A Thru-Hike is really a series of four to seven-day hikes strung together

Some people are under the impression that a hike such as this is one giant outing in the great, open wilderness. In actuality, I can only ever carry about seven or eight day’s worth of food on my back and then I’m constantly procuring water along the trail to filter. This post takes me into my first rest and resupply period after a stretch of about seven days on the trail.

Days seven through nine were characterized by crossing the extremely hot California aqueduct section of the trail and the climb up to Tehachapi as well as resupplying for the next leg of the journey.

Due to the extreme heat (and lack of shade) common during the day while hiking the aqueduct, I decided to start hiking it at 9 pm on day six. I started out using a headlamp, but quickly determined that it wasn’t even necessary. The moon was nearly full and it lit up the aqueduct and dirt road beside it so well that I cast a distinct shadow on the ground as I walked. It was actually really peaceful hiking at night and there was no wind. I did hear some coyotes calling to each other but I didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.

By 2 am I was so sleepy ( I hadn’t gotten much sleep during the day when I was rolling with Richard) that I had to just plop down and camp on the cement aqueduct. I “cowboy camped” meaning that I just put out my Tyvek ground sheet, my air mattress and sleeping quilt and slept without a tent. As I was going to sleep I heard the freaky sounds of night hawks which must have been hunting just overhead of me. They made an eerie “bwow-whoop-whoop-whoop, bwow-whoop…” noise during their dives just overhead that sounded like it could have been the inspiration for the sound effects used for the Star Wars TIE fighters.

I was up again at 4:30 am and saw a beautiful sunrise over the aqueduct. After some hot breakfast I was on the trail again. There was a water spigot tapped right off of the aqueduct that I reached around 8:30 am and that was a lifesaver. It is such a long dry march through this section. Again, I ran into Backfire and Princess at this spigot. They had done a similar thing last night as myself.

It was a hot day of hiking in the desert and I found myself using my sun umbrella a lot to beat the heat. I got up into the wind turbine infested hills northwest of Lancaster, found a tent site in the shade near a flowing creek and called it a day.

Then I was off at 4:15 am the next day with a light pack because I had burned through all my food. I love the last day or two of each segment because your pack is light and you know you are going in soon for a bit of rest and a resupply. After seeing some trail magic and a water cache at mile 549, I just had a coupe hours of hiking left when my former landlord and good friend Craig picked me up near Tehachapi to take me back down to his place to rest and catch up with old friends.

This is called taking a “zero day” meaning that no trail miles are accomplished on that day. I was able to catch up with John and Craig and also with some of our former neighbors, Candy and Craig as we enjoyed some Mexican food from a restaurant that we often went to together along with Betsy when we were stationed there.

I got to shower up and remove the filth on me. One is positively rank even after only a couple of days on the hot trail in the same clothes all the time.

My actual zero day ended up being June 3rd which was what would have been Betsy’s 42nd birthday. It was very fitting to be in our old neighborhood hanging out with our friends from our time there on her birthday. I’m glad that she inspired me to go through with this hike and that I’m carrying a part of her with me on the journey.

Craig took me into town and after lunch at an awesome sub sandwich place, we went to Walmart and I loaded up on groceries for the next leg of the trip that will take me up to Kennedy Meadows. Not knowing how many miles I would really be able to accomplish each day, I got enough food for eight and a half days, but hopefully I can do the segment in less time.

The diet of a thru hiker is not the best. You are generally trying to find things that give you good caloric value for a low weight. I generally have oatmeal or grits for breakfast along with some type of breakfast bar. Then I will have four other energy bars spaced throughout the day for my rest spots. I make wraps with salami and cheese for lunch along with some type of trail mix. And then dinner usually is composed of couscous or Knorr pasta sides or instant mashed potatoes with some type of protein added in such as tuna or chicken packs. Real yummy:)

I got one more great night’s sleep in a real bed and then John and Craig dropped me off bright and early at the same point where I had gotten off trail. Next stop – Kennedy Meadows, the gateway to the High Sierras.

Trail Facts:

• Trail miles walked – 105
• Current PCT mileage marker – 559
• Current Audiobook – Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
• Current Podcast – The Daily by the New York Times, Pandemic Economics by the Becker Friedman Institute
• Additional PCT Thru-Hikers I’ve met – Justin and Miranda
• Additional wildlife seen – night hawks