Week Five Wrap-Up

Week five was a fun one! And we hit our first big milestone - 500 miles baby!

We started the week off a bit down in the dumps, as the first day back on the trail after a zero is always a little rough. We were way spoiled at the Svevien’s, so this time it was extra hard. Luckily, only ten miles in we hiked through Agua Dulce - a small rural desert community with a few shops and restaurants. We stopped for breakfast at Home Made Restaurant. Despite the subpar name, the food was phenomenal! We hiked in with Amy and Paul, and more of our trail friends showed up as we ate. It wasn’t long before the blues faded away and we were back in trail mode.

A couple days into week five, a cold snap hit. And it hit hard. Had I known how miserable the hiking would be that morning, I never would have emerged from the tent. The first mile wasn’t too bad. Cold, but tolerable. Then we started to climb. With each foot of elevation gain it got colder and windier. It wasn’t long until we were defying gravity, walking completely sideways and nearly parallel to the ground because of the constant blast of insane wind. We found a spot out of the wind, put all of our warm clothes on, then made ourselves as low to the ground as possible and put the pedal to the metal. Our only option was to keep moving as quickly as possible while also securing ourselves to the mountainside. About seven miles later we were through the worst of it. And then… trail magic! Just when we needed it most we came upon Skinny Jesus and his camper van. He had a whole display of snacks, fruit, muffins, beer, and mimosas! I would’ve killed for a mimosa in that moment. Luckily I didn’t have to - Skinny Jesus had me covered. Chris packed us each a beer to take on the road so we could have a proper celebration at the 500 mile mark. Three miles later we were there! Amy, Paul, Chris and I hung out for a while, ate again, drank our beer, and sang that song “I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more…”.

The following day we arrived to Hiker Town. This place was bizarre. The best way I can describe it is a rundown compound with each “storefront” posing as a different type of shop or service you’d see in any typical town. A barber shop, post office, general store, etc. Except there were none of those things. Each “storefront” was a guest room. And inside each room was a rather uninviting scene. But hey, there was a bed and it was cheap! The place was weird though. The general store (the real general store) a few miles down the road offered rides to and from, plus there was a cafe, and we were hungry. We’re always hungry. So we spent the majority of the afternoon resupply shopping and sitting outside the cafe eating meal after meal. We’d have an early morning, so we ventured back to Hiker Town to prep ourselves and turn in early, but not before a few homemade tamales prepared by the Hiker Town hostess.

Our alarm blasted itself off at 2am. We’d be hiking the notorious LA aqueduct section, which meant we had 24 miles to knock out before the sun made its way high in the sky. This section of the PCT follows the aqueduct that runs from the Sierras to LA to provide water to the people of LA. It’s known to be the hottest and most exposed part of the trail, so the majority of hikers tackle it at night. You’d be stupid not to. It was hotter than Sam Hell by the time we finished around 11am. The night hike was fun though. The air was cool and the stars were showing off, plus we had glow-sticks attached to our packs and trekking poles for a little extra flare. The first ten or so miles passed quickly, then the sun came up and it was hotter than a fiery nun with a jalapeño up here bum. We spent the afternoon lounging in the shade, recovering from our early morning and preparing for another early morning the next day.

We’d get up again before the buttcrack of dawn in hopes to knock out the remaining 25 miles to Tehachapi in time for happy hour. Our alarms rang, and we groggily rolled out of our sleeping bags. We were exhausted. It didn’t take long for our exhaustion to be overpowered by our amazement of the trail though. Just as we were getting over how beautiful the sunrise was, we came upon wildflower covered mountainsides - a sea of purples, yellows, and whites. The smell so sweet it was almost intoxicating. I could have laid down in them and sniffed the air for all of eternity. The bees were even more excited than we were. Hundreds of them buzzed from flower to flower, happy as clams, pollinating the earth. Despite it being our biggest mileage day yet, the 25 miles came fairly easily. The trail meets HWY 58 near a bus stop. Once again we got lucky with a ride; one of the only four buses per day arrived about ten minutes after we rolled in.

The bus stop in Tehachapi is only about 0.1 miles from the Best Western we’d be staying at, but we inadvertently took the “scenic” route which added a mile. We couldn’t check in yet. The room was probably ready, but, unlike our other accommodation experiences, the majority of the staff here were less than accommodating. We met up with Amy - who now goes by Tour Guide - and Paul - now Bad Review - for lunch at Kelsey’s, a hiker friendly cafe down the street from the hotel. It was delicious, and the service was top-notch! Once we were able to check in to our hotel room, we went straight for the shower. A lady who got off the bus at the stop before us literally plugged her nose when she walked by us, passive aggressively letting us know we were in dire need of bathing. We were sharing a room with Tour Guide and Bad Review - by the time all four of us had a shower, the drain was clogged with grit. After laying in our beds for a minute, we were off to Walmart to resupply. We were there for over two hours perusing the aisles. I also picked up a pair of bell-bottom stretchy pants for the winery we’d visit the next day. The walk back to the hotel from Walmart was the hardest part of our PCT experience so far. We all way overbought. The only way to make it back was to sprint, our arms slung full with shopping bags, for about thirty seconds then dramatically rushing to set them down for a break. Of course the walk was along a busy road - you’re welcome, people of Tehachapi, for the cheap entertainment.

I woke up at 4am with hunger pain so severe there was no hope in going back to sleep. I snuck out of the hotel room trying hard not to disturb the three sleeping beauties. Success! I eagerly waited for two hours in the lobby until breakfast was ready. At least there was plenty of coffee to curb my hunger. With all of our errands tended to the day before, we got to spend the day relaxing and recuperating. We spent the afternoon at the Tehachapi Winery where we drank enough wine to make up for all the wine we’ve missed since being on the trail. In the back of the taxi on the way out to the winery, Let it Be playing loud through the speakers, I was suddenly struck with immense pride for how far we’ve come. Mexico was over 500 miles ago, and we’ve walked the whole damn way. We’re constantly surrounded by tons of other people doing the exact same thing we are - it’s the norm around here - so it’s easy to lose sight of the grand adventure we’re on. But when we stop and take a minute to reflect on it, we feel proud of ourselves and all the other hikers too, for how far we’ve come. Another group of hikers we’ve been on the trail with joined us at the winery. It was a well deserved celebration for hitting the 500 mile mark. It was the perfect way to close out our fifth week on the trail.

Five weeks and 566.5 miles in the books! If all goes as planned, we’ll finish the desert section by the end of next week, which we’re desperately looking forward to. We can’t wait to get into the Sierra Nevada mountains!

Keep humping!