Start: 2137.6
Stop: 2157
Today’s miles: 19.4
Total PCT miles: 1873.6
I slept amazingly well in that motel bed.. even if I did wake up a couple times and tossed and turned. Since I’ve been hiking, when I sleep in a bed it always looks like I’ve been fighting people in my sleep by the time I wake up. I’m always sideways and the covers are twisted and knotted and half on the floor.. but I swear it was restful! Ha
I packed quickly and walked to the McDonald’s from yesterday. I got a biscuit, ate it quickly, and then walked across the main highway to start hitching. I still had my sign, and the road was busy with tractor trailers and tons of cars flying past. I was out there for 40 minutes before a man stopped for me. He is a retired military man from Tehachapi, but he coaches boxing certain days of the week in Palmdale.. where he’s headed today.
We talked while he drove, and he got me to the intersection of 138 before letting me out. I only had 20 more minutes to get to Hikertown now! I stood on this smaller road for less than 10 minutes before a man in a convertible BMW pulled over. It was comical trying to fit my pack in his pristine trunk, but we got it in there. The two of us chit-chatted about hiking and camping the rest of the way to Hikertown. His car looked too nice to be an avid hiker’s car, but what do I know?
When he dropped me off, I all but ran to Marquis! I had missed him so much! We walked inside the house at the back, where the older man, Richard was and introduced me. We ate breakfast (second breakfast in my case) and caught up a bit before getting our shoes on to hike out. Richard brought cake and we had steak and egg sandwiches. Talk about luxury-it put the McDonald’s biscuit to shame.
Hikertown is really just a property along this two lane road out in the middle of nowhere. The trail goes right by it, so Richard made it for hikers. He’s got it set up like an old western town, super cute, and there’s places for hikers to camp and shower and eat.. really neat.
We started hiking around 10am. It was already hot, both of us sweating within the first few minutes. The trail was overgrown and every single plant or bush that we walked past was sharp and scratchy. I was frustrated pretty quick, and if I had been alone I know I would have been much worse. But, Marquis has a way to make you laugh, even when you’re beyond irritated with the surroundings. He was just as miserable as me, and we cackled and complained for close to that whole 20 miles we hiked!
We had some pretty views after a big climb. The desert feels very open, with the views going and going for miles upon miles. That makes the heat and bushes bearable I think. Water was a pain to get, out of a concrete cistern that required a Marquis. He’s 6’3” tall, and if I had been alone, I would still be thirsty. He tied string around his smart water bottle and we had to put my trekking pole in the bottle, hold the string, and shove the bottle under the water.. the thing is, the water was so far down that I wouldn’t have been able to reach it with my trekking pole! It’s a little nuts, and beyond creepy.
He filled his bottle several times, pouring it into my dirty water cnoc bag and into his other water bottle until we both had 3 liters of drinking water. What a mess. It took for damn ever. We finally started hiking again, just after 5:30pm. It gets dark so early now.. it’s real annoying.. BUT Marquis gave me the new headlamp he ordered for me, so I was excited to get to use it soon. We walked until sunset, and then camped in an empty campground.
All of the campsites were covered in broken glass. Like people had been shooting beer bottles or something. It was absolutely everywhere, and both Marquis and I have expensive tents that we didn’t want to get ripped.. so, we cleared us spots in the middle of the dirt road loop that all of the campsites surround. We were the only people out here, so, hopefully it stays that way tonight and we don’t get any late night visitors driving around. We set up and watched the end of the sunset-glowing hot orange over the city lights in the town below. It’s pretty gorgeous.
We both ate our dinners from inside our tents, thanks to being too lazy to walk over to a glass covered picnic table. I’m really not trying to tear my feet up, and although my shoes are practically still new, I don’t want to put them back on. Something tells me that glass will slice right through my crocs-so-tent dinners are A ok with me!
Y’all. I’m really so damn happy to have my friend back. I didn’t realize how lonely I was on the few days where I’d hike by myself all day, even if I did catch up to camp with people most nights. It just didn’t feel like this-that knowing someone well enough to cut up and crack jokes and just laugh. Even if I’m currently not a fan of the desert terrain, I’m happy as hell to be walking through it with Marquis.
Ok, that’s enough of all that. Time to get some sleep and see what tomorrow has in store for us! Goodnight y’all.