PCT Map Miles 571.0
Miles Hiked 509.7
Elevation 5,202 feet
Miles Hiked Today 12.3
Yesterday, I flew into LAX (Los Angeles Airport). It was a long day. I was up at 12:30 AM California time and my plane arrived in LA at noon. Then it was a bus to Union Station, a train to Lancaster and a Lyft to Tehachapi. I was supposed to take a bus from Lancaster at a $1.50 cost, but I would have had to wait outside in 100 degree heat for nearly two hours. No thanks. I spent the money to get to the hotel by 7 PM.
I stayed at the Sure Stay Best Western, which is where I stayed last month before I left. Trail angel Ted Johnson gave me a ride to Walmart where I got a can of stove fuel and something to eat. His wife, Cheryl, gave me a ride the next morning to the trailhead where I ended my hike last month. She picked me up at 7 AM and I was hiking by 7:30.
The forecast was for temperatures to climb to 100 degrees by afternoon. I wanted to do almost 15 miles today. There is a sense of urgency in making miles. The next confirmed water is 25 miles away.
The terrain wasn’t too hard, and I made some good miles in the morning. There were two water caches, the last of which was at mile 566. I drank a liter at the first cache and two liters of water at the second. It proved too little as I’ll mention later.
In order to avoid heat stroke, I promised myself I would not hike in the early afternoon. True to my promise, I found a nice shaded spot with a bed of dead grass at noon. I laid down and stayed there until 3 PM when I began hiking again.
Of course the trail was going up over 1,000 feet. I lost my trail legs in the five weeks I didn’t hike. Couple that with a still blazing, hot afternoon and it was tough going. In the end, I fell short of my goal by two miles. On the plus side, I have a nice shaded tent site, which is protected from the wind.
Oh, and my water. I have less than two liters to go 12 miles to the next water source. Not a good situation.
