Day 33 - Ocean and Wind. 549.7 (19.2)

Had a really nice night sleep. I decided to hit the trail fairly early to avoid walking a lot of miles in the heat. This stretch of trail had little to no shade. Passed the group at the water source. They had hiked about 3 miles further than me last night, so they didn't have to dry camp (camp without a water source).  Walking through the windmills was pretty cool, but the wind that drives them, drove me a little crazy.  About half way for the day, was a nice flowing stream with a little dam. This made it easy to gather water, wash clothes, and soak feet. It was wonderful to hang out there for lunch and through the heat of the day.  After the stream, the trail travels up and down a couple hills which made for a challenging afternoon. Toward the evening the wind started to pick up and it became a bit chilly. There was a water cache about .5 miles from where the group camped for the night. It had fresh fruit and chairs. I didn't stay long because the sun had gone down and the wind was blowing, so naturally I was cold.  As I setup my tent, it was evident that it was going to be windy. ​[wpvideo 5Si85JqA]​

What 6 liters of water looks like. 

Day 32 - Hiker Town and a Bit of Craziness 531.5 (21.5)

I set my alarm this morning. It was warm all night long and I wanted to get an early start. I'm glad I did, because even at 6am on the trail, it was very warm. The 7 miles to Hiker Town dragged on for a while. I think it was the heat and I didn't have music to take my mind off of it.  Hiker Town is located in Lancaster and is known for being one of the weirder hostels on the trail. Most of the time, trail gossip is exaggerated or just not true... Hiker Town lived up to the hype.  I arrived around 10am to find Savanna, Greg and Kiwi hanging out. The place is setup just like a town, Hotel, Post Office, Jail etc. I picked up my package from the Post Office.  A little while later, a lady in the Hotel starts yelling at the owner. This goes on and off for the next couple hours. At some point, she calls the cops. When the sheriff arrived, he chats with both parties then appears to hang out. The lady (who called) can't seem to camp down, and ends up getting detained and removed from the property. It was just like we were watching a tv show.  The rest of the early afternoon was pretty relaxing. A trail angel, Rodney Arnold, brought some free beer and pizza for everyone hanging out. He was one nice guy. Evidentially, a hiker had tipped him $80 for a ride, only needing $8 to fill his car, he used the rest to buy the beer and pizza.  Chatted with Savanna, Kiwi, Greg, Bottomless and Two-Tone for the rest of the afternoon. Around 5:00 I was back on the trail. I had great cell service so I made a couple calls home at the same time I was walking along the L.A. Aqueduct (it was only exposed for half a mile or so.  It was a long hike, but the sunset was beautiful and the half moon lit up the landscape. Too bad iPhones don't take great night pics.

What 5 Liters of water looks like. 

Day 31 - Bugs, Bugs, Mile 500 and More Bugs. 510.0 (16.6)

Note: post from here on will not be edited as thoroughly as previous one.  Please excuse any typos and grammar errors. I simply do not have he time to do so on trail and/or in town. I will edit them after the trip. I hiked thru miles 500 today. This is the equivalent of hiking the Colorado Trail (Denver to Durango). It is cool to think... I still have over 2000 miles to hike before I reach Canada. This makes me happy, as I would not be ready for this adventure to end anytime soon. 

What doesn't make me happy are all of the flies. Yesterday before arriving at camp, they were pretty active. Today was no different. They drove me crazy. Luckily I am having a bug net sent to Kennedy Meadows (KM) (a couple weeks ahead of where I currently am). This should change the game for me. Also, I should note, the flies after KM are much worse than what I am experiencing now. So bad in fact that they force many hikers off the trail. Hopefully, by being a little early in the season, I will miss the swarm of mosquitos many hikers experience (I am 3ish weeks ahead of prime hiking season in the Sierras). 

After a few miles of hiking this morning, I reached an area with good cell service. I took some time to order a new Backpack! The Osprey Atmos 65 (liters). It will be shipped to KM. Also I texted home a list of items to send to KM for the Sierras (a lot of snow/warmer gear). 

My water source this morning was a Guzzler. It was a little awkward to fill from, but it was very nice to be in the shade. 

Reached mile 500 around 12:45, took a few pictures then continued on. It was VERY hot and I was ready for a break in the shade. While working on this blog, my music cut out. I went to the music app to see what happened and... All of my music was gone. I spent the next hour troubleshooting. It was hopeless and I was pretty bummed. 

The last bit of the day was gorgeous. I did my best to appreciate it, but the thought of not having music for the next 4 months was on my mind. 

Arrived at the water source, to find the group eating dinner. I relax and make some food. After resupplying on water, Leah and I walked the last 2 miles of the day. On the way, I told Leah what had happened. She had no clue what happened either, but suggested I get Spotify premium. Problem solved... At least it will be once I find some wifi to download the music for offline use. 

It was a very warm evening and night. I think the low was 61 degrees. Also, the bugs never stopped... Continuous all day long. 

Day 30 - A Road Walk... Walking the Power House Fire Alternate. 493.4 (16.1 miles walked) (19.1 PCT miles travelled)

Mileage Breakdown: 3.9 mi to Green Valley Fire Station + 12.2 Road Walk Alternately . This connects back up to the PCT at mile 493.4. Everyone in camp woke up with wet gear. There was simply no escape from the dew last night. This irritated most people (especially those who cowboy camped). 

I was more or less content with the situation. I figured it would be hot today, which would dry the damp/wet clothes quickly once the sun came over the ridge. Also, I did not plan on leaving camp very early, so I would let my sleeping bag and tent dry out (to keep the weight down). 

The 4 mile walk to the Green Valley Fire Station was very pleasant. I spent a solid hour and a half here to eat a second breakfast, rest the legs, and hydrate before the long road walk ahead.  Back in 2013, a power house caused a fire to burn a large region of the trail and the surrounding areas. Since then, the trail has been closed from mile 478 thru 492. The alternate is an 11.1 mile road walk followed by a 1.1 mile trail which takes hikers back to the pct at 493.4. 

Along the road walk is a post office, small convenient store and a restaurant. The group, who had left maybe 2 hours before me this morning, had stopped at the restaurant and had a nice lunch. While I was at the convenient store (where I bought an ice cream sandwich), I met up with ST. He raced ahead as I kept a fairly slow pace due to a large blister on my small toe.

A little over a mile later, ST, Riley and Alyssa are drying all of their gear out. I take this time to pop the blister (thread and needle). I figured there were two choices. Either, I leave the blister and hope it doesn't pop while I'm walking or I Doctor it up which hurts a lot, but a callus will for quicker by me saving the blister skin. Long story short, I took 2 and the next 2 hours I was limping from the pain. Hopefully I won't need to do that again.  The pain always seems to subside after 2ish hours. The rest of the walk was much better after this point.

The flies were obnoxious. I will have my bug net sent to Kennedy Meadows which will change the game... the bug game.  Ate, relaxed, went to refill water in my flip flops (gigantic mistake) and ate some more. 2 things happened when refilling my water this evening. First, I lost my balance and might have touched some poison oak (we'll find out) and two, on the walk back to camp, I kicked a rock and opened up a nice gash on my toe. Really, it could have been so much worse. No more flip flop walking out of camp. 

On Trail Update 5/17

Hey all, I am still writing and planning on posting for each day.  Lots of fun things are still going on (women getting arrested, windmills, and a new challenge... Wind).   Unfortunately at the hotel in town, the Internet is out of service and my cell service is minimal.  I may not have cell service or wifi for the next 1-3 weeks. Because of this, I will post as much as I can and often as I can (small posts). Then I will catch up the full days posts in a town or two up the trail. Also, because I will have so many days to post, I will likely start posting all pictures at the end of the posts. Funny thing is, putting pictures inbetween paragraphs is very glitchy on the Wordpress app.