This morning, I actually slept in until after 5 AM. Which is something that I very rarely do. But I have a ride scheduled today for 5 PM from mile marker 566.4, which is the end of the desert section. And I only have 31.5 miles to go for the day. So even starting a little bit later, there’s still good chance I’ll get there before 5 PM.
I still made my morning mocha with the last of my Trader Joe’s coffee and cream packets. Those were amazing. But you can hardly ever find Trader Joe’s goodies along the trail. Those were just for sale at a camp store recently. I got moving right around 6 AM and it was still super windy out. But definitely a major improvement from last night.
This morning I have about 7–9 miles before I get out of the low desert. The next water source is about 7 miles away and the trail will start riding along more ridges after that. My morning started with some more super gradual flat trail. Then as I continued along, I began climbing a bit more. There are a few decently sized climbs today. But they are generally in the first half of the day, which is my favorite. I love to get the elevation gain out of the way if I can.
Continuing through the wind farm this morning.
I walked for a couple hours and passed by a handful of hikers. A ton of people were camped further past the water source that I slept at. They must’ve continued on to an area with a little bit more shrub and tree protection. Though the wind seemed pretty bad everywhere. I began climbing a bit and was feeling very strong. Then arrived at the first water source of the day. There were a few hikers tenting there and a couple other people filling up on water when I arrived.
Slowly but surely I began climbing up. But I continued through the wind farm for a while longer.
One hiker was getting ready to leave just as I got there. And he must have set out maybe a minute before me. But I realized very quickly that he was incredibly fast. He might be the fastest hiker I’ve seen the entire time I’ve been on the PCT. Even going more than 3 mph I couldn’t gain on him at all. As time went by he actually just got further and further ahead of me until I couldn’t see him anymore at all.
That is the first time on the entire PCT that a hiker has been up ahead of me and I haven’t been able to catch them. I definitely set it as a goal of mine for the day to eventually catch up to him. But as time went on, it seemed like that was not going to happen. It wasn’t long before he was so far off in the distance that I didn’t even get glimpses of him anymore. The trail followed along a very narrow sand covered ridge for a while. Then after climbing for a handful of miles, the trail descends down. I could see that hiker up ahead with a couple other hikers. But by the time I dropped down, he was already making his way up the next climb.
Climbing along a sand covered ridge this morning. This is what the trail looks like for the majority of the day.
I remember going up this climb in 2017 right as the sun was setting. The days were so incredibly hot that we had become almost nocturnal. I remember there was some kind of trail magic up toward the top. But because it was dark, I actually walked right by it. Then in 2022 I actually camped at mile marker 549 at the top of this next climb. There’s a secret trail magic set up that isn’t marked on FarOut. The guy who runs it likes it to be a bit of a surprise to hikers. Even if you know it’s up ahead somewhere, it still catches you by surprise because it isn’t marked.
At the 549 set up! This place is too cool.
That climb was really nice and gradual with massive switchbacks. I passed by two hikers who were up ahead, but never once saw that guy again. Then when I got up to mile marker 549 I could see the chairs and everything set up. It’s a really cool location that has some chairs and umbrellas. There’s other stuff set up there too and is usually water cache and maybe some trail magic. My timing just happened to be perfect and the guy who runs this trail magic site was there. He had just brought ice cold sodas, fruit, and some snacks.
I knew I didn’t have a ton of time to hang out so I didn’t take my backpack off. But I drank a cold Coke and chatted with some of the hikers who were there. It seems like everyone is going into Tehachapi either from the next road or the road after that. I’m going in from the road after that so I can finish the desert section completely before taking my zero. After drinking my soda I threw out my trash and then continued along. It would’ve been a great place to take a longer break but I want to be on time for my ride later today.
Even in these dry desert sections of the trail, the trail still feels incredibly lush.
Leaving there, the trail climbed up a little bit more. Then I mostly just rode along a sandy ridge for a bit longer. And then I began descending once more. Over the course of the remainder of the day I didn’t have more than a few hundred feet of elevation gain at a time. Which means it’s going to be a very nice and easy rest of the day. It’s a bit hotter out today than it was yesterday, though it couldn’t be more than 70°. And there was a very nice breeze in the air.
I just continued along and was feeling pretty good. This morning when I got moving my right hip felt super tight. It’s been on again and off again issue for weeks now. Luckily it doesn’t feel like it’s building into something unmanageable, it just gives me some discomfort here and there. But today after the first hour or so, it almost entirely resolved itself. Then the rest of the day I felt really good as long as I didn’t stop for a prolonged period of time. Every now and then I would do a quick stretch, but generally I didn’t need to do much for it. I’m hoping that my day off tomorrow and getting a massage will help a lot. I might also buy some kind of a band or something to use. Some of those knee straps and different bands can be helpful just to take some pressure off an area and allow you to strengthen it a bit. Sometimes that’s really all you need.
Eventually I got down to another area with a bunch of wind turbines. This entire section of trail is just a bunch of wind farms. But it makes a lot of sense considering how open and windy it is. It makes me happy that this land is being used to benefit the environment in any way. As I made my way through the wind farms, the trail climb up a couple hundred feet and then dropped back down. It was a nice change of pace though compared to just going exclusively downhill.
This brief section was a personal favorite of the day. The trail was covered in patches of bright green grass and loads of yellow flowers.
I got service at one point so I reached out to Mike to confirm my ride for this evening. It looks like I’m actually going to get to the road by 4:30 PM, so I let him know that. He said that was totally fine and he would plan to meet me there around then. I’m so excited that I’m going to get into town early tonight. That way I have more time to get chores done and eat a bunch of food. Which will enable me to have a more relaxing day off tomorrow.
When I was about 7 or 8 miles from the road where I would be getting picked up, I finally caught up to the fast guy! You better believe I was feeling pretty proud about that. Because that kid was cooking! I didn’t have a ton of time, but I made time to stop off and talk to this dude. His trail name was Vanish, and shockingly this is his first thru hike. He just has a ton of experience, hiking and climbing and is an incredibly good shape. Truly though he’s in shockingly good shape. I’ve seen a whole lot of hikers this past year and he might be one of the fastest and strongest people that I’ve experienced. Apparently he was even hanging with Hell Yeah Jesus, a hiker up ahead who’s also doing the calendar year triple crown. Which means he was definitely doing some big miles to keep up with him. We talked for a little while and then I had to keep going to make my ride. But that was a pretty solid full circle moment. I truly didn’t think I was ever gonna catch up to him.
Just after that, I passed a guy doing trail magic. His name was magic man and he had a whole set up going. I just had to be honest and let him know that I was on a bit of a time crunch and had someone waiting to pick me up. He had me sign his logbook and gave me a soda to take on the go. I really appreciated the understanding. Trail magic is amazing and I wish I could spend a ton of time at it constantly. But every now and then I’m on some form of a time crunch, and can’t necessarily stick around unfortunately.
What a perfect location for a bench. I didn’t stop off because I was trying to make my ride, but it would’ve been a great place to do so.
I drank my soda as I walked and just continued along for the day. I got service periodically and actually watched a couple YouTube videos. Then eventually talked to my mom on the phone for the remainder of the day. It was nice to fill her in on my plans for the next couple days. And to pass the time for those last few miles of the day.
Today was the first day that I noticed tons of poppies growing alongside the trail.
I got out to the road right around 4 PM. Then the trail follows along the road briefly before crossing over a bridge and getting to the other side. I can’t believe that today on day 16 of the PCT I have officially completed the 566.4 mile desert section. Which means I averaged more than 35.5 miles a day. Even doing a zero day tomorrow, my average will still be above 33 miles a day for the desert. I’m still so far ahead of schedule. It’s incredible. I just did the math the other day and I only have to average 25.5 miles a day for the rest of the year if I want to finish before Thanksgiving. So I truly couldn’t be in a better position right now. That’s why I’m just trying to pad the miles as best I can whenever I can. But at this point, I’ve turned 25 mile days into a half days. So the thought of doing 25 miles a day for the rest of the year actually sounds amazing. I wouldn’t mind that at all.
When I made it to this trailhead parking area, I officially completed the desert section of the PCT. 566.4 miles and 16 days.
Mike came and got me right at 4:30 PM and drove me into Tehachapi. We were talking about my entire year and my plans. Over the next couple days I’m going to be deciding if I’m heading back out to the East Coast. I know from hikers up ahead of me that the snow in the Sierra is very high and is slowing them down a lot. I want to reach out to some people and see how the snow conditions are in New Hampshire in Maine right now. If the snow is basically gone out there, then there’s a good chance I’ll fly back out east when I get to Kennedy Meadows south in just a few of days. Then I can come back out and do the Sierra after a couple more weeks of snow melt.
Hanging out in the parking lot while I waited for Mike to arrive and bring me to town.
Mike was so nice and actually said if I need a ride from Kennedy Meadows south in about four days then he could actually pick me up and take me to the airport. So there’s a very good chance I’m going to be reaching out to him and taking him up on that offer. I just have to confirm a few more things and check snow conditions. But it was so incredibly kind of him to offer that and took a lot of stress out of the situation for me immediately. I can’t express in words how grateful I am for the incredible community that has been surrounding me this entire year. Whether I’ve been on the Appalachian Trail, other connecting trails, or the PCT, the support has been unreal. I feel so blessed and so incredibly well provided for.
Mike brought me a straight to the Fairfield hotel where I’ll be spending the night. I decided to stay there because they have an indoor pool and hot tub. Plus the place is right by everything in town. We actually picked up a hitchhiker on our way to the hotel. Her name was Bear Pop and she was super nice. Once I got dropped off, I checked into the room. Then I immediately ordered food and started doing chores. Within 15 minutes of getting there I was eating a beef Bulgogi bowl with rice and all the fixings. And some delicious spring rolls. I also got a taro tea and a Thai tea, just to get those extra calories in.
This beef bulgogi bowl was absolutely delicious
When I was in the lobby, I wound up running into the hikers who I saw at the 549 Trail magic. The timing was absolutely crazy honestly. They had gotten picked up from the earlier road, I believe 8 miles ahead of the road I made it to. It’s just wild to think how far you can go when you’re pushing 3+ miles an hour and you never stop to take breaks. Because we got to the hotel within 30 minutes of each other and I pushed to the further road. I’m not saying that in a competitive way by any means. It is absolutely not a race. But just thinking about it was pretty wild.
Those hikers were all so nice and we exchanged information so that we could maybe get some food together later. They’re going to be zeroing for the next couple of days so maybe we’ll go to the buffet in town tomorrow together. It was nice to chat with them and know that there were going to be some hikers around. But I have a feeling there are a ton of hikers in town right now. This town has a lot of different accommodations and hostels. It’s definitely a great town to spend a couple of days.
After I ate a ton of food, I got organized and took a shower. I even washed my hair, which felt amazing. Then I got some writing and video work done. And I attempted to see if there was Uber in the area. Initially it showed up on my phone that there was. Which would’ve been great so that I didn’t have to grocery shop and then walk a mile back with everything. But the Ubers didn’t actually exist. Instead, I wound up emptying out my backpack so I could put my groceries in there. Then I walked over to Walmart right around 8 PM. I just don’t want to have to do all of that at any point tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll still walk around to grab food and different things. But I really don’t want to have to resupply and stuff like that if I could just get it done tonight.
Over at Walmart I got everything for my resupply, a runners knee strap, a heat pack, tons of chocolate milk, different electrolytes, and so many other goodies. I promised myself on the walk over that I wouldn’t attempt to hitch back to the hotel. Just because by the time I left Walmart, it was going to be well after dark. But as soon as I stepped out of the building, a car pulled over and knew I was a hiker because of my backpack. He was really nice and made a major effort to not freak me out. Obviously, I wasn’t attempting to hitchhike so him pulling over felt a little bit random. He basically just said that he gives hikers rides all the time, and if I felt comfortable with that then he had no problem giving me a ride wherever I was going. He seemed nice and I took his license plate number down and then just got into the car.
Hot tub time!
Fortunately he ended up being a super nice dude, and he brought me down the road to the hotel. Which saved me probably a 15 or 20 minute walk. His name was Bobby, but for the life of me I can’t remember his trail name. He dropped me off and then I headed inside for the night.
For the rest of the night I just got my food and everything organized. I got laundry together to wash, but I’m probably going to just do it tomorrow morning. Then I just hung out for the rest of the night. I wound up ordering some late night Taco Bell to get even more calories in. Then stayed up pretty late watching TV and doing a bunch of writing and video work. I’m just so excited that tomorrow I can do absolutely anything that I want. Happy birthday to me.
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