We woke up feeling very well rested in the backyard of Casa D&D.

I didn’t wake up once last night – it was divine! Since we knew it was going to be a cool day due to the rainstorm rolling in, we weren’t in a big rush to get on the trail. We woke up about 8:30 and had breakfast of leftover fried chicken and Fritos and dip that we had for dinner last night. We were able to spend some more time chatting with Dave before he and Dale took us back to the trailhead. In the car, Dave and I both commented how one decision that I made yesterday – to take a ride with him and not Stogie – set off a chain of events that brought the 5 of us together. We really developed a great connection in a short amount of time and are thankful for it. We gave big hugs goodbye and Daddie Gizmo and I started on trail at 11:30. Our packs were pretty heavy because we had to resupply for 94 miles to Lake Isabella. We planned for 6 or 7 days to get there. It is remarkable that we still haven’t done a 20 mile day. We had so much time to enjoy the trail since we started early that there hasn’t been any pressure to do big miles.

Knowing that it would be cooler the next 2 days we bought meat, cheese and a loaf of ciabatta which is going to be a very nice treat. Our hike was nice since it was a cloudy day. We took a break about 9 miles in under some Joshua Trees.

Their little needles are sharp and I bled pretty good when one poked me in the big toe. We finished the day 12.5 miles in at a little over 5,000 ft. The clouds were becoming darker and we wanted to set up camp before any rain began. We found a great spot with the perfect windbreak. Someone even left some gin – ha! We didn’t drink it because we already rationing water in this part of the desert and don’t need to dehydrate. We each have less than 2 liters on us and have 12.4 miles to the next water tomorrow. This was a 25 mi stretch without water. As soon as we got the fly on the tent we felt drizzles. We finished getting things in the tent quickly and were warm and dry! We enjoyed our delicious sandwiches, read our books and were asleep by 9:30. It was a really nice day 😊

Into Tehachapi

Daddie Gizmo:
With the knowledge that the heat would be coming on strong today, we were up about 5:30 AM. That isnt the earliest..most people who are trying to beat the sun start earlier, but still very early for us, who love to sleep in as late as possible. As it turns out, it was a very hazy day much to our delight. This kept the temperature down maybe 10 or 15° lower than normal and we already knew we only had 12 miles this morning. This made us not feel nearly as pressed to make time and miles which becomes a much more enjoyable hike. The first target of the day was a 6200 ft ridge that hopefully contained a water cache maintained by a family who had a farm not too far away. It was fully stocked so we drank a liter, took a liter to add to the 2 we were already carrying and set off down the hill. For me, I have daydreams of Dali’s Don Quixote paintings when we head into windmills.

 

Hiking underneath huge churning windmill blades is a bit surreal.  This farm’s were the biggest I’ve ever seen and even more impressive to be right underneath them. The Joshua Trees today along the trail in the wind farm were the largest and oldest we have seen. We saw our first Horny Lizard today too. So prehistoric looking. When we came to the road, we were met by 2 Trail Angels. Stogie had Gatorade for us and Surveyor Dave was ready to take us into town. He dropped us off at a BBQ place for a big fat lunch and then offered us a shower and quiet place to camp in his backyard. After coming back into the fray of many more hikers than we had experienced before, we decided to take him up on it. He and his wife Dale were so very welcoming, genuine and helpful to us the entire time we have been here. They are about to drop us back on the trail after a good nights sleep. So far, in 39 trail days, we have hiked up 103,000 and down 100,000 feet of elevation in 558 miles. In the coming days, we climb up and down 27,000 feet just getting to the Sierra Mountains. Time to tie the shoelaces tight.

Figure 8:

The hike into Tehachapi was really nice this morning. I was shocked to see 2 people from town waiting at the trailhead to take hikers into town. We heard that this a very hiker friendly town and experienced it right from the start.  We grabbed a ride from Dave (who we later learned has a trail name of Butterscotch) and instantly felt his good vibes and energy.  Before dropping us off at the BBQ place for lunch he was kind enough to take a detour by his house and show us his shady backyard where we could rest this afternoon. So much shade! After we ate we were both exhausted and really wanted to lay down. Thankfully we had the good fortune of running into Dave earlier. We layed our sleeping bags down in the backyard and passed out almost immediately. He and his wife, Dale, offered us a shower, laundry, ride to the grocery store  and to pitch our tent for the night. All of which we took them up on. We really enjoyed the time we got to spend getting to know them both. I had been feeling a little low from the changes we were seeing on trail and the time we spent with them really lifted my spirits. It turned me right back around. I am forever grateful 💜

Daddie Gizmo: As we waited at Hikertown for the sun to fall lower in the sky, we counted 20+ hikers come in from the trail. Some would be staying the night and many others, like us, would be setting out to hike along the LA Aqueduct at night. We had never hiked at night like this before but it was a necessity due to the heat at this low elevation. We also reconnected with Mellow and Canary after not seeing them since we were all in Big Bear together. The 4 of us headed out at about 7:30 pm.

The temperature had already come down 20 degrees or so from the heat of the day. We walked along the open area of the aqueduct for a mile before it changed to a buried iron pipe about 20-25 ft in diameter.

After climbing up on top we traversed the top area of the pipe that was exposed through the sand. It was about 5 ft wide, black with half-dollar sized rivits holding all of the steel sections together. It was dark now so we used our headlamps to travel along in single file. It was a small balancing act with manhole covers and odd little obstacles to navigate along the way. After the Pipe section, we turned onto the concrete road which was also the top cover of a newer portion of the aqueduct. It was long, flat and hard ground to hike on. Every so often there were junctions and raised areas made for workers to access the water below. It was here that you could hear the power of the water rushing just below your feet. For the whole stretch after the pipeline, we would walk without our headlamps. The moon was so bright that it lit up the white concrete and our path. After about 4 1/2 hours, we had past all of the people who had left before us and were camped out along the way. At one rest point we lay down on the concrete and faced up to the stars. Lacy and I both saw shooting stars which we took as a good sign that we were welcome back on the trail. Everyone found nice spots to set up for a short night.  We stopped at 12:30 and were asleep by 1. Our alarms were set for just 4 1/2 hours later.

Figure 8: it felt WONDERFUL to put my gear back on tonight and get back into hiking mode. I missed my hiking skirt and felt like we had come back home as we set foot on the trail. Between the gorgeous sunset, bright moon and being with some of my favorite people, it was a wonderful night. ❤️

We are back!!! We are sitting back at Hikertown (where we got off trail on the 20th to begin our break) right now waiting for the sun to cool off before getting back on trail. Papa Romero dropped us off this afternoon and we were able to meet back up with some of our trail family – Canary and Mellow! We were really surprised how many hikers came through this afternoon. More than 20! This is the most hikers we have seen in one spot. We knew we would be hitting more crowds by taking so much time off, but it was worth the extended stay in Seattle. The train ride was beautiful and we had hoped to take the train back, but a derailment canceled the trips we needed and instead we flew to LA where we spent  some time with Papa.

We feel very fortunate to have such great friends in Seattle who opened their home to us for a week. We saw the Xx show, played tourist and ate a bunch. Rob managed to put a lot of weight back on which is a good thing. It feels good to be back on trail and reunited with my stinky shoes that I haven’t worn since leaving. We will see how far we go tonight night hiking, but one thing I know for certain is that we will be sleeping under the stars 😊❤️.  Welcome back to the blog…stay tuned!

Well, truth be told, we are having way too much fun on the Amtrak from Bakersfield to Seattle. We reserved a roomette for the slightly less than 30 hour train ride to Seattle.
I have never taken a long train ride like this, much less with our own little private space, so it has been a great new experience. It does feel a bit odd not to be on trail and to look at the mountains rather than be in them. Even more odd to think that we will be separated from the trail for a week or more.
The PCT has become our home. A part of my soul. At the same time, we are really looking forward to spending time with friends in Seattle, seeing The Xx in concert and celebrating my birthday. We haven’t made arrangements for how or when we are returning to trail but we know it won’t be very long. We both are enjoying hiking prior to the crowds setting in and the pleasant weather we have been fortunate to experience. We won’t stay gone too long! After enjoying our train ride we are both leaning towards another train back. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Doesn’t hurt that the scenery is great too.  Currently, we are passing through Portland. We won’t be updating the blog during our break, but as soon as we get back on our beloved trail you will know it. It’s been an unbelievable adventure that Daddie Gizmo and I have been on these last 5 1/2 weeks. It reinforced my belief that this is where I belong – in nature, exploring, meeting like-minded people and being free. We are both the happiest we have been in a long time. 

We will be picking up the trail where we left off…still a little less than 200 miles of desert to complete. More to come soon!!!❤️

Horse Spring to Hikertown

We woke up to overcast skies at about 6:30 am and knew we had a short day of only 9 miles today. After rolling over and going back for a snooze it was suddenly 10 am so time to get up and hit the trail.

Our camp spot was at 5200 ft so we had a long elevation loss, gain and loss again to get down to the desert floor and our next stopping point. It was cold to start, but we were in the heat of the day n sun once we were down about 2500 ft. We were lucky that there was a cool breeze that really helped us make good time today. We had also eaten our pack weight down over the previous 5 days so we were hiking light and fast. As we hit the backside foothills of the mountain we also reappeared into a mass of desert flowers.
We crisscrossed with Larry again who helped us out by sharing his water cache with us. By about 2 pm we cruised into Hikertown Hostel. It’s an odd little place but with a happy, generous host who showed us around, had 2 cold beers ready for us and some fresh made BBQ ribs. Showered, laundered and fed, we waited for 4 others in our second little Trail Family to get in. RocDoc and Larry arrived about the same time after a few hours and GalPal and WoodRat later. They had just come from the ER and learned that WoodRat had, indeed, fractured a bone in her foot and would need to see an Orthopedic Doc today. Wishing her well and a speedy recovery. Sad to know that it will take her and GalPal off the trail. We climbed into our nice Hostel “Honeymoon Suite” and were out cold eager to start the next day of our adventure to Seattle. 

Today we had a few firsts:

– We hit 500 miles of hiking through California!! We feel accomplished 😊

– I finally saw some large wildlife. A coyote! But only the back of it as it came out of the brush and on the trail in front of me

– Rob completed the first 20+ mile day of either of us. He did a 2.5 mile loop to get water that put him over 

– I saw horses on the trail! Always wanted to, but didn’t realize I would be so startled when I did. All of a sudden 3 came around a bend and I jumped at the sight of them. They are very graceful on trail. 

– We hit a water source that we were counting on and it was DRY! The fact that at nearly 500 miles this was the first time we had a small water crisis in the desert is AMAZING! This is also how Daddie Gizmo added his bonus miles. 

– We had to go 3.5 miles further at the end of the day than we really wanted to. We were both tired with sore feet, but a different water source that we thought we may camp by did not look very clean. We hadn’t felt pressured previously to move forward, but today it made sense so we could have better drinking water from a spring ahead. 

We saw Larry again on the trail today and he made it up to the same campsite as ourselves before dark. We were beat by the end of the day and knew we had just one more day to hike before our planned break. We soaked up the last night of camping on top of a mountain for a while. 

Daddie Gizmo:

After a big hiker breakfast of black coffee, lots of pancakes and a beer at the Andersen’s, we were able to sign the PCT Class of 2017 banner, pose for a pic with everyone that was there that morning and receive our 2017 Class Bandana.

We took our time chatting, hugging with everyone and expressing our great thanks to our Trail Angel hosts for there generosity and hospitality. It is crazy to think that they will have 50+ people a night camping in their back acreage and feeding them every night for almost 2 months during the peak of hiker season. RockDoc and Galpal were going to get some lunch so we decided to tag along. More food that my body desperately needed and inhaled as fast as it could. We suited up for misty rain and began our hiking day at noon.
It was a welcome cool after the last 2 days of desert heat. It cleared about 3 hours later and we were able to reach out camp site mostly dry except for our shoes which will still likely be soaked in the morning. It’s not a good idea to build an open fire in this part of the desert that could have dried things out. 3 pairs of socks and always a clean dry pair in reserve are coming in handy tonight. Today’s elevation was 4000 gained and 2500 lost. These numbers were very difficult for us be beginning but almost routine for us after 5 weeks. Tomorrow should be about the same. One member of our new trail family, Hurricane, switches trails tomorrow and we will miss him being on the PCT. Thanks again for all the comments and positive energy from everyone following our journey.