Day 31: Mile 518 to 529   (11 miles)

Got my new phone early this morning and sent the old one back. While at post office, a guy who knew I was a hiker offered me a ride. Being I have a long ways to go to get back to where I left off, he was able to at least get me just outside of town where I was able to hitch two more rides that got me back into Hiker Town. My last hitch was from Douglas who I am sure was a little surprised to see a hiker on a road far away from the trail and basically in the middle of no where. I was very thankful for the ride as he also stopped at the store for me so I can grab some water and Gatorade for the trail. Douglas has also been interested in hiking the PCT as well at some point and hopefully he gets the chance to do so.

I was finally back on trail and today is going to be mostly dirt road walking and pretty flat. Within a couple miles I was walking on the LA Aquaduct which is a water conveyance system that delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles.

As the sun disappeared over the hill and it started to get dark. I ran into Grapefruit and one other person who was camped off the side of the dirt road. I decided to join them and rolled out my sleeping mat and sleeping bag and cowboy camped under all the stars.

Day 32: 529 to 549   (20 miles)

Woke up and got an early start this morning. Not before long I was hiking through the Manzana Wind Farm which features 126 modern wind turbines. The turbines are on 213 foot towers at start producing power when winds reach the speed of 6-7 mph. They power 60,000 homes annually.

Stopped at Tyler Horse Canyon for lunch which is the last water source for a while. I heard from another hiker that Grapefruit was feeling really sick and having a hard time making miles. Her goal was to make it to Tyler Horse Canyon so she would be next to water and try and sleep it off. As I moved closer to where I planned on camping for the night, I met another hiker named Bat. He is legally blind and is hiking the whole trail. Great guy and amazing to hear his story of how he is hiking the trail and getting around with limited sight.

I finished the long climb up to the top of the ridge just before dark and quickly set up my tent. As soon as I got inside, I went to check the time and noticed my phone would not turn on. That didn’t take long. Two days and my “new” (aka: refurbished) phone has stopped working. Well tomorrow I will reach Tehachapi and will try to get everything fixed asap cause I can’t keep wasting time in town.

Day 33: Mile 549 to 566   (17 miles)

Started real early this morning in hope of getting to Tehachapi quickly as possible. I ran into Manfred 46 this morning. He was a German guy who I saw at Mt. Laguna at the beginning of the hike. He was at a trail head taking pictures of hikers as he planned on starting the first week of May. He was passing me today and he averages 30 miles a day. At the age of 69, that is very impressive and shows what someone can do no matter their age.

As I closed in on Hwy 58 I saw a guy who was working on washing and cleaning the wind turbines. It’s looks like a job many people wouldn’t want to have as he sits way up there in the wind. I’m sure it’s completely safe, but it doesn’t look like he has much support up there!

I was able to get to Hwy 58 and was lucky to have someone who had just dropped off some hikers and was headed back into town. I got a ride to the airport in town which is a place where hikers can camp. For $5 you can camp on some nice green grass at the airport next to the hangers and runway. There is a pilots lounge where you can use the kitchen and shower or just lounge on some comfy couches or chairs and watch TV.

I got my third phone in the mail this afternoon and it’s supposed to show up in the morning. I went to go set up my tent and was surprised the route it took to get there. You literally walk through the middle of the airport and I had to walk over a fuel hose as a guy was fueling up his plane and then walk between all the parked planes in the airport to arrive at the grassy location.

(Guy fueling up his airplane)

(Hikers camped out at the Tehachapi airport)

I ran into Jpeg, Ego, Ninja and Scotland who I haven’t seen in a while and were also camping at the airport. As they went off to do laundry and go resupply, I went across to the gas station and bought a huge container of chocolate milk which I drank nearly all at once.

Just before it was time to turn in for the night, I got to watch a couple planes takeoff and land and then saw the Kern County Fire helicopter land and drop someone off and then takeoff again. For such a small airport, it seems to be pretty busy here.

Day 34: (Zero miles)

So my phone didn’t show up this morning. FedEx told me it was delayed and it will show up by 5:00pm this evening. I have spent to much time in this town and I have become a great tour guide for all the new hikers who keep showing up each day. Tell me what you need and I can send you to the right place including knowing all the street names. I can give you an accurate review of almost all food places as well. (The German bakery has amazing sandwiches and you can not go wrong with Burger Spot, which I went to four times)

I decided to take a three hour walk around the city to waste time and by the end of my walk, I found out my phone was not going to arrive and it would show up sometime tomorrow instead. So much for overnight shipping. With rain in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow, I do not want to camp at the airport and deal with wet gear right now so I went over to the Santa Fe Motel and got myself a room spending more money thanks to FedEx and their delay. I spent the rest of the night watching TV and talking to Tyson and just trying to stay relaxed as I know the next stretch will be a very long one coming up once I finally leave town. Only have about 150 miles left of the desert and then a long stretch through the very remote Sierras.