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Agua Dulce to Mojave
Saturday, May 20: Green Valley Ranger Station — 22.7 + 1 or 2 miles (477.6)
We had a late night, listening to all the conversations around us. On the trail we all go to bed with the sun; in town, electricity keeps us awake a lot longer. The more people, the later we stay up. Still, we managed to get an early start. Christa made pancakes for breakfast and we got on the trail about 7:00 a.m.
Jim and I walked through town, then up into the hills beyond. The heat was intense, though there was an occasional breeze to make it bearable. While watching a quail trot up the trail, I noticed a coyote on the switchback above us. He ran off fairly quickly, but it was fun to see a coyote after only hearing them for so long. Soon after, a quartet of motorcycles appeared. We confronted them and made them turn around, since they were on the trail illegally. “What, do you think this is your trail?” one of them asked. "Yes," I answered quickly. "It is my trail."
Donna left a water cache near a road about 10 miles out of town, so we stopped for lunch in the shade of an oak tree with Marc, Ryan and Jonathan. We left too soon, not waiting for the heat to ease, and paid the price. We were slow and halted at every hint of shade. The trail was longer than expected, or at least it felt that way. We weren’t that slow! There had been a relocation, which didn’t help.
We got water from some people at the Messenger Flats Ranger Station and set up camp nearby just as it was getting dark. It wasn’t a great site, being too near a road and under high tension wires that buzzed, but we were so tired we didn’t care. The others got a ride to a nearby restaurant, then took off to hike by the light of the full moon. We considered doing that, but after 23 miles, we were just too tired to keep going.
Sunday, May 21: Bear Campground — 24.9 (502.5)
We woke up at 5:00 and got an early start. It was nice hiking for the first couple of hours, but by 9:00 the heat was oppressive. We stopped in the shade of a sycamore grove, where we met Jon, Ryan and Marc, and were surprised by a group of trail runners doing their Sunday morning run. It turned out the water cache in the trees wasn’t intended for PCT hikers, but belonged to the runners. Oh well. We hadn’t taken any, since there was supposed to be a good spring a mile or so away, which was just as well. We climbed and wound around the hills on badly eroded trail heading for a campground in the trees where we stopped for a long overdue lunch. The plan was to rest all afternoon at Shake Campground and hike on in the evening when it was cooler.
The morning was very mixed, emotionally. There was more shade than yesterday—oaks and a pine plantation—and occasional views off the ridge toward the desert and mountains north of here. I got frustrated at the winding and the eroded trail, and very mad at the motorbikes that contribute to the erosion. At the same time, I was moving well, happy to do 15 miles before noon, and not quite as bored as I was yesterday. When we got to Shake Campground, we couldn’t find water at first. I was ready to quit the trail right then. Marc finally found some water in the creek about ¼ mile downstream. So much of this hike has been endless twisting and turning in dense chaparral, with views only of green chaparral-covered hills in all directions. The distant reservoirs, when glimpsed briefly, are pretty, but too far away. The blue waters tease us. The land is pretty, but really repetitious as we wind in and out of each and every gully. When we parallel dirt roads, taking twice the mileage to do the same distance, I really get fed up. Jim is in a lot of pain from his feet, so he is slow and quiet. I remind myself that the heat and chaparral are temporary, but it doesn’t make it much easier. The Sierras seem a long way away. We’re pushing hard because of the lack of water. It’s another 23 miles from here to the next water source. That’s ridiculous. It forces us to do very long days, just when it’s so hot the smart thing would be to hole up in the heat of the day. Some people get into night hiking, but that has its hazards, like snakes you don’t see until you step on them. My night vision isn’t good, so we haven’t done any night hikes yet.
After a long siesta, we hiked another 10 miles, starting at 5:00. The last three miles were on a dirt road, as I didn’t want to hike the rough overgrown trail in the dark. There was a beautiful sunset as we walked, and we ended up setting up camp in the dark at a small dry campground. There were a couple of section hikers camped nearby. The afternoon walk was mostly nice, through oak groves and Coulter pines. Only the last few miles were in chaparral. After sitting out the heat all afternoon, it was a bit ironic that most of the afternoon’s hike was shaded. We could have kept going after all.
Monday, May 22: Aqueduct — 26 miles (528.5)
We woke up with the sun and headed down the trail early. In the lower elevations, as we wound up and down over the hills of the Tejon Ranch, it was already hot by 9:00. Two trail angels helped us out. One left a water cache, so we drank a pint apiece and moved on. A mile farther, we ran into a small cooler with some sodas, put out by a man who runs the Three Points Roadhouse, a few miles off trail. He lets PCT hikers eat and stay there for free. I wish we could have gone there, but it was too early in the morning when we reached the road leading to the roadhouse. Instead, we kept going to Jack Fair’s house, on the edge of the Mojave Desert. He is a 76-year-old former hard-core biker (founder of the Shaggers) who gives hikers water and lets them sleep in the garage, take a shower, or get a ride to the near-by grocery, for a small fee. Jack is a real character. Not a nice man, but interesting. At one time, he trained ocelots, he told me. He liked Jim and me, though I heard he can be pretty rude when he wants to be. He looked at the group in the garage and said, “You hikers remind me of the worst of this country. So much waste!” I don’t know if he referred to the junk food we had picked up at the store, or the waste of our lives because we were hiking instead of doing something more productive with our time. Or maybe he meant something different entirely. With Jack, you can’t tell. He had signs with little sayings all over the walls of the house and garage. They almost made sense, but not quite.
We walked 14 miles to his house and then sat in the shade to wait out the afternoon heat. The next stretch crosses a finger of the Mojave, following aqueducts, before climbing back into the dry hills. Mid-afternoon the temperature was in the low hundreds outside, despite the wind. Our plan was to wait until it cooled off, then do an evening hike across the desert. I dread two more weeks of this heat. We wake up dry, walk dry, and only get really hydrated at the water sources. We end up pushing from water source to water source, 20 or more miles every day. It’s not that difficult, but it isn’t much fun either.
We saw a big fat diamondback rattlesnake in a bush this morning. Jim saw the tail end of a deer yesterday. I saw a coyote vanish in the brush this afternoon. There are compensations.
We left Jack Fair’s at 5:00, and followed two aqueducts across the desert. One was an open one, with blue sparkling waters that we followed for a couple of miles. The second was a buried pipe. For the next 15 miles we’ll follow the concrete-covered pipe on jeep roads. The desert here is different, with mostly low brush and occasional clumps of Joshua trees or creosote bushes, and lots of little flowers (ghost flower?) There are a lot of houses scattered in the desert. We walked 7 or 8 miles, then stopped to rest and cook dinner. After dinner we continued to walk in starlight until we got too tired to keep going. The moon didn’t rise until after we stopped for the night, but the concrete covered aqueduct was easy to follow in the dark. We just had to watch out for the occasional low wall across the path. It was fun watching blue and green shooting stars overhead. Jim said it was probably a satellite breaking up. He should know. There is a town nearby--pretty large, judging by its lights. A few cars passed, but mostly the road was pretty quiet. Eventually our sore feet forced us to stop in a dry sandy wash just off the dirt road. It was a nice hike, all in all. Different, anyway.
Tuesday, May 23: Oak Creek — 26.4 miles (554.9)
Despite our late night, we woke up before dawn and continued across the desert, climbing gradually toward the Tehachapi Mountains. We crossed some burned areas, but even the unburnt stretches were dry, with little vegetation. We got water at the spring/aqueduct at Cottonwood Creek (which only has one cottonwood tree, but lots of Joshua trees.) Six miles later we got more water at Tylerhorse Canyon, but it tasted like ashes from a bad fire upstream. The sides of the canyon and the water were grey and dusty. Lunch was eaten in the arid confines of Gamble Spring Canyon, under the very meager shade of a Joshua tree. It was a long hot climb out of there, on soft eroded trail, badly damaged by dirt bikes. They’ve really made a mess of the area, riding carelessly on fragile desert soil. We heard one rattlesnake last night, but didn’t see it. This morning only a few lizards kept us company. The guys never caught up with us last night. Jon, Ryan and Marc left Jack Fair’s right after we did, and Dave and Mule weren’t that far behind. Maybe they went for a swim in the aqueduct. Or they may have passed us while we slept. Jim and I are both tired from the long miles on short sleep. Climbing from 2000’ desert to 6000’ doesn’t help, though there is some hope that it will be cooler up higher. At least there will be trees. Tylerhorse Canyon had a lovely big pinion tree, but it was too early to stop for lunch when we passed through there.
Later: The climb out of Gamble Spring Canyon was exhausting. It was only three miles, but the trail was totally exposed without a bit of shade until we had climbed the first 700’. Then there were some nice pine and pinion groves. Where were they when we were looking for a cool place to eat lunch?
We barely made it to the water at Oak Creek before dark. I wanted to camp a few miles back, but Jim wanted to get closer to the creek. We were carrying enough water to dry camp, but by the time I convinced him to stop, there was no place to camp. We hiked way past exhaustion. We hurt all over. The whole area for about 10 miles is posted, “Do not leave the trail.” Given that the owners allow dirt bikes and ATV’s to totally destroy the land, it is hard to take that very seriously. It made me really angry and sad to see the destruction. There was a maze of sterile ruts everywhere. Later on we passed beside a big wind farm. We saw three rattlesnakes in the last couple of miles: one baby, one medium-sized, and one grandfather snake, big as my arm. They were three different varieties too.
Wednesday, May 24: Mojave — 8.6 miles (563.7)
We got an early start, as we were eager to get to town and get cleaned up. The morning hike was nice, over big rolling hills, covered with windmills. They are weird things, but interesting. We saw one yesterday that had fallen over. That’s a bit scary when you’re walking right under them. We passed a couple of ranches this morning, with cows and horses and grassy meadows. It reminded me of Wyoming. Then we dropped down to the freeway. It turns out the guidebook was right; that wasn’t an easy place to hitch a ride. We would have done better to go into town on the Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road, 8 miles earlier, but it makes the next section more difficult, so we kept going. We watched as car after truck zipped by. Finally a Canadian truck driver stopped and gave us a ride the ten miles to the town of Mojave. It’s a highway town, with lots of fast food and motels, and very very hot. We ate breakfast at Dennys, checked into the motel, turned the air conditioning on high, walked to the post office three blocks away, and finally came back for our showers. I dread going back out in the heat, but our dirty clothes need attention too, then it’s about a mile to the grocery store. By then, we’ll need another shower! I’m glad we’re taking a rest day tomorrow. There’s no hurry. If we push, we’ll get caught up with Memorial Day weekend at Onyx, our next mail drop.
This desert stretch has been exhausting. We’ve pushed too hard, hiking early and late to get the miles done, sitting out the midday hours in shady spots, or not sitting them out and discovering that trying to climb when the heat is so intense is utterly draining. Yesterday we would walk two miles, then sit for 20 minutes trying to get the energy to go on. I’ve enjoyed the multitude of flowers and the occasional wildlife--the snakes, coyotes, fox, deer and hawks--the sunsets and the stars, but I really hate pushing as hard as we have. Carrying a gallon of water — or more — doesn’t make the climbs any easier!
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