqueduct. Thankfully the weather has been super mild and it would have been cool enough to hike it during the day, but we wanted to keep with the tradition of doing this famous stretch at night.
At the market, Truffles and I got breakfast burritos and the group made rough plans for Tehachapi. Around 3pm we got a ride from Martha, Richard’s wife, back to Hikertown so that we could get straight on the trail when we were ready. I laid down for a 30 minute “nap” around 4pm. I didn’t actually sleep but it felt good to rest. Once I was up and about again I made some dinner and chatted with Jonas and Ray. Martha even brought out homemade popsicles for all the hikers!
Some other hikers had left glow in the dark paint in the hiker box, so we all decided to paint our faces for the night hike. We continued procrastinating the inevitable but eventually started hiking around 6pm.
I didn’t know much about the aqueduct other than the fact that there was a large pipe hikers have to walk on. I had 0 expectations so the whole stretch was a surprise to me. We departed Hikertown and had a short stretch of trail through a field before walking on a road that lead us to the aqueduct. This portion of the aqueduct was open and resembled a man made river. The trail was a dirt path next to the water and we got to walk along the water’s edge for about a mile.
The trail took a sharp turn and the open water vanished into the infamous large metal pipe. This is what i thought we’d be hiking on for the rest of the night. The pipe was humongous and the trail went right over top of it for several miles. Thankfully there was a dirt road right next to it, so when the pipe became monotonous we could walk on the road for a bit. The pipe was fairly easy to walk on, but there were rivets spaced unevenly and it felt like walking on top of sharp rocks.
3 miles after leaving Hikertown there was a faucet with water access. We stopped there for a short break and to get more water to last us until the Cottonwood Creek faucet. We chatted with Energizer Bunny and Big Stomper for a bit before hoping back on the pile once again.
Since I didn’t know anything about the aqueduct, I didn’t know that pipe ended. In its entirety we walked on the pipe for less than 5 miles. We continued following the aqueduct, but it was underground for the remainder of our trek. This made for much easier walking since the trail was just a dirt road for the rest of the evening.
The sun set in earnest between 8:30 and 9pm. Gooey and U-Turn turned in the jets and were way ahead of us. Truffles, Hangman, Pinky, and I all hiked together. Truffles and I took turns playing 20 questions to help pass the time. The hiking was really easy, but it got boring quickly. I had drank an energy drink when it started getting dark to try and stay energized during the evening, but I still found myself getting sleepy.
It’s amazing to me how much of a mental game hiking is. This was some of the easiest hiking we had done, but I was over it pretty quickly and very eager to get to camp. I don’t know if it’s just that I couldn’t see anything around me and was just bored or what, but time seemed to drag on and I didn’t feel like we’d ever get to camp. I felt better after turning my audiobook on because I could zone out more, but it was still a long night.
One fun thing about night hiking, though, was all the wildlife we saw. We saw tons of kangaroo mice. Truffles and I tried to keep count and see who spotted the most. He saw 10 to my 2.
We sat down for a 5 minute break around 11pm. It felt amazing to sit down and was so nice to gaze up at the stars. It was so hard to get hiking again though! I think walking on the pavement just wore out joints out as well because I felt pretty beat up by the end of the night.
Finally around 12:15am we made it to the bridge we planned to camp at. There were probably about 20 other people camped out there, most of whom were setting up their tents. Truffles and I opted to cowboy camp just for convenience. I’ve are camped just outside of another windmill farm and will hike through it tomorrow. I put in my ear plugs and used my buff as an eye mask and was out. The “whoosh”ing of the windmills won’t bother me tonight!
