Mile 600

The past three days coming out of tehachapi have been eventful. The first night we hiked out about 12 miles and I nearly got bit by a rattle snake, my air mattress went flying in the wind, and my pack weighed nearly 50 pounds. 

I was walking with side show, Byrd, and shuffle and this beauty was hiding behind a little bush. I stepped about six inches from his head and whacked him with my trekking pole. 

I scored a wiffle ball bat in Tehachapi and after two days we finally found the perfect spot. 

And last but certainly not least I hit mile marker 600

Into the mojave we go

 The trail angels were a blast and the mojave desert is the next stop on the list. We've been in it for about two days and it's hot. Our plan has been to nap all day and hike at night, usually ending around 11 or 12. 

There's been a lot of day napping when shade is around. Yesterday there were close to thirty people under the bridge. 

The wind farm that we walked through yesterday. 

Today we have roughly ten miles till tehachapi where they have a Memorial Day parade going on. It's our last town stop before the sierras. 

The Saufleys

Yesterday we spent the day at the Saufleys, also known as hiker heaven, and had a good time.when you zero it gives everyone time to catch up and  It's nice to see faces you haven't seen in a while. The Saufleys has been by far the nicest place so far. They had cots, tents, a guest house, and even bikes to ride into town. 

They even give you loaner clothes to wear while they do your laundry. 

Tonight we're heading to the Anderson's and from what I've heard it's a whole different kind of trail angel. They're wild and crazy trail angels. 

Mile 400!

Yesterday I hit 400! It's a somewhat respectable number of miles now I think...

There have been a rediculous number of detours and we're going to be forced to do about 17 miles of road walking. 

I have a couple cool pictures of flowers

Snow plant

And we can't forget the poodle dog bush. It's the whole reason we're road walking this section. It looks and smells like marijuana but gives you a rash that can supposedly put you in the hospital.  

Baden Powell

We left wrightwood this morning to climb up Baden Powell (the 9399 foot mountain) and it was by far the hardest pat of the hike so far based on the elevation gained per mile. And I'm sure the beer and junk food in town didn't help.

This was our "creek" water source coming up. 

As I was coming down I was in front of the group and got off the pct somehow. I noticed after about a mile and figured it would meet back up eventually. Turns out it didn't, so I ended up walking about 5 miles on one of the dangerous roads until I finally found a ride. And I was out of water because I was banking on stopping at the source as we came down. I was not a happy camper.

The section is confusing because there is an endangered species alternate. But there are really about five different routes you can take. I don't feel bad about hitching because it was part of our plan anyways to avoid walking that road. 

So right now I'm at buckhorn campground on the old pct alternative at mile 393 I think. I'll figure it out tomorrow when I have service. It's been a long day. 

Mile 342 aka mcdonalds

It was a busy morning. With cheeseburgers on my mind, I woke up at 540 got on the trail at 6 and did 7 miles in a little over two hours. It was totally worth it because I got coffee and mcmuffins, followed by mcgriddles and mcflurries. 

I'm pretty sure I'll be stocking up on burgers before I hit the trail. 

It's starting to heat up and we have a 25 mile stretch without water. So the plan is to get some late day/night hiking in and get into wrightwood the next day before the post office closes. I'm trying to avoid zero days because all the town stops seem to take all my money. 

Silverwood lake

Didn't quite make it to McDonalds today but we're only six miles out, so I figure we can catch breakfast and lunch if we time it right. We spent about four hours at Silverwood lake swimming and hanging out in te shade. It's a nice place with sandy beaches.