May 16th, 2022 by Jon
Well, we battled the wind all day today and all night last night. Our tent held up, but there were a couple of times it got so contorted that it got within inches of our faces or bodies, depending on how it twisted. Thankfully, all our stakes held, and the tent poles snapped back into place after the dust settled. It was a bit of fitful sleeping because even with earplugs, you can feel the tent moving while you lie there trying to sleep. Morning came quickly through, and we ended up getting up around 7:00. Wilco and Stealth were there, but Biscuit and Missile Toe were already gone. They had a cowboy camped out, which would probably have been pretty tough, so it doesn’t surprise me they left early. We planned to go another 15 miles or so to set up an easy day into town tomorrow. Tehachapi ended up being kind of expensive so if we pushed, we would just have to stay another night since we already booked something.
We started hiking and walked gently uphill past more windmills. You could tell in 5 miles we would be headed into a small valley and begin our hike in the mountains, but until then, it was relatively flat walking along barbed wire fences and bushes. The wind was blowing straight down out of the hills, and it was like there was a person in front of us pushing on our shoulders to keep us from walking forward. Every step took extra effort, and we ended up taking a break much earlier than we usually do behind a small bush where the wind’s strength was slightly diminished. We saw many hikers cowboy camping in this section. We talked to some later, and many of the people who got this far got here around 2 or 3 in the morning. They were actually still just sleeping as we hiked by and I didn’t blame them for it one bit.
We kept hiking and I saw my first rattlesnake on this trip! Neither Singsong nor I have seen one this whole time we have been in the desert, which has been pretty weird. It was a small green one in the grass 5 feet off trail. It rattled as I went by as a warning and I stopped to take a photo before carrying on. Eventually, we came to a long climb into the mountains that took us off the desert floor. We wound our way deeper into the hills before descending into a tiny canyon where we found a small stream and lots of hikers taking a break. Everyone was pretty exhausted from night hiking and fighting the wind all morning, so there was a lot of blank staring and people forcing themselves to eat a snack to keep their energy up. We did the same and stayed for about an hour. Basically, every hiker who came down into the canyon made some remark to the group about the wind. We all couldn’t help but agree with what everyone else said about it.
After an early lunch there, we hiked out of the canyon and along a ledge, winding our way around mountains with great views of the desert floor below. It was fascinating to see the mountains we had come down from a few days ago, and mind-blowing to think we had walked all the way here. I love that about hiking this trail. We climbed a small ridge that finally took us even deeper into the mountains and we began a steep descent to a dry riverbed. On the way down, I also saw the 7 or 8 switchbacks that would carry us back up on the other side. This was another great example of a PUD. A pointless up and down. We got to the bottom, sighed, walked for 60 seconds, and then started climbing back up. Sometimes the trail does that and it always feels mentally challenging.
On the way down that hill, I had noticed some big-looking bushes that had a prime break spot written all over them. I did about 10% of the climb until I got there and found Stealth already sitting in them! Apparently, she had the same idea. Singsong joined soon after and we enjoyed a break to cool down and a bit of 2nd lunch. After half an hour, we continued onward. The trail switchbacked many times and the wind howled and fought us the entire way. Thankfully, there weren’t any steep drop-offs because I definitely got pushed off the trail by a step a few times.
We got to the top and walked for a half mile in a flatter part before coming to a small trail angel camp where they had left some chairs, umbrellas that were all tied up due to wind, and two huge drums of water. There is a road just above this little camp where two trail angels come up and take care of this place and have been doing so for 17 years. It’s extremely kind of them. We sat in the chairs for a while before pushing out with Stealth another three-quarters of a mile to get down into a slightly less windy bowl, where we made camp behind some bushes that we hoped would shield some of the wind. We know Biscuit made it to town, and we’re guessing Missile Toe and Wilco did too, but we aren’t positive. We will all be at the hotel tomorrow we will see each other then.
We have 8 miles left to get to the road that will take us into Tehachapi tomorrow morning, and it’s almost all downhill, so it should be easy. Looking forward to a Nero and then a Zero in town!
