Day 38; Sun, June 3 2007

(Dr Bug) The desert is a cruel mistress. She rules her domain with patience. Time is her tool. History blends with the present. Nothing rots or decays in the desert. The main ingredient is missing - water. Her sun bleaches your spirit. Her heat melts your resolve. Snakes and scorpions are nagging threats that rarely materialize. The ants are her little soldiers, they are everywhere (I'm sure there are a few in my backpack right now). She teases you with a cloud. It blocks the sun, you say a prayer and hike on. Clouds are fleeting and you are stranded in the shadeless plain. All the plants hurt, ouch. Lizards and jackrabbit are the only creatures that beat the odds. She stabs you with cold nights just to prove who is the boss.

Her beauty is in her nights. The sunsets and late evening skies are pastel blues and reds. The nights stars are grand, full, and almost close enough to touch.

I thank the the desert for letting us pass without harm. I will never call this mistress my friend.

We hiked 23 miles today and some of it was high desert. I feel like we are scratching and clawing our way out of the desert, step by step, mile by mile. We started the day at 6am and made it Walker Pass by 5pm. We got a ride to Ridgecrest CA - a desert town near the China Lake Weapons Station. We purchased groceries for the next 3 days, got a well needed shower and a nights sleep. I think I acheived a personal record for 'black crude dirt on my legs'. One more gift from the desert.

We also ran into a tail maintainer on horse back. He was a true cowboy who was gnawing on beef jerky. I asked if our backpacks would spook the horses. He said 'notin spooked a real trail horse'. He also had a pack horse with saws and maintaince stuff in pack.

Day 37; Sat, June 2 2007

(Stud) Here's an entry you probably shouldn't read if you find the "f" word or the word "sucks" offensive.

The day actually started out good. We got up, headed down the trail and waived good mornimg to father and son--Troll and Oblivious--who were camped not too far down the trail from us. Oblivious is 12, and by far the youngest thru-hiker we've met on the PCT. He hiked the AT with his mom and dad when he was 10. <e is an only child and is home schooled. While his dad is talkative and gregareous--he is generally laid back and often has his nose in a book when not engaged in other camp activities. But he's always got a big grin and is very engaging when you start up a conversation with him.

About 2 miles down the trail we got water from a spring that had been dammed up by connecting a group of boulders with a cement wall to form a pool about 10 feet in diameter and 3-4 ft deep at the deepest part.

Around 8:15 am (we made note of the time), we were walking through an open forest of Jeffrey pine, when we spotted a black bear about 40 yards away. We stopped and watched as it slowly ambled across the trail and up hill until it disappeared behind some boulders. It never noticed us. This was our first bear sighting on the PCT and seeing such an animal in its natural habitat (as we had several times on the AT) never gets old.

A bit farther down the trail we came to a dirt road crossing. We found a WANTED poster at the side of the trail held down by a rock left by
the Piute Neighborhood Watch. They were looking for a dirty, psycho, white male, 5'5", going by several alias' including "short shit". This guy had been breaking into local houses and steeling guns. The sign said he had been known to frequent the PCT, had food caches throughout the area and was armed and dangerous. The poster also said something to the effect: if you shoot, shoot to kill--save law enforcement the time of having to deal with this scum bag. Needless to say, we hiked together through the rest of this section.

Around 9:30 or 10, the beautiful wooded section abruptly ended and we found ourselves back in the desert--with more of it as far as the eye could see. Crap. We were doing a 16 mile stretch between water sources an all I could think about was how we were headed into the desert--which I thought we were finlly done with--just as the day was starting to heat up.

Around noon, we got to a road crossing where Troll, Oblivious and Dozen were taking refuge under a cluster of Joshua trees as they were eating lunch. We scrunched under there with them since there was little shade to be had. While we were eating a ranger pulled up in a truck. He got out, and we noticed he had on a bulletproof vest, was carrying a glock (sp?) and had at least 4 clips of ammunition. He asked if we'd seen anything strange. We told him if he was referring to the guy on the wanted poster--no, we hadn't seen him. We told us this was an area where people on the run hung out. Great.

Dwight and I were the first to head back out in the heat after lunch. It had been cloudly all day and just as we were leaving we got about 10 drops of rain. Two actually hit me. There was monetary excitment on all of our parts that we might actually get rained on, but it was not to be. The sun was hiden behind some clouds for a bit and we enjoyed that while it lasted.

Until around 5 or so we baked in the heat--leap frogging each other as we stopped to take breaks. Around 5, we found Dozen under a Joshua tree eating his "first dinner". Apple Pie was about 30 yards further down the trail under a Joshua tree--they had not seen each other. So the 4 of us joined up and ate and hung out until 6 or so--then packed up. We were all trying to make it to the next water stop--which would have made it about a long 27 mile day for us.

We hiked until 9:30 pm or so and never made it to the water. We had to do a long unhill section in the blasted loose beach sand--on trail that had been eroded into mogals(sp?) by dirt bike riders. Dirt bikes have heavily damaged PCT trails in the area we'd been hiking through in the last several days. We believed they were responsible for the beach sand effect as well. At one point along this section a hiker had used their hiking pole to write "Fucking Bikers" in the sand. If I'd had the energy, I'd have added "Amen, brother" next to it. The only way I got through this section of trail was to concentrate on putting my foot down only in places where another hiker had before me. It sucked, it truly sucked.

At 9:30 pm we found a nearly flat spot next to the trail and threw down. Dwight had not had any water in some time--so he finished what I had left. It could not have been more than 1/4 cup. It would have to do until tomorrow.

Day 36; Fri June 1 2007

(Dr Bug) Got out of camp at 6am today. It was about a three mile hike to the spring. I however got distacted by a mico size spring before then. I spent about 10 minutes trying to determine if the seapage of water was filterable. It was not. I moved on. STUD moved on ahead of me. When I reached the running spring, STUD had stopped and left. I hurried to get water and only filtered 1.5 liters. Later when I caught up to STUD she reminded me we had 16.3 miles to the next water source. 1.5 liters was not enough, I would pay for this mistake the rest of the day.

We hiked through some big wind farms and pine and juniper forests. It got hot in the late morning, but by afternoon, cloud cover had cooled the day. None of this mattered because all day I obsessed over rationing my water. The terrain became highland grass lands and we saw cows for the first time in weeks. Eventually around 7 pm we got to Robin Bird Spring. We got fresh, clean, cold water and ate dinner. Rejuvenated we hiked for another mile and found a great stealth (hidden off the trail) camp site. I got points from the wife because the site was in pine needles. The wife says, 'no more sleeping in the dirt'. We hiked 22 miles today.

Day 35; Thur May 31, 2007

(Stud) We left the Motel 6 in Mojave around 7am after a breakfast of the remaining apple pie that Mike bought us and a delicious ruby red grapefruit we bought at the store yesterday and free hotel coffee.
I almost immediately regretted that we hadn't gone back to Primo's for another pancake special.

We got a quick hitch out of town with a guy in his late 50's that works for Portland cement. He had been working at a cement plant in Harleyville, SC and came out here for a "practice" interview in 1979 for a job he never expected to get. But he did get the job and has been here ever since. He said he has picked up about 20 hikers over the years and dropped us off right at the trailhead--several miles past his destination.

Hiker Jan was at the trailhead waiting for her husband to pick her up--so she can spend a couple of 0 days at home before returning to he trail. She lives about 2 1/2 hrs away in Redding (?). Her husband has picked her up a few other places as well but this will likely be the last since the drive is getting too long.

It was cool and windy as we set off hiking up open pasture land with nearby wind turbines. There was lots of evidence of cattle (cow patties and hoof prints) but we never saw a single cow. We did, however, manage to loose the PCT when we wandered off course onto one of the numerous cow paths that intersected the trail. Like before we figured this out because the character of the trail had changed to be too steep and too much like beach sand (although it does have the latter characteristic in some places). To find the trail, Dwight hiked part way up a nearby mountain and looked back for a trail that was more prominent than the others. Once he spotted it, he kept his eye on it and just headed back to it. I couldn't see him above the brush--so I just followed the sound of his voice back to the trail.

According to our water report, we would have to set off with enough water to take us 24 miles today-with the first sure water being at a spring. With 5 days of food, I decided the max water I could (or would) carry was 1 full Platy--about 2 1/2 liters. It would have to do. As it turned out, someone had cached water at road crossings near the 6 and 8 mile points (which neither of us took) and left some Poweraide and smaller bottles of water under a bush near mile 10. We split a Poweraide--that was nice.

We both agreed the landscape north of Hwy 58 was butt ugly--low scrubby dead stuff, dirt, rocks, more dead stuff, lots of trash near the road. We hiked uphill on this stretch for about 2 hrs--and near the top it became greener with Pinion pines and shrubbery that was still hanging in there in spite of the drought.

We hiked about 20 miles today--never getting to the spring. We should get there early tomorrow.

Day 34; Wed May 30 2007

(Dr Bug) Slept late under the shade of a huge oak and it was wonderful (late is 7 am). Gathered Mike at pinic area and walked 3 tenths of mile to Oak Creek road for the 17 mile hitch hike into the town of Mojave. After 10 minutes we got a ride from and interesting person. Randy wasthe operations manager for the huge wind farm we ha been hiking through. We peppered him with questions. 1) It cost about a million bucks to set a single turbine. 2) The biggest of the most advanced stand about 21 ft tall. You climb a ladder inside the stand and can walk aruond the inside of the turbine compartment on top. 3) At optimum wind speed it will generate 1 megawatt of power. Very cool technology.

Randy droped us of a Premos. A blast from the past burger joint. We had breakfast and it was good and cheap. You know it is good when the local cops eat there. We also ran into the owners of the Kennedy Meadows General Store who said the snow in the passes was all but gone and we would not need our ice axes - goodness.

Got a room at the Motel 6, very clean. Called Tim that night and got our mail drop for Kennedy Meadows done.

One interesting thing about the town of Mojave is: it is the place where old and unused jet planes come to rest. Outside of town there was this desert flat land where hundreds of jets were parked. There is no decay in the desert, there is no water.

We hiked 3 tenths of mile today.

Day 33; Tue May 29, 2007

(Dr Bug) The plan was to wake up at 4 am and put in some 'big' miles before the desert heat. Great plan. We were so exhausted from the 28 miles the day before and hiking at night (our usual down time), yesterday, we didn't open our eyes until 6 am. We were hiking by 7 am. It was going to be a hot day.

The spot where we slept was a dry wash composed of what can only be described as infinity deep beach sand, not the fine dust we had come to know on and around the trail itself. Although it may not have seen water in months (or years?), it looked as if the banks were carved out yesterday. That's how the desert is, change is slow, or not at all. I saw many animal prints in the sand; there is no telling how long they have been there.

The unknown hiker in the tent had a small fire going. It was aweful - smelled like burning rubber. The desert was suprisingly cold last night. The unknown hiker's name was Jeff; we had met him yesteday at Hikertown. He carried a very large pack. Another hiker said Jeff had left his wife due to 'unfriendly' circumstances and all Jeff's posessions were on his back. Tails from the trails.

We got water from the Aquaduct spigot and were off and hiking. The first few miles were flat and sandy. Almost like walking on the beach. Joshua trees, cactus, low shrubs and an occasional house trailer. Why do people live out here? Never saw a single snake here. A few jack rabbits. Lots of cyote yips and howls. We could see for miles and miles. Our trek was in plain view: flat desert, rolling chapparel and finally, green mountains. As we approached, we start to distinguish the outline of tiny (distant) pine trees. These trees were goodness, they were the source of cool shade. By 9 am it was hot (high 80s). We started to climb the chaperral foot hills. We each had 5 liters of water for this 24 miles and that brought our pack weigh to a high we had not felt since starting in Mexico.

Climbing the chapparrel was difficult as expected. At about 8 miles into the hike we sat down for a break. A 'funny' thing happpened, mosquitos started buzzing over my head. First thought, 'mosquitos need water to breed, there isn't any water around here, is there?'. Yes there was, Tylerhorse canyon creek was still flowing. This was contrary to reports it would be dry. Guess we didn't need to lug 5 liters of water out here, could have only carried 2.

There was a young hiker called Riddle sitting in the shade by the creek. She seemed very content and conversed wih us politely. She was in no rush to hike on.

We continued to hike higher and higher out of the chapparrel and closer to the pines on the mountain. We stopped about 12:15 and had a 2 and 1/2 hr lunch in the shade of a juniper bush. I actually fell asleep under this bush.

After lunch we continued to hike into the pines. At the top of the mountain dirt bike trails started to cut into our trail. It made the dirt deep and sandy and we got off trail twice. We finished the evening by walking by a wind farm and wild horses. The day was ended after 24 miles where we slept under and oak tree at cotton wood creek after eating with Mike at a trail head picnic area. This was a good day.

Day 32; Mon May 28

(Stud) We spent most of the day at Hikertown waiting for it to get cool enough to hiking in th desert. Around 1 in the afternoon, Bob let us borrow the car and 6 hikers stuffed into a small Khia and drove miles to a Western Sizzler. Besides me and Dwight it was Mike, Sophia and Duddley DoRight (late 20's from Ottowa, Canada) and
Achilles (20ish--a PT from Wash, DC--we "met" him when we night hiked right over him when he was sleeping on the trail several night's back).

We left Hiker Heaven around 5--with a plan to hike the 16 miles to the first water cache. The hike was almost entirely flat along dirt roads and on top of the cement covered LA aquaduct. The day cooled downed nicely to the point we all put on wind breakers--and there was a strong and steady wind. The moon was nearly full and we only turned on our headlamps to verify we were headed the right direction when we saw the infrequent PCT signs.

We arrived at our destination without around midnight--exhausted. It was an easy hike--so I could only figure this was due to being up later than usual. There is one other tent set up nearby-but we'e not sure who it is.

(Dr Bug) Hikertown has roosters and chickens. The roosters announced the start of the day at 3:45 am sharp. We are on the edge of the Mojave desert and by 8 am the temperature was 80 degrees in the shade. We plotted our stategy for the up coming desert walk. It is broken down into two sections. First, a 16 mile walk to the only water in middle of the Mojave. A water spigot originating from the Los Angeles Aquiduct. Then a 24 mile section through desert, then chapperal and finally some higher elevation pines.

The idea was to hike the first part in late afternoon and evening, then get up the next day (as early as possible, maybe 4 am ish).