Day 35: Mile 566 to 573   (7 miles)

Woke up to a rainy morning and sitting in my motel room waiting for the phone to arrive. The owner of the Santa Fe Motel was super nice and allowed me to stay in my room past checkout time and wait for my phone to arrive. It finally showed up at noon and I was eager to get out of town. Other hikers tried to talk me into waiting another day for the bad weather to pass but  I needed to leave before I went crazy. I called Kathy who is a trail angel in Tehachapi and she quickly picked me up and took me to the post office to send back my old phone and take me back to the trail head.

(The good luck charm my son gave me before I left on the adventure)

I was surprised by how much better the weather was at the trail head, though it looked like it could start to rain on me at any moment. I started my climb up the mountain and out of the valley and it wasn’t long before the winds really started to pick up and blow me around a little bit. Gusts probably topped near 70 mph in once small section where there was a gap between peaks, otherwise kept to closer to 40 mph or so.

The last half mile of my hike took me up into the clouds where visibility dropped a lot. I was able to find a nice place in between a bunch of trees that would keep me mostly protected from the winds throughout the night. I am glad to be back on the trail and feel much better to be moving again. After today, I might get reception one or two more times over the next 400-500 miles.

Day 36: Mile 573 to 593   (20 miles)

Woke up in the thick clouds in the morning and got moving. Great thing about hiking in the clouds or early morning is that its never too hot. I can always bundle up to stay warm if its too cold, but when it gets too hot, there isn’t much you can do to cool down and make all the miles you want to make without suffering at least a little bit. It wasn’t long before I dropped below the clouds and the sun helped clear the way for the rest of the day.

Six miles into the day I saw my first deer of the trip! Finally something larger then a rabbit. The young buck really wasn’t concerned with me being near by and I spent about five minutes watching him and drinking some water.

I got to lunch at a water spot where other hikers were gathered in the shade. There was a pipe that empties into a trough and a gallon jug cut open to be used as a scoop to hold the cleaner water. Being there isn’t much water in the area, everyone fills up here and it tastes better then it looks. Then again, any water in the desert is considered gold.

Had to walk down a steep old jeep road for a couple miles and I know its time to change out shoes soon as the tread is starting to wear thin. While going down the steep hill, I slipped a couple times and the third time was a charm. I lost footing and landed on my ass, go figure. I do have new shoes being sent to Kennedy Meadows at mile 702 so I will be excited to get those. I wear Salomon shoes which are lightweight and somewhat a hybrid between running shoes and hiking boots. I really like these shoe and would recommend them to anyone to at least try out. I got into camp a little early and set up in an open area by a big old tree.

Day 37: Mile 593 to 616   (23 miles)

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I noticed all the stars were out and by the time I woke up in the morning, I was deep in the fog again. I ran into a cow and her baby on the trail and it made for a short standoff. I finally mooed at the cow and her and her baby took off running down off the trail and into the woods. I had seen signs before warning hikers we were going through a section where we might run into cattle. Just like the day before, it didn’t take long before the sun helped burn off the fog bringing blue skies back once again to Hamp William Pass where I had breakfast.

(Last of the fog rolling through Hamp William Pass)

Later in the day around lunch time, I arrived at Landers Camp which is the last water source for 41 miles. I ran into Nicole there who is from Woodinville. I have hiked on and off with her throughout the trip. We had lunch and drank as much water as we could to get hydrated and ready for the long haul which was going to be a tough one with the hot days coming up. All a sudden Rain Gear showed up which surprised me as I thought he was a couple days ahead! He had hiked in with a couple people out of Tehachapi and then one person realized they left their warm jacket back in town and went back for it. Once in town they ran into other hikers who just got in town which lead to a fun drinking night for them and put them behind me at that point.

(“Armed guard surveillance” Really?)

I hiked the rest of the day with Rain Gear and Shuffle. I had just met Shuffle and he got his name because he listens to an Ipod shuffle and you can name almost any song and he will know it and can sing it using the voice of whoever sings it. Pretty talented stuff there! We hiked into the darkness and got to an area just before Kelso Valley Road where we pitched our tents while fighting the wind.