Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows

From Tehachapi the trail follows the highway for a mile and then cuts up into he arid hills. We did most of this hiking at night or close to it. The moon as close to full and it was easy to walk by.

We found this little guy along the trail. Usually I would just find rattlers but this time it was a pretty snake.

There are several burn areas from Tehachapi into Sequoia National Forest. They are quite beautiful areas because the wild flowers go crazy. My favorite are the Lupines. They smell so strongly. In this area there was a rock with a mini natural arch :)

We switched from night hiking into day hiking when the trail shifted into Sequoia National Forest. You can see here the desert meeting the tree line. A storm was brewing when we were rolling through so you could feel the humidity immediately. It was very windy. I mean can't walk forward in head wind type windy. 

As we enjoyed walking on duff instead of sand, we crawled our way toward snow capped mountains in the distance. Each vista made me more and more excited for the Sierra's and for the end of the water report.

I thought that coming into Kennedy Meadows we would have less sand and more trees, but it was more arid than I expected. The granite out crops called my name and I would love to go back and explore the area with some gear and rope.

Kennedy Meadows General Store was about what I expected. Good food, slow service, funny characters, and people spending way too much on booze. The area behind the store in which they allow people to camp was fine but small. The 4 privies were gross and overflowing from a crowd that gathered there over the weekend, but all in all it was a place that had Ben and Jerry's and burgers so it was a hiker heaven. My favorite was getting a ride from the owner of Grumpy Bear's son to get breakfast. Grumpy Bear is a restuarant from a different time. They have what they have and you get what they want to give you. The only question I was asked was 'how do you want your eggs?' They gave us bacon, two eggs, and two pancakes. They also give you more pancakes without charging you extra so we all ended up getting more pancakes. I loved the place. They work hard to even get food up there; there is no delivery truck, so you get what they have until they run out. All in all a good place but really my mind was on Whitney.

Agua Dulce to Tehachapi

The Saufley's have a great operation at Agua Dulce. My friends and I could cut down on weight by sending food ahead to hikertown and to Kennedy Meadows and some gear to Tehachapi. By gear I mean my tent, the forecast was nothing but sunny for days and so I took the risk of sending it forward. They have a mini post office in there. 

The hike out of Agua Dulce was beautiful. We started around 5:30 and saw sunset through the most beautiful part of the mountain, hiking until 12am or so.

Headed into Green Valley the next day we decided not to go to the Anderson's. We had already taken enough time in Agua Dulce so we were in the mood to move. 

From the ranger station there onward to basically HWY 138 there is a Powerhouse fire closure. I decided to walk the road to Lake Elizabeth and then catch the Aquaduct off of Munz Road. Made it into Hikertown that night after a very long haul, but we had water from the open Aquaduct the whole way. Hiking into the night to keep the temps and sun exposure down.

 Hikertown is cute and the right kind of dumpy for hikertrash. We hung out there until 5pm the next day. Ate breakfast and chilled out of the sun for our afternoon naps.

The section after hikertown into Tehachapi was the most boring. It is walking territory, not backpackers territory. Yeah sure you can cover major miles on road but the views which start being beautiful turn tedious after they haven't changed for miles. Wind mills look like dancing ladies and their humming purrs you to sleep until you have been walking by or around them for a few days. 

The best part about this section was night hiking with a close to full moon through the burn area. The white bark looked eerie in the moonlight. One tree was upside down, trunk up style, and we had to walk under it. How many times do you get to walk under a completely upside down tree?

Everyone got into Tehachapi and recouped in the Best Western hot tub. That thing heals. The Mediterranean restaurant in town, Petra's, really hit the spot. Most people crave pizza and beer, I crave Shwarma's and Coke. It was delicious and not super heavy.

Let me tell you I have been talked into a fried chicken meal by some friends of mine, worst idea ever. I'm sticking to my non fried foods (aside from French fries.)

Wrightwood to Agua Dulce

The hike out from Wrightwood is gorgeous and strenuous. It takes you up Baden-Powell, which is a beautiful climb. The switch backs are for days; they seem never ending but make it a gradual steady endurance race. My friends and I decided to summit, it's only 300ft off the PCT and totally worth it. Limber pines curl up everywhere making the views quite surreal. People don't know places like that exist. It's not tall enough to be considered a peak you would bag, but the 1500 year old tree and 360 amazing views make it well worth the effort.

From there the trail goes like a roller coaster until Little Jimmy Spring. 

This spring had seats and a pipe and a trough and a huge red cedar that you could stand in. I loved this water resource.

From there we started our long decent into the more arid regions. There is an endangered species closure, most people walked the road. If you continue walking the road past Three Points Campground down HWY 2 a mile you will reach the best burgers on the trail so far. Newcomb's Ranch has been open since World War II and does there burgers the right way, over a fire. Don't miss it, but call and check the hours. They close at 6pm.

We had a bit of a stormy day headed out of Three Points. The cloud cover was a relief, these sections through the burn areas are very exposed. From the ranger station, most people took the road detour around the poodle dog bush warning. My friend and I just wore long sleeves and pants and decided to do the trail. It was mostly avoidable and actually my favorite section of trail so far.

The mountains kept rolling and the wind kept blowing and we made our way to Agua Dulce.

I was happy to see the rocks popping up in the background, knowing these huge sedimentary rocks were a sign that the section was coming to a close. Let's just say I was pretty excited to see Vasquez Rocks.

My crazy friend and I decided to hike from the KOA (where we stopped for hot food, now serving until 8pm) to Vasquez Rocks. At 9pm making that day a 27 mile long walk around. The moon was bright as the temp was perfect. Two more of my friends hiked out at night and camped before the tunnel under the Hwy. We continued and got to see sunrise over Vasquez. Something I would highly recommend.

Big Bear to Wrightwood

I got into big bear just in time to miss a snow storm. It was nice to stay at the Nature's Inn instead of 4in of snow and 70mph wind gusts.

The Donut Shop by the laundry mat not only had amazing maple frosting donuts, but also had pretty amazing biscuits and gravy. It was easy to get from Big Bear City to the larger Big Bear Lake by bus.

Headed out from town I saw this amazing view coming into Little Bear Springs Campsites (cold and windy) after the crossing of Cougar Crest Trail. Look at them mountains. 

 The trail continues to Splinters Cabin area which has some pretty gorgeous views of Deep Creek. The trail follows the creek for many miles, it even heads to a hot springs. Get ready for lots of wang and a boy who lives there in a leaf thong who goes by Tarzan...i'm not joking. Despite the weirdness, the springs were relaxing and good for tired knees. We got lucky enough to have an empty spring area we could claim as the PCT section away from local drama. It was also a nice change of pace to relax and swim that day.

Leaving the hot springs, there was a bit of excitement after the rainbow bridge. A man got stung by something, had an adverse reaction and passed out. My friend ran to the hot springs to see if anyone could help, one person had a satellite phone and called for help. When the guy came to and could walk, we helped him hike out to the ambulance. This happened right near the spillway.

He emailed me and said that everything is ok. We are all relieved everything worked out fine in the end.

The hike around Silverwood Lake was beautiful and the hike to Cajon Pass was unreal. 

We all met up at the McDonald's on I-15 and ate some food. We also all got dumb after eating that crap. Some people even had to take a nero; that food makes you slow. I went with fries and a McFlury. That went down fine, but then later I added a chicken sandwich and that hit me with laziness.

I had heard the climb 5 miles out from McDonalds was long and hot so I did it at night. Rolled out of Cajon Pass around 4, got to the top and to a flat spot after the jeep road just after dark. That made the climb pretty easy. It's amazing what not having the full power of the sun will do.

The rest of the up and around until Hwy 2 was beautiful. Guffy Campground had good water and as long as you tucked yourself out of the wind, a good soft bed. I love pine trees, their needles make for the best sleeping.

Wrightwood is the most hiker friendly town yet. It is small, walkable, jolly, and Cinnamon's Bakery has the best sandwiches ever. Don't let the name fool you, they do have good pastries and muffins but there is a guy there named Steven who takes meals, like BBQ pork, coleslaw, and cornbread, and bakes them between two tortillas to make a pocket. I wish everyone could eat one, so  good, I'm still dreaming about going back for one. Aside from that there are some awesome trail angel's there. Wendi really pulled some strings to find a ride for a friend and I to get back to the trail. It was a great experience. 

PS. The Pines Motel is cheapest, very convenient, and will do your laundry for you. 

Idyllwild to Big Bear

Coming out of Idyllwild refreshed and with new shoes (switched to Salomon XR Missions), I headed up several thousand feet from town. I wanted to summit San Jacinto and even though it was cloudy, it was very worthwhile. 

The sky cleared over patches of sky allowing me to see the desert down below. After the peak it is a down hill, a very long 21 miles of nothing but down hill.

The group I am hiking with decided to break it up into two days so we could give our knees a break. That meant a dry camp off of Fuller Ridge. It was a brutal next day of exposed terrain with no water. Some of the people ran out before they got to the water fountain below. The benefits of hiking with a group are you can always scrape together some water so we all donated a little and got them to water thirsty but alright.

The views were gorgeous. Exposed could be PCT code for the best views you can get. I knew it would be beautiful, but this is beyond what I expected. 

I stopped at Ziggy and the Bears for a Gatorade, coffee, water, and to sign in the log. I am hiker #222. The section from the wind mill farm to first mission creek campsite was reminiscent of the Sound of Music. I can't even explain how nice it was to see that much running water in one day. 

The campsite above Mission Creek was cold. I'm glad I had my 15D bag. The next day I camped right before my personal record for the farthest I have walked. Then the next day walking into Big Bear, I passed my record with some amazing views as prizes.

I got into Big Bear just before the snow storm and waited it out in town with fresh donuts. Yum.