Day: June 17, 2016

Beautiful sunset along the road walk leading into Hikertown.

Today started with some relatively easy and slightly bland hiking, then got worse.  It started as a normal 12.9 mile morning on typical high desert canyon with a few more scrubby shade trees than normal.  The grade was pretty even all the way to the fire station where I stopped to make some burritos before hitting the road walk.

Nice morning hiking in the shadows with nice views.

A worn out shovel put back into service as a sign post.

The fascinating bright red bark of the Manzanita tree.

Yes, more road walks.  This one another fire closure.  I thought the road walk was just 16 miles, but it turns out that’s just to the intersection where you get a choice to go north or west.  The road walk ended up being a full 20 miles, so today was right at 33 miles.  Uggg.

The couple from Australia hiking in front of me on the way to the Rock Inn Restaurant.

This once used to be a large lake with a park next to it. Now it is completely dry.

I frequently would take accidental pictures while putting my camera back into my pocket. This one was interesting enough to save.

The good part is that 6 miles in there is a good restaurant to eat at and a convenience store if needed.  I ate with a couple from Australia that I met just before the fire station.  I did not leave the restaurant until 3:30.  After the first three miles or so after the restaurant, it turns to park land again, so you could stealth camp if you wanted to.  It was still early so I wanted to keep going.  I was pretty sure I could not make Hikertown hostel before dark, but I knew it would be close.  After eight miles from the restaurant it was all private property again and posted signs all over the place.  At that point I had gone past the point of no return.

At the 16 mile intersection, I could go left to the trail early, or go straight and hit Hikertown and be only a tenth from the trail.  I elected for Hikertown because it looked shorter there than the trail to the left and.

The sun was starting to set but I still had light.  I made the last turn with only one mile to go and the sun was behind the mountains now, but I had enough light to hike without a headlamp.  I made it to Hikertown at about 8:30 and boy was I beat.  I got a trailer to sleep in and a shower and made some rice to eat.

Hikertown is the most interesting place to visit. It’s a peculiar mix of discarded buildings, trailers, and campers. The permanent structures all have a theme to them to mimic a small western town.

The next section of trail is more roads then the Los Angeles aqueduct.  It’s a long straight hike with no shade and nowhere to camp.  I’d like to do it in one shot tomorrow, but know I won’t be able to leave too early.  But I’m still racing an upcoming heat wave, so I can’t take a day off just yet.  I might be hiking more at night, just not tonight.  [Post hike:  I found out that Robin left here about three hours before I arrived  This is the closest I ever got to him after losing my sunglasses.]

The famous Gorn rocks in Vasquez Rocks Natural Area from the TV series, Star Trek.

This is not the usual landscapes I post, so what’s up with this pic?  You’ll find out later.

I didn’t get up too early this am, mainly because the clouds had rolled in and I was in the middle of them all night long.  I woke up about 11:30 and found the outside of the sleeping bag wet.  I was surrounded by a cloud and slowly getting damp from the dew.  There wasn’t much I could do, putting the fly on would just get it wet too, and it would take too long to get anywhere low enough to be out o the clouds.  I just rode it out and slept a little later to let it get a little brighter.

So when I did roll out at 5:30, I run across another hiker just 200 yds down the trail sacked out cowboy style – no tent, just a sleeping bag laid out on a sheet of tyvek.  He was soaked, too.

The clouds lasted most of the morning, but started to lift a little as I got to Vasquez rocks.  It’s a really neat place.  it’s an entire valley with rocks made out of other rocks.  The layers and stratification would keep a geologist busy for decades. I must have taken 30 pictures.  It’s definitely a place to come back to.

But getting there is interesting, too.  You pass through a very long tunnel under the interstate, which must be 80 feet above.  The tunnel is so long, you have to use your headlamp after entering about 30 feet or you will trip over debris and rocks on the floor.  Even though you can see the other side, it’s really dark in there and you can’t see crap.

Once you pass under the interstate, you are entering Vasquez Rocks Natural Area.

The canyons entering Vasquez Park.

The rock formations are all over the place as far as the eye can see.

Approaching the town of Agua Dulce off in the distance.

Once I got to the actual park itself, the rock I was looking for was quite easy to spot.  Many TV shows and movies have been filmed here, but the most famous is Star Trek where Captain Kirk fights a Gorn.  It felt really weird and eerie being there and imagining a film crew there.  Google Kirk vs Gorn to see a pic.  WordPress won’t let me attach one here.  [Post hike: I can post it after the fact pretty easliy 🙂 ]

Famous scene from the 1966 episode “The Arena” of the original Star Trek series.

I got in to Agua Dulce about 9:30 and went straight to the breakfast house – the Sweetwater Bar and Grill.  The Barbacoa beef burrito was heavenly and so was the fresh picante salsa to go with it.  That’s not just hiker hunger talking, it really was that good.  [Post hike:  Still the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had in my entire life.]

I waited for the shuttle to Hiker Heaven, the local hostel.  I was there about 20 minutes when a man drove by in a gator and said the shuttle was not regular, just come over to the hardware store and have some free coffee and donuts.  So I sat there for nearly two hours shooting the shit with the men’s gossip league.  There were some interesting conversations, let me tell you.  I made a stop at the market to resupply in that time and then the guy in the gator finally just drove me to the hostel.  It was a mile away and I could have walked it in 20 minutes, but I had fun with the old timers as they gossiped about everyone who walked into the restaurant.

Once I got to Hiker Heaven, it was an operation, let me tell you.  The intro took 10 minutes.  They are extremely efficient at hosting very large numbers of people in an organized fashion.

I grabbed a laundry sack and towel and made a beeline to the shower.  It always feels good to be clean.  When you sweat a whole bunch, four days without one drives you nuts.  I can’t bathe every day like I could on the AT because I am dry camping where I have to carry every drop of water and it all goes to drinking.  Even dishwater from cleaning my cooking pot goes down the gullet (no soap).

I gathered all my laundry after the shower and put it in the bag and labelled it as instructed.  Then I grabbed a pan and Epsom salt and soaked my feet.  It was the first opportunity I have had to do that and it felt good.  I had some old callused skin that I wiped and picked off.  No serious blisters at this point.

It took a while for laundry, so I was able to recharge the electronics, check out the water report for the next hundred miles or so, and do some other chores.  I called the hardware store in wrightwood to see if anyone turned in my glasses but no luck.

I got a ride back to town as soon as laundry was done and I was packed.  I got dropped off at the pizza joint to have lunch on the way out.  A large pepperoni pizza and two slices packed out for dinner it a great way to leave a town.

I made it out at 3:30 and the clouds had broken, but there was a cool breeze, so I did not even use the umbrella.  More clouds rolled in later, but it should be a fairly clear night.  I wanted to make it at least ten miles out of town because I have another road walk due to fire closure tomorrow.  This one is 14 miles but has a restaurant in the middle of the walk.

Leaving civilization after about two miles along roads and I am rewarded with another great desert sunset.

I did not stay in town because I am trying to outrun another heat wave that hits on Monday.  In Agua Dulce it is supposed to get to 108, but the town I am going to be at on that day is supposed to be only 98.  I just want to get as far across the desert as I can before the weekend.  It is almost full moon, so if night hiking is needed, that will help.

Another undercast day in southern California.

I got up bright and early to make some tracks today and to be sure I was done with the road walking when it was still early and cool.  Since I was high on mount Wilson, I had a great sunset as well as a nifty sunrise.  The breeze died down in the middle of the night so I was alot warmer than when it was blowing while I was cooking and eating the night before.

All because of a toad

It was only a few miles before I hit the trail closure because of a rare toad in the area.  12 miles of trail are closed and substituted with a 7 mile road walk.  The road walk itself was quite nice.  In the two hours or so I was walking it, I probably saw only five cars.

A peaceful road walk with very little traffic.

The scenery was nice and the grade pretty tame.  A campground was five miles into the walk so I detoured to get water.  It took a while to find and I don’t think I was really using the official source, but it was water and I needed it.

Walking tall… On a road.

I was back in the woods long before lunch and stumbled on two other hikers who were both section hikers.  The trail here was an old abandoned road.  You could see chunks of asphalt here and there.  The trail was smooth and the grade quite mild again.

When we came to the private campground that sometimes has water, the owner was there and had filtered water for us and even cooked us hotdogs.  It’s always nice to eat something you don’t have to cook yourself.  He was there for the week with his son and a few other people doing maintenance on the structures.  We chatted a while and then set off again.

Another milestone – 400 miles done.

The afternoon was warm, but not hot and I took a short 30 min break to eat at 12:30 then again for an hour in the shade to nap at 3:00.  The area for at least ten miles around here had been burned and one of the nasty things that grows back after a burn is called poodle dog bush.  Weird name, weird bush.  It was all over the place and frequently right on the trail.

Poodle Dog bush is special because it has a toxin similar to poison ivy and oak that causes severe rashes if you touch it.

I am still wearing the long sleeves and long shirt to combat this possibility.  I am also carrying cortisone just in case.  There is also a lot of poison oak around here.  The one odd thing about poodle dog is that it is very fragrant.  It smells like skunked Canadian beer, and I like that smell.

The mild mannered poodle dog bush.

I ended the day a little early because I needed water to cook with and the only water for quite a while is at a forest service fire station.  They have a pit toilet, water, and a picnic table.  A perfect place to make a huge pot of spaghetti and chocolate pudding.  It’s 18 miles to the next water and there is another road walk specifically for poodle dog section that is really bad.  I think it’s about 8 or 10 miles of road walk.  If nothing else, it should make the day go by more quickly.

A typical southern California view on the Pacific Crest Trail.