May 10th, 2022 by Jon
Our spot last night ended up being the perfect little sheltered camp out of the wind and we felt pretty warm this morning when we woke up. Of course, that’s all relative; it’s still in the high 30s or low 40s when we wake up, but it beats ice on the tent, so we will take it! We had 17 miles and some change to get to the Acton RV Resort, where we will get our next resupply from our family friend Brad, and we can also do laundry and take a shower. After eating and packing, we set out around 6:45. We had camped at 5,500 feet, and pine trees still surrounded us as we hiked. There was evidence of a burn, but it didn’t seem to burn every single thing in this area, which was nice to see for once.
We still had another 2.5 miles to get to the top of the mountain we were climbing. As soon as we left the protection of our little saddle, the wind began howling at our backs, pushing us up as we hiked. The trail switchbacked back and forth, and we had great views of the valley below and a small window into Soledad Canyon, where we were headed. It was a highlight in a dry landscape, filled with trees and the Santa Clara River running through it.
Eventually, we came to the top of the ridge and enjoyed a snack break before heading down the other side. It was even windier on this side, and I remembered another hiker saying there was a weather system moving in from the ocean over the next few days, bringing wind and a cold front. I don’t think there is any rain in the forecast, though. It was very, very cold on the other side of the mountain, especially because we were hiking on the shady side. I actually considered putting on my down jacket over my sweater, but I could see the sun touching the trail about a mile ahead, so I gritted my teeth and pushed through it.
We came off a steep series of switchbacks, and then we were in the sun, kind of out of the wind, and somehow strangely walking on the ridge. The landscape gently sloped away from the trail and was completely covered in grass except for a patch of 50 trees, all very close together off in the distance. As we approached, we realized it was the Messenger Flats campground that the other people in our group had pushed to last night. There was a giant storm cloud over the mountain last night, and apparently, it was very windy at this campsite. It was only 3.5 miles from where we camped so even though our friends weren’t here now, we couldn’t be too far behind them.
We continued on, and the trail led us steadily downhill. We came to a small stream that was the next water after the fire station we had stopped at for lunch yesterday. Many of the comments said it was dry, but apparently, if you scrambled up some rocks, there was water falling on them. Thankfully, we had enough water to push the next 5 miles to a ranger station where we could get water. We continued hiking downhill and eventually came to a massive valley, and you could tell the trail made a C-shape, leading us along the top of a bowl to get around the entire thing. We were staring down into the same basin for a long time before reaching the halfway point and there was the ranger station!
They had picnic tables, a pit toilet, and lots of freshwater out on a picnic table in those large 5-gallon office cooler jugs. Their facet isn’t on yet because it’s still too early in the season, but apparently, the Rangers put this out for PCT hikers early in the season. It’s very kind of them. We took a lunch break there, and let the wind sandblast us as we ate. We had some clothes that got accidentally wet from a spilled water bottle and during lunch we were able to lay everything out to dry. Our food bag was pretty low, we feel like we have really been nailing the amount of food we need, we always get to town with about a half day of food left.
After lunch, we continued hiking in the giant C-shaped bowl for a little while. It was flat hiking and fun to see so far down. As we finished and turned the corner, we had great views of Soledad Canyon down below and the Vasquez rocks behind it, separating the canyon from the town of Agua Dulce, which is where we will be hiking through tomorrow.
We had a long downhill hike along a long ridge and we hiked down into Mattox Canyon. Sometimes there is a creek running, but right now there isn’t; it’s just sand. We found a small tree to hide in the shade and cooled down for about 15 minutes before making the final push into town. When we felt a little restored, we got up and over one last ridge, then hiked the last 2 miles to a trailhead. We had done it. And we had hiked 17.3 miles by 1:45 pm. Absolutely wild. We walked the 0.4-mile dirt road into the RV resort and walked up to a grassy area and immediately heard cheering coming from a nearby picnic table. Our group was all sitting at the table under a tree; they had all arrived over the last hour or two. It was good to catch up, and they pointed out where all the facilities and offices were so we could get settled.
We walked over to the office, paid to stay the night, and got towels and Wi-Fi information. We also bought some cheap ice cream bars and Gatorade as a treat to ourselves for making it to town. We walked back over to our friends and set up our tent nearby. There were grassy areas all over a space about half a football field in size, with lots of trees providing shade and many picnic tables. By the time we went to bed, there were close to 50 tents and maybe 60 hikers. We sat around eating leftover food that people had decided was too much to carry with them, and then finally got the energy to go and shower. They had nice, hot showers with great water pressure, making for a 10/10 luxurious experience. After that, we did a load of laundry, and then we hung out under the gazebo, charging our devices and chatting with other hikers.
Wilco and Rune went into town to resupply and promised to bring In-N-Out back for dinner, which was very kind of them. Around 5:00, our family friend Brad and his hiking friend Ed showed up! We had sent Brad a resupply package to get us the 126 miles to Tehachapi. He also brought the shoes that I had ordered to his house. One look at them had me so excited. The tread looked so nice and the cushion on them actually looked intact. We sat around and talked for a long time about our experience so far on the trail, hiking gear, food, resupply plans, and the Sierra Nevada range, which both of them have tons of experience with. It was an absolute delight to hang out with them. They kindly offered to help us out if we needed anything else in the near-ish area, which was incredibly kind. We appreciate you both, Brad and Ed! Thank you so much.
We ate In-N-Out, had a beer with the other hikers, and then packed our food bags with our friends watching. I’ve never had a completely full bag of food before and it looked and felt like a ton. But we plan to take 7 days to get there, so it makes sense that we need quite a bit.
Tomorrow, we plan to sleep in and get a late start before hiking the 10 miles to Agua Dulce, where we will get lunch in town. Then hike a few more miles out to make camp in the mountains.
