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But let's start where the last post ended. LA was awesome, but this is a hiking blog, so we'll start when I got dropped off at mile 403 at 6 pm on Monday, doing only 8 miles for the day. (-50 -29 is hopefully the low water mark of the entire journey. Only making up miles from here.) The coolest part of this first night was the way the fog hung on one part of the mountain, which I took a bunch of pictures of.
I met a really cool older couple on Tuesday, Maya and Jay. Maya is hiking the PCT up to the Oregon border, and Jay is both hiking it and supporting her. Jay drives their car around to the next road, hikes SOBO until he meets up with Maya, then hikes with her until they get to the car. It's been fun to pass Jay a few more times since then, as I've gotten ahead of Maya, but not by too much. The ranger at the North Fork Ranger Station was also generous with trail magic, which made for a good day.
On Wednesday I met up with Julianne and her parents, Mike and Jodi, for lunch where the trail road walked through Agua Dulce. They met me on trail at the Sweetwater Bar and Grill, delivering fresh batteries and fresh produce, both of which I was in short supply of. The conversation was so good I was forgetting to eat at times, but I still managed to put about 2 normal sized meals down. Supposedly it was at this point where Timothy Olsen, who is currently attempting an FKT, passed by. He was the talk of the trail for the next few days. Best of luck to him! (Though it certainly puts my attempts at maintaining pace in perspective.) I ended up doing my first 29 mile day, both because of needing to get to Agua Dulce and gaining the FKT inspiration.
At lunch on Thursday I was asked what my plan for the LA Aqueduct was, which was not a good way to learn about a section of trail. I needed some rest after my 29, so I figured that I could do a 21, then a 20-high, then cross the aqueduct early in the morning.
(On Thursday I called a few people with mixed success. The most notable thing was that my Dad asked if I could see the solar panels in Antelope Valley. I had barely seen them until that point, but I ended up pretty close to them on Saturday, with a really good view as I left on Sunday.)
But then there was a 15 mile stretch with no water, so instead I did 30 miles on Friday. Hikertown was a cool town-themed hostel on the edge of the valley I would be hiking through. I stayed in City Hall, then woke up at 3:30 am to do the aqueduct in the dark, as most people do. First light freaked me out, as I had to beat the sun, so I decided to vlog it to calm me down and give me something to focus on. It worked well. I talked at my phone once an hour through that section, and kept above 3 miles an hour, even including breaks. (Let me know what you think of the vlogs!)
I did another 6 miles after the day cooled off, then did 17 miles today to get into Tehachapi, where I just enjoyed a motel shower, then a burger and a milkshake, and found a 6 pack of Hofbräu Dunkel. I'm planning to take just over a full day of rest, from 1 pm when I got to the road crossing today up until the day's heat starts to fade tomorrow. It's looking like it's gonna be hot the next couple of days, so maybe predawn starts and long siestas are gonna be normal. Until mile 700, when I get into the Sierras and can stop worrying about the sun quite so much.
- Happy Meal
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