May 30 528 to 554

Long, hot, dry day. There was only two shady spots until noon, the windmills and the little oak tree by the stream I stopped at for lunch. The stream wasn't even cool, the water in it must have been 80. Still it was water and therefore amazing since it was the only water in that 40 miles stretch.
The afternoon was a bit better since we climbed back up into mountains. Even if it was still dry at least we had shade. On my way up the mountain I took a break under a shade tree and put my hiking shirt on one of the pct indicator signs to dry. Bad idea. Those signs are made of fiberglass and my shirt got covered in it. I didn't notice until I put my shirt and pack on. At which point all the fiberglass particles started to dig into my back. Not pleasant at all.

I was planning on hiking to the road to Tehachapi but I stayed at the creek later than planned since it was so hot. So at nightfall I reached another windmill farm and thought it might be nice to sleep with the white noise of the windmill in the background. So I camped there.

May 29 Boquet canyon road to mile 528

What a day. Got up with the sun as usual and badass comes strolling by. It seems she wasn't able to take a zero at the Saufleys and hiked to the water cache at the road. She was hiking with a guy who had hiked the trail before and her suggested we take a short cut to the Andersons.
The Andersons is another trail angel hostel but the cater more to the party crowd. I got talked into going since they cook breakfast there and we might make it if we take the short cut. I made it just after breakfast. Mrs Anderson was kind enough to cook us up some pancakes anyway. Their place was very cool. The camping was in these tree groves in their backyard which almost gave you a separate room feel.
I didn't stay, Mrs Anderson was doing a water cache resupply ruin and offered to drive me 10 miles down the detour road to a restaurant. I grabbed lunch there and  another hitch to hikertown for the rest of the detour. The detour was for a bad fire that happened last year.
Hikertown is an interesting place it looks like an old west town from the movies but it's hiker themed. Also there were puppies.
I stayed at Hikertown until 5 before hiking on. The next stretch was a long desert floor hike along the Los Angeles aqueduct. Even though we were hiking the aqueduct there was no water available for almost 30 miles. Which is why everyone night hikes out of Hikertown. The hike was easy enough since we were road walking again so I made really good time.

May 28 hiker haven to boquet canyon road

The plan for the day is to take a zero and get everything organized for the Sierras. There is a twice daily shuttle down to LA to hit the supermarkets and rei. Both shuttles hold 14 ppl and were completely full, I had signed up for the morning one yesterday so I was fine but that just goes to show how crowded the place is.

I got a hold of a friend from the AT, Grommet,  who was hiking the PCT but had to get off due to injury and asked if I could use her bear vault for the Sierras. I was waiting to see if the Ursack would be approved since it's a sack and only weights 8 oz instead of 3 pounds, but the government is slow and it hasn't been approved yet. Luckily for me Grommet said yes which just goes to show how awesome the trail community is out here. Think about how you would react in normal life if a guy you only met for two days asked to borrowed a $60 piece of equipment for two months.

With that taken care of all I had to do was plan how I was going to resupply. There isn't really a town resupply option in the Sierra so you have to do mail drops.  I wanted to do Kennedy medows and the Muir trail ranch. I got talked into doing my 2nd resupply at the town of Independence. The hike to independence is a birch since you have to hike a pass but it is supposed to be very pretty and worth it. Plus it costs $50 to pick up a package from the ranch and you are bound to spend more money once you get there.

After getting all my supplies setup and a new pair of shoes Mrs Saufley helped me get the packages mailed. While we were working on it she brought up a funny song about taco bell, pizza Hut, combination taco bell pizza Hut. Then proceeded to get blast it over their speakers and dance to it. All the whole causing every hiker there to now have this horrible song stuck in our heads forever. Thanks Mrs Saufley I'll find a way to repay you someday.

Having gotten everything done I needed to do I decided to hike on instead of taking the zero. There was still 200 miles to go to get to lake Isabella by next Wednesday. So I hiked 10 miles and called it a day.

May 27 north ranger station to hiker haven

Another nice easy day today. Just got 18 miles to the town of Agua dulce.  The first 10 miles were soy easy and uneventful that I don't really recall them. I made it to a KOA at that point and they sold ice cream, had a pool and hot tub, could get pizza delivered and we could stay for only 10$. I was very tempted and after deliberating until 12 I decided that I needed to get to town and get set up for the Sierra.
So I set out in the desert during the hottest part of the day just to prove a point. I like the heat, I really do, but that would have been too much for me if there wasn't a nice little breeze that would show up every once in a while. On the way to town there was a neat state park with some strange rock formations.

Once I got to town I went straight to the supermarket and bought 4 different types of fruit. They didn't have any good chocolate milk so I had to settle for a root beer float.

Some local trail angels have a hostel setup in town called hiker haven. It lives up to it's name. There must have been 30 hikers there when I arrived. The atmosphere was great and the owners, the Saufleys, were extremely nice. They have cots setup for the hikers to use almost all of them are in the west side of the property and clumped together. I got lucky since I arrived after the heat when most of the previous days hikers were starting out I got a pick of the cots, mine was situated away from all the others on a hill so I had some quite.

May 26 sulphur spring to north ranger station

We got up early because badass was feeling antsy after cutting the hike short by 3 hours yesterday. We had heard that the first few miles of poodle dog brush, now known as poodle dog shit, was "mostly avoidable" and Tank, badass, and I decided to try it. I think the description was very accurate. I was able to avoid all of it except one 10 yard stretch where I missed a side trail that skipped it. I was careful though and only touched it with my pant legs and poles. Once I got past that part the brush wasn't an issue, it was all over but not encroaching on the trail. I was glad I hiked that stretch as there were some great views which the guys who took the road walk missed.

I think this part was the epitome of the smell of the desert. There were so many flowers in bloom and the poodle dog shit brush smells pleasant as long as you ignore the fact that it wants to kill you.

The next stretch of trail was not described as even mostly avoidable we were just told don't even try just take there detour. The detour was a 17.5 mile road walk with no water and almost all uphill. I decided to wait out the heat of the day before tackling it.

The climb was a joke, since it was graded for cars it never got difficult. I was surprised by how nice the road walk turned out to be. Without the stress of worrying about the poodle dog shit brush, the quality of the trail, or cars I could just hike and enjoy the view. After about 11 miles of asphalt the road turned into dirt but it was still much easier to hike than the trail so I just stuck with it until I hit the camp. I ended up hiking until 10pm but my legs felt great and I know I could do a 30 mile day on the trail, not just on a road walk.

May 25 little Jimmie spring to sulphur spring

Turns out 20 hikers showed up last night not 10. Badass, Tank, Real time, Stomper another Canadian, and I all hiked out early in the morning planning in making it to at least sulphur spring if not further.

Stomper had already hiked the PCT twice and said he remembers the next hill being worse than baden-powell. It wasn't. I think the last time he did it he had hiked out after baden-powell in b the same day.

After we got off the hill our first detour of the day occurred. This one was to protect some endangered frogs. There were two options, a 20 mile hike that was reportedly in really bad shape since the trails it followed were never designed to have the amount of traffic the PCT was sending over them or a 3 mile road walk along the "dangerous" highway 2. I didn't find out how dangerous it was cause I got a hitch as soon as I reached the road.

The hike today was only difficult due to the heat. Luckily for me I got trail magic twice today. Unluckily for the trail angle someone stole his bear can with the trail magic in it. Tank was grabbing a coke out of the can when someone asked him if it was his, Tank said no so the guy took the can. Later on at a different tail magic stash there was a note asking if anyone had seen his can. The rest of the hike was uneventful but we were starting to reach the area where the poodle dog brush was reportedly really bad. We ended up staying at sulphur spring even though we all felt we could keep going just to avoid the brush at twilight.

May 21st the tarantula wasp

During our hike today we came upon a once in a lifetime type event. I had heard of and seen these giant wasps all over the trail. I think Malia was the first person to tell me about them. They are a type of wasp that captures tarantulas by stinging and paralyzing them. They then drag them back to their nest where they lay eggs in the still alive but paralyzed tarantula. The babies eventually hatch and stay eating the alive but paralyzed tarantula from the inside. Eventually the burst out of the tarantula aliens style. Talk about nasty. I saw one of them and wanted to tell the story to Wizit. Upon closer look at the wasp I noticed it was dragging a tarantula. The poor tarantula was paralyzed and being dragged to a horrible fate. It was amazing.

May 24 Guffy cg ti little Jimmie springs cg

It wasn't as cold when I got up. Mostly cause the wind had died down. It was a good thing I had hiked as far and hard as I had yesterday since a bunch of week enders showed up to stay their memorial day weekend. They weren't too bad but they stayed up late and decided shooting guns at 10pm was a good idea. Mountain goat and I had a nice easy stroll down to highway 2 where we got an easy hitch into town. I just needed to do a resupply while he was going to stay till Tuesday. We had a nice breakfast at the grizzly cafe, there seems to be a lot of those on this trail. I got my resupply and headed out.
I wanted to do 14 more miles to the little bear spring for a nice convenient combination campground and water. I hadn't looked at the terrain for those 14 miles and was taken completely unaware by mount baden-powell, the boy scout mountain. The hike up the mountain is 2700 ft in 4 miles, easy by at standards. Since I wasn't aware of that I just changed up it like all the other little hills I had been climbing. The whole time thinking this is great training for the Sierras. About halfway up I had to stop for a cliff bar and water break. While I was snacking a little girl comes skipping down the mountain and let's me know just what I was getting into and that I should take lots of breaks. I think that was the first time climbing a mountain where the random encouragement from a stranger was actually useful. Since she told me something I didn't know instead of pointless statements of being almost there, or just a few more switchbacks. Eventually I got to the top, with a lot more breaks, and was treated to a great view. I also ran into Tank up there, a hiker that started the same day as me but had only seen in towns, and another hiker I hadn't merry named real time. I had been hiking with a girl named badass since leaving Wrightwood. The three of them went on ahead to the camp while I took pictures and very slowly made my way there. I was feeling totally wiped out and could bearly struggle up some 200 ft climbs on the way to the campground. Luckily it was almost all downhill at that point so I made it to camp.

That place was packed there were at least 5 boy scout troops with at least 10 boys each there plus 6 hikers and at least 10 more planning on coming in. Thankfully everyone was tired from the climb up baden-powell and went to bed early.

May 22nd zero

I'm a wimp and decided to take a zero rather than climb a 9000 ft mt with a chance of thunderstorms. Had a great day hanging out taking a real zero where I didn't have any errands to do. Just day around the hotel watching TV and soaking in the hot tub. Best Zero Ever.

May 21st Silverwood lake to highway 15

I got a slow start along with everyone else. The campsite was just to nice for us to hurry out of. I eventually got moving as I was low on water and had been advised to not drink the lake water. I had planned a relatively short day, 16 miles,  where I would reach a stream 1 mile short of highway 15. That way I could get up early in the morning and have McDonald's for breakfast. Because of the short day I ended up staying at the picnic ground where I got my water at until after lunch. Right as I was about to head out Wizit caught up with me and we decided to hike together again. Even though the distance was shorter she was struggling. She had overdone it yesterday.

The first two thirds of the hike was pretty boring without the amazing views from yesterday. All that changed when we got about 5 miles from the highway. Suddenly there were some sheer cliff faces made of just sand and we were hiking down a knifes edge with 1000 ft drops. To make it more fun there was a nice strong wind trying to blow us off the cliff.

When we were about 2 miles from the highway and I thought Wizit was just going to call it and camp on the knifes edge we saw a message someone had left for us in the sand. We later found out it was 11. The message gave Wizit the boost she needed to make it the rest of the way. When we got to the spot we had planned on camping at and didn't see anyone there Wizit decided the allure of a motel room and taco dinner was enough to get her to hike 1 more mile to the highway.

May 20th willow creek to Silverwood lake

What a great day. Started out a bit late since I was in a canyon and didn't get woken up before the sun like usual. The hike followed deep creek until it got diverted by a damn. Along the way I walked past deep creek hot springs which is a natural mineral spring. I didn't go in though since there were 4 naked people in it and the usda said there was the brain eating ameba in it. The water was a perfect temperature especially early in the morning.

A little further down the trail I caught up with Wizit, wizard in training, who was visiting from Canada and doing a short section ending at interstate 15. We got to chatting and hiked the rest of the day together. It was nice to have someone to hike with since I had ditched everyone else in big bear. After a few miles she stops and points out a cute squirrel on the side of the trail, I'm like he's cute but what about the rattlesnake 5 ft in front of you on the trail. The tossing sand in the face trick worked again and we all went on our way peacefully.

After hiking for a few more miles we reached the spillway for the creek and stopped to soak our feet in the creek. It was so cool and soothing as well as cleansing since I was able to wash my legs and give my feet a sand scrub.

We continued hiking until we reached the spot Wizit had planned on camping for the night. It was at the bottom of the damn for Silverwood lake. It was dry, cold and windy. The water source there was described as "beyond vile" at first I disagreed with this description as I was peering over the left side of the bridge which was clear flowing but covered in algae. Then I looked on the right side where a condom was floating upstream... between the bad camping, terrible water, and feeling better than expected Wizit decided to push on to where I planned to camp for the night. On our way there we found some trail magic with milk in it. Hadn't seen that before so I drank one. It was good, a bit too cold as it had ice chunks in it but that's better than being hot and spoiled. We eventually got to the lake and chose a great campsite which was normally a boat in only picnic spot. But we were hikers a little thing like a steep bushwhacked trail wasn't going to stop us from camping at such a nice spot.

May 19th little bear springs to willow creek

Yet another chilly morning. There were two other hikers camped with us last night, iceman and polar bear, a guy who earned his name at the grizzly manor by eating the polar bear breakfast, the breakfast pictured in my last post. Today was gonna be another easy hike mostly downhill walking in a canyon next to a creek the whole way. For the first time on the trail water was easy to get. It was so nice only carrying a single litre instead of at least 3. The trail was beautiful with great views of the canyon the whole time. I was making great time a took a long lunch break to finish reading a book. It was nice knowing that it was cool enough to be able to hike in the middle of the day without the mandatory break until 3. On the way I ran across a rattlesnake and decided to try a new technique to get it to move. According to Bear from ziggy and the bears if you gently toss sand and dirt at the snake it will move since they don't have eyelids. It worked great the snake was surprised by my first toss but when it got hit by the 2nd and 3rd it just slithered into the bushes. I still gave it a wide berth.
The campsite I picked was at a small feeder creek to the one I had been hiking next to. It was supposed to have a nice flow and a few campsites near it. By the time I got the the campsites were taken so I had to bushwhack a little to make room.

May 18th big bear to little bear springs camp

I got up early so I could make it to an infamous trail restaurant, The Grizzly Manor. They are famous for their enormous pancakes and delicious breakfast. They have a pancake challenge that requires you to eat 5 pancakes in under an hour. Only 3 people have completed it. They are featured on the Food Network as one of the top 10 best places to eat out of 101 restaurants. Not sure how that works but the food was great. After breakfast I got back on the trail and decided to hike 20 miles to a nice campsite with water. Along the way I ran into a hiker, Eleven, I had met and chatted with at the whitewater preserve. She had hiked the AT NOBO last year and was planning on hiking to the same camp as me and we leapfrogged each other through out the day. The hike was beautiful. We went up on a ridge with great views of Big Bear Lakes. Then a little bit down the trail we entered a burnt section that was well on its way to recovering.

May 17th arrastre creek to big bear

Had another great nights sleep while sleeping next to a stream. Got woken up early by some other hikers heading into town. I took my time and didn't get moving until 8 since it was going to be a short 3 miller trip to the highway and a hitch. There was more trail magic waiting for us at the highway courteous of the hostel in town. I got a hitch into town with mountain goat by a nice fireman on his way to watch his sons baseball game. Unfortunately he could only take us to big bear city and we needed to get to big bear lakes for the hostel. The us a bits that ribs between the two towns and while we were waiting for it the owner of the hostel saw us and picked us up. Big bear lakes was gorgeous but was a little too spread out for those of us with no cars. Luckily right next to the hostel was a ski rental place that rented bicycles out during the summer and gave a discount to hikers. So I was able to ride a bicycle to do my town chores instead of walking. It was painful. Walking 4 miles is a joke but after just 2 miles of cycling my legs were shot. Still it saved me a good 3 hours which let me go see the new godzilla movie with a few other hikers. It was terrible but godzilla kicked some monster ass. Totally worth the 6 I spent on it and not a penny more.

After the movie I went out for drinks with Jay who had just received some terrible news. His father, who was already sick and in bad shape,  had contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized. His mom hadn't told him about it cause she didn't want to worry him while he was hiking. He found out later that his father was in organ failure and probably wasn't going to last the night. It was rough on Jay who had to wait until morning to get out of town and to an airport. If something like that happens while I'm on the trail don't hesitate to contact me. I don't want to learn about something like that on Facebook.