I thought the wind would blow the tarptent down last night. Even inside the tarptent and inside my down bag it was a cold night. June, near the desert, and in the early morning it was freezing. I awoke at 6:30am to the sound of Bono and Nightingale’s voices. They had begun hiking early to catch up to us so we could hike together. Nitro, Doodlebug and I packed up in the cold morning air and quickly the five of us began hiking down the side of Liebre Mountain toward the fringe of the Mojave desert.
The trail soon reached the boundary of private property, the expansive Tejon Ranch. For the next seven miles we were bounced around, up and down sandy arid hills, curving in and out of gullies, and after one break we finally completed ten miles and arrived at the trail crossing of Highway 138 in the Mohave (Antelope Valley). We all did a 1.3 mile highway hike to Gil’s Country Store. It was so windy and cold we were happy to be inside. We bought snacks and sodas, then went outside to a picnic table next to the store to eat our trail lunches. We had to move; it was so windy and cold, to the front of the store, where we lay on the pavement to escape some wind and to soak up the heat radiating from the pavement. From noon to 3pm we relaxed at the store, refilling water bottles for the 16-mile upcoming stretch in the desert along the California, then the Los Angeles, aqueduct.
Just after 3pm we resumed our hike, first hiking the highway back to the trail, then along dirt roads adjacent and parallel to the aqueduct. Normally this stretch of 40 miles of desert is extremely hot and hikers normally hike it at night to avoid the heat. In this strangest of weather years in So. Cal., we were happy to be hiking in the heat of the afternoon to stay warm and were planning to stop before dark to set up cowboy camping and to get into our sleeping bags before the desert night cold returned. We hiked along the aqueduct for several miles, searching for a viable campsite off the road/aqueduct where we could have some safety from possible passing vehicles during the night.
The scenery along this desert stretch has been quite unappealing, with abandoned vehicles, abandoned mobile homes, occasional dumped junk and lots and lots of bullet ridden signs and shell casings littering the road. Finally a little before 7pm there was a break in the endless barbed wire fence aligning the aqueduct on either side. So we scoped out a camping spot about 40 yards off the road behind some chapparal bushes and a couple of Joshua trees. We’re probably stealth camping on private property, but I just took a bathroom break (it’s almost dark now) and there are no lights within several miles, so we shouldn’t be discovered tonight. Phantom, Happy, Bad Moon and Whoop Ass are still behind us, but we are hopeful we’ll all be reunited by the time we reach Tehachapi on Wednesday.
I heard from Good To Go; he is back on the trail today and plans to hike big 30 mile days to catch up with us. Today was one of the windiest days I’ve ever hiked in; with steady 30mph winds and gusts to 40mph. Hope to hear coyotes tonight and maybe see some scorpions and sidewinders tomorrow morning.
Today’s weather: sunny, very windy and cold. Low: 34; high 68. Today’s mileage:20.0; cumulative miles: 528.6.
