GIANTS, Wind Turbines, and Sand

Sunday, May 11-Zero Day

Because the SF Giants were in LA we decided to take in a game on my zero day. 

I didn't realize our longtime friends, the Rainville's, had a personality defect...they're Dodger fans. 

The Giants won in extra innings. Life is good!

Monday, May 12, Turtle Production Zone

We visited with Mike Rainville's sister, Peggy Campbell in Lancaster in the morning. Peggy has been instrumental in making, coordinating the production of, and delivery of countless hundreds (thousands?) of turtle pillows over the years. The pillows are an incredibly important keepsake for the campers at The Painted Turtle. 

Then it was back on the trail. A long stretch, about ten miles, along the buried Los Angeles Aquaduct. In the background hills the California poppies are blooming, creating huge swatches of orange. 

Tuesday, May 13, I Shouldn't Have

When BSCM, Mike, and Sharleen dropped me off at the LA Aquaduct Monday afternoon it sounded like a good idea to have BSCM meet me at the next good road crossing Tuesday evening. The problem was, it was forty miles of the Mojave Desert, not all of which is flat, between the two locations. 

I got up early amongst a sea of wind turbines. The turbines, and the babbling LA Aquaduct had serenaded me to sleep. 

In this picture you can see a truck on the landing below the wind turbine on the right. That's not a regular sized truck, it's a quite large maintenance truck. The turbines are huge, and there must be tens of thousands of them I passed in the last two days!

They are not called "breeze" turbines, they are called "wind turbines" for a reason. It has been a phenomenally windy few days. They put those wind turbines in this area for a reason. 

When I lived in Madison County, Montana the wind was epic. This wind matches it, except Tehachapi wind is warm, not the "absolute zero" bone-crushingly cold Ennis sometimes (too often) experiences. 

The sand of the Mojave Desert seems nastier to hike on than that of the more southern desert from earlier in the hike. Sand gets in the shoes and requires many stops to clean them out. Many hikers use Dirty Girl Gaiters to keep sand out. These gaiters are shorter, lighter, and more elaborately colored than gaiters I'm used to for snow. I thought all along they were ridiculous. I now see why many hikers wear them. If I were just starting the Mojave Desert now I would buy some (the ridiculous colorful patterns would probably go well with my clown shoes).

Some beautiful flowers, Joshua trees, and Mormon tea almost didn't make up for this long, hot, windy day. I hiked from 4:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. (with a few breaks in the heat).  I hiked more than 25 miles and was exhausted when I showed up at the road crossing with that wonderful BSCM and blue truck waiting. Also waiting was a big batch of chili. All the hikers I meet realize how good I have it with BSCM around. 

I thought of my daughters as they were growing up (and even now to some extent). When they were hungry and tired they could get grumpy and unpleasant to be around. I could feel that devil coming out in me. I know where my daughters inherited this trait. BSCM fed me quickly and had me go to sleep. I woke up Wednesday morning and all was well in the universe again. I shouldn't have pushed it so hard Monday and Tuesday. 

Near the towns of Tehachapi and Mojave (Hwy 58), mile 566. Now more than 1/5 done with the hike.  I'm still Livin' the Dream.  TORTUGA 

Re-routed---The Painted Turtle!

May 9th and 10th-San Francisquito Canyon Road to California Aquaduct 

The Powerhouse Fire started May 30th, 2013. It burned 24 residences and thousands of acres. The fire also burned some of the outlying facilities at The Painted Turtle. Then an intense winter storm came and erosion and raveling took place. As a result the trail was closed from San Francisquito Canyon Road until nearly Hikertown.

The bad news is it requires nearly a 25 mile road walk as the re-route. The good news is the road walk is relatively safe, and it leads hikers right by The Painted Turtle!!!  Some of my new hiker friends now know about the great work the camp does!  

Ninja Tank, Hemlock, Whitewater, Jolly, Me Too, and Kim Chi at the entrance to The Painted Turtle. 

Sadly, The Painted Turtle could not operate in 2013 as a result of the fire and smoke damage, but, it's back up and running this year!!! The tenth anniversary celebration for the camp is next weekend, May 17th. I will be taking a zero day and coming back to volunteer for the festivities. 

Our friends from volunteering at The Painted Turtle, Pops and Sherry, let us stay with them at their wonderful home in Lake Hughes for two nights. They are legends at the camp for all they do, and Pops even made the national news (NBC) for his actions in protecting the camp during the fire. Again, showers, a real bed, and great company help make this hike really special.

Each camper gets a turtle pillow to take home with them from camp. These turtles are very special momentos from their camp experience, and there is sheer delight when they receive their special pillow!  

I took a break at The Painted Turtle and showed off my new pack decoration BSCM and Sharleen Rainville made for the pack. 

Reroute completed, and back on the trail.

The picture doesn't do this poppy field justice. 

Hikertown is a popular trail angel encampment at the start of the Mojave Desert portion of the trail. 

I finish, for now, here at the California Aquaduct at mile 519. Now it's time to take another zero day, May 11th, to watch my San Francisco Giants play in LA. The next 150 miles or so is the daunting Mojave Desert.

Clown Shoes?

May 7th-Wednesday-Zero Day

BSCM picked me up in Agua Dulce Tuesday and we went to my nephew Steve and his wife Randi's new home which was supposed to be nearby. We didn't realize how close it was. It was twelve minutes to their front door!  

A hot tub, two nights in a regular bed, visiting, and preparations for more hiking abounded. 

A trip to REI in Northridge was somewhat successful, but they didn't have the one, most important item I needed, the right shoes. Last week, when I got to Wrightwood, the bottoms of my feet were really sore. It was an odd feeling, just how bruised and swollen they were. I remedied the situation by switching over to my hiking boots from my Brooks, Cascadia trail runners. The boots were a temporary fix. 

REI checked, and the only place they had the right sized shoes that I wanted was at their Santa Monica store. We went to the big city ($10 parking) and got the shoes. My feet have already grown one-half size on the hike. The shoes are absolutely perfect, except for one thing, they are the brightest, neon, sunset orange color I've ever seen in a shoe. I will now be making quite the clown fashion statement on the trail. 

Steve spent time teaching me tricks on my IPhone. I feel like a student in a remedial class with some of this technology!  If not for the help of key people (all who are a generation younger than I) I would never be able to have a blog. 

My daughter Kari and son-in-law Colin put together the website and the blog for me. Then, they walked me through it step by step and made it so simple that even the ultimate old school guy like me could use it. 

Thank you Kari, Colin, and Steve for all the technology (and other) help!  

We went out to dinner with a friend who used to work on the Klamath NF, John King, his wife Joanna, and Steve. John now works on the Bear Divide Hotshots, and is looking great and happy now as married man!

May 8- Thursday- Vegetables

The day started with a two mile road walk out of Agua Dulce so I was talking with Kaye and Kevin Suzuki as I was walking the road. Being distracted I just kept walking and talking. When I got off the call I checked and I had missed an intersection and was way off route and had to backtrack. So, Kaye Suzuki succeeded in getting me lost from a thousand miles away. She succeeded in getting me lost once in Antelope Basin a couple years ago in Montana. There seems to be a pattern. A couple of extra miles of hiking on such a nice day wasn't such a bad thing. 

This was a wonderful day for hiking. The weather was perfect, I wore shorts, there was no wind, every once in a while a live oak stand like this would make it extra cool, and much of the tread of the trail had been recently worked. 

I spent much of the morning singing. I was trying to remember all the songs I used to sing for my daughters when they were young. It's a good thing nobody came by as I was belting out "Grandma's Feather Bed," or "Puff the Magic Dragon," or I may have been committed. 

There is a reason for me to be on this wavelength. I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDFATHER!  My daughter Ashley, and her boyfriend Travis, are expecting a baby November 5th. I'm very excited, but  will have to relearn lyrics to some old songs...this is going to be fun. 

When I was in Montana a friend, Ron Schott, gave me the meat of an antelope he got during hunting season. I just finished the jerky from that antelope today. Switching to commercial jerky will be such a letdown. 

I appreciate the trail work done by so many folks on the trail. 

Theresa (BSCM) was at a road crossing 11 miles in to the hike today with a vegetable platter for all to enjoy. She was a hit with the hiker trash crowd. She also grabbed lots of gear and there was a group of six slack packers on the trail for the afternoon (an additional 12 miles).  

The hike ended at San Francisquito Canyon Road, mile 479. 

Nostalgia, Station Fire, Super Trail Angels

The five day stretch from Wrightwood to Agua Dulce had me leaving the San Bernardino National Forest and hiking through a good piece of the Angeles National Forest. It was a good thing winds subsided because much of the area I hiked through burned in 2009 in the Station Fire, and it wouldn't have been comfortable hiking under the rotting snags in crazy winds. 

There was poor cell service during much of this stretch, especially compared to the previous part of the hike.

Theresa (BSCM) provided her typical incredible support for the first two days of this stretch before heading back to Beaumont for a couple more days with the Rainville's. 

When Theresa is supporting I get to sleep in our camper shell in the evenings. It is a great luxury. One hiker, Katie, had been talking with me about glamping, glamour camping, as we were hiking. When she saw what I got to sleep in that evening she accused me of glamping. The teasing was deserved!  I use many Wet Wipes getting clean enough in the evenings to be allowed in the back of the truck. 

Two thru-hikers, Legs and Nature, also took advantage of the truck to carry some gear and have lighter loads (slack pack).  Legs had nasty shin splints and this seemed to help. 

Another hiker, when he heard about the support I've been given said emphatically, "...you've got a GOOD wife...my wife would NEVER do that!"  He made me laugh. 

Friday, May 2, Nostalgia Day

As I left Wrightwood, a ski town I last visited in high school when I went skiing, I climbed Mt Baden-Powell, which I climbed when I was 13 or 14 in Boy Scouts. I got to look over at Mt Baldy and some of the Cucamonga Wilderness which were part of the first District I worked on with the Forest Service in 1974 and 1975. It was a day of reminiscing. I remember kids getting in trouble for cutting switchbacks on the trail going up Mt. Baden-Powell, it's possible I was one of those deviants in the old days.

That is me with the crazy hair hiking into the Cucamonga Wilderness in 1974 or 1975. Cousin Jerry was with me. He put rocks in my pack on that trip, I'm still working on forgiving him for that trick. 

I've seen these signs in Montana, but Montana isn't the only place with bighorn sheep. 

Atop Mt. Baden-Powell with Mt. Baldy in the background. Baden-Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts. There were 40 switchbacks leading up to the 9399 foot summit. 

Limber pine near summit. 

The blue truck at the end of a long hike is always a welcome sight. 

Saturday, May 3-I Slept Through It

Just as Theresa and I were climbing into our glamping mobile, and Legs and Nature were climbing into their tent, at the Islip Trailhead all sorts of LA County Search and Rescue vehicles and searchers showed up to search for an injured and lost hiker. I went to sleep as it had been a long, hard day. We hadn't seen anything on our way. Apparently a few hours later helicopters were hovering over the trailhead and it was quite a commotion, Theresa and Nature told Legs and me all about it in the morning. The two guys slept through the whole thing. Nature was incredulous, Theresa knows that when I'm tired I can sleep through World War III. 

From the trailhead Legs and Nature were going to road walk for about four miles, I wanted to take the trail so I left early. When I took off they realized Theresa had a flat tire. They were happy to be able to help Theresa, and not just being helped by Theresa. 

A bit of a road walk was required. Of course that meant Theresa was available to have coffee and hot food for brunch, it doesn't get much better than this. 

I had laid down, trying to do a selfie when a couple with this dog came day hiking from the other direction. It was a fun and funny moment. Their dog got in the picture as I hit the 400 mile mark on the hike. They were doing some filming... something like PCT adventures on YouTube. Who knows, I may be a star someday:)

A couple of guys working on this historic cabin had some stale pizza that was delightful. 

More snow plant. These look so unique they just make me smile. 

Sunday, May 4th-Station Fire 2009

After staying at Three Points Trailhead for the night Theresa headed out for three days and I will therefore sleep on the ground like most PCT hikers for a bit. 

I met a thru-hiker today who spent way, way, way more time preparing for this hike than I did!  When he showed me his color-coded resupply spreadsheet I knew I was overmatched in the planning department. Then he told me he had pared it down from the original four pages to just this one page. I knew I was out of my planning league. I really don't know how (or what) I'm going to resupply in Oregon or Washington except that I have friends up there who will help when I get there. I'm so lucky that for the first 700 miles or so of the hike I have Theresa close by as my resupply plan. After that my resupply plan is to go to the store when I need to resupply.

I was able to glean some good information about how to handle resupply in the Sierras. The guy really had done his research well. 

The hike is now through the remnants of the large Station Fire of 2009. 

I made it near the Mill Creek Fire Station for the evening. The folks there were a great help. 

Monday, May 5, Early Start

I woke up early, and was hiking by 4:45 a.m..  

Hiking through more of the burn area for so long got old. 

I came across the memorial to the two LA County firefighters who lost their lives battling the Station Fire. It was a somber  memorial. 

There was a long reroute to avoid this obnoxious, noxious, invasive plant, poodle dog bush. Hikers who have brushed against it have been forced off the trail. It's becoming widespread in the Station Fire area. They say it creates rashes and complications worse than poison oak. 

I hiked alone most of the day. This was my first 25 mile day. I tried to make it to a KOA campground with amenities that was at the 26 mark, but I just couldn't make that last mile. 

My air mattress is my nemesis. It works fine, until I sleep on it. The air is gone in three to four hours. I've checked for leak in a bathtub and can't find it, I think it needs the pressure of someone laying on it for the air to come out. I'm going to test REI's return policy. 

REI has got a lot of my business preparing for, and during, this trip. I need to buy new hiking shoes as I've worn out a pair already.  REI may be a good stock tip. Other stocks you may consider are anyone who makes ibuprofen, and Wet Wipes. 

Tuesday, May 6, Hiker Heaven

Early in the day I came to the monument commemorating the official completion of the Pacific Crest Trail in 1993. This is the figurative "golden spike" for the trail. 

This is where the trail goes under the Antelope Valley Freeway, Hwy 14. A fascinating long tunnel. 

The Vasquez Rocks Natural Area was a surprise to me. I had never heard of it, and was amazed by it. Many movies have been shot here including Star Trek, Bonanza, Austin Powers, and Bill &Ted's Excellent Adventure. They appeared to be filming another one as I passed by. 

I was hiking slow today because I was overly ambitious yesterday. The good part of hiking so slowly, and taking so many breaks, is I got passed by seven thru-hikers and got to meet some new folks, and visit with some from earlier on in the trek. 

I finally made it in to Agua Dulce and what must be the most incredible trail angel set up ever, the Saufley's. They have anything, and everything, a thru-hiker could hope for. All I really wanted was a shower, and it felt grand. Theresa was there to pick me up for a zero at my nephew Steve's house in Santa Clarita, some comfort food, and a soft bed. 

I am now at mile 455 of the 2650 trek.