Monday, April 29, 2019
The desert is usually hot and dry, but I’ve discovered that’s not always the case. Again this morning I woke up with a light drizzle hitting my tent. It continued until past 6 a.m., so I didn’t get up until then.
Most hikers were slow to pack and leave, and the Woohoo Crew was no exception.
| Weather | Drizzle early, then cloudy and foggy, remaining cool with a high temperature in the upper 50s |
| Trail Conditions | Long road walking, followed by a long but easy climb and descent |
| Today's Miles | 11.1 miles |
| Trip Miles | 466.8 miles |
We took a look at the map, and calculated how far and how difficult the trail was to Casa de Luna, another favorite stop for PTC thru-hikers. The distance was just under 24 miles with only moderately difficult terrain. This section would be doable as a one-day hike for a thru-hiker in good shape.
After more than 450 miles on the trail, we were in good shape, but we were the Woohoo Crew. We decided to divide the section into two days.
Doing so allowed us time to go into town for breakfast this morning. Tomorrow we could arrive at Casa de Luna at a good time.
I walked to a restaurant with Spamalot, Just Awesome, Steel Belted, Falls and Rainbow Sherbet. We then did a little shopping to pick up extra items for the trail ahead. The resupply options for the next few days were not ideal, so adding a little more food now would help if we didn’t find much later.
We then hitched a ride back to Hiker Heaven.
The tramily didn’t all leave at once. A Hiker Heaven volunteer returned Spamalot, Just Awesome, Falls and me to town at 1 p.m., where we picked up the trail again and began walking.
For the first two miles the trail followed the highway out of Agua Dulce.
When the trail left the highway, it followed a gravel road for a short distance. This was a rural area with a scattering of houses, farms and small businesses.
It didn’t seem like Agua Dulce was near Hollywood, but it was located in Los Angeles County. That made film production a part of the local economy. This was apparent because several businesses, such as the liquor store in Agua Dulce, had signs posted saying, “Available for filming.”
With that in mind, it should not have been unusual to see a portion of an airplane fuselage sitting a quarter mile from the trail, but it still was. The plane was at Agua Dulce Movie Ranch. The Lockheed L1011 fuselage was rented for television, movie and commercial production.
We caught up with Gilly and Captain at 2:15 p.m. They were stopped for a break, and Spamalot, Falls, and Just Awesome decided to also take a break.
I wanted to keep going because the sky was turning darker and I thought rain might be on the way.
The trail was easy, winding and rolling as it followed one side of a shallow valley. It then began to climb.
A little more than an hour after I left everyone, they caught up and passed me on the climb.
Ascending a ridge, I noticed the clouds were not just getting darker, but were also hanging closer to the ground.
In a surprisingly short amount of time, a thick fog settled in. The temperature dropped with it.
I couldn’t see far because of the fog, but I was able to see a hare that was munching on grass.
Later, I saw Bambi (the Korean hiker, not the Disney animal). He was stopped along the trail and was thinking of staying there for the night.
The trail took me over the crest of the ridge at 5 p.m. Visibility was limited to only a couple hundred yards because of the fog.
The descent from the ridge went through clumps of trees. With the damp fog, plus the trees and other green vegetation, I felt as if I had been transported to the Appalachian Trail.
I was soon back on trail recognizable as the PCT when I caught up with Captain, Gilly, and Spamalot. We walked together down to the bottom of Bouquet Canyon, where we hoped to find a spot big enough to pitch our tents.
The descent was easy and we reached the campsite at 6:10 p.m.
This was not an ideal place to camp, but we decided to make it work. One thing that helped was some trail magic we found there. It was a cooler of soft drinks and beer.
A short time later we learned the trail magic was put there by a hiker named A.K., who had been section hiking with a thru-hiker, Smalls. They were also camped here.
The campsite was small and we had to squeeze in among shrubs and rocks. It was also near Bouquet Canyon Road, which meant we could hear traffic noise.
The worst part of the campsite was where I pitched my tent. I had searched for several minutes to find a better spot, but the only remaining space was squeezed between a couple trees and a trash barrel.
This was worrisome because the barrel was overflowing with trash, including leftover food. I thought it could attract animals in the night. I tried to clean up the area a little, but there was no room in the barrel to stuff more in it.
Between the garbage that might attract marauding critters and the likelihood of hearing road noise all night, I didn’t expect to get much rest.
Well, I'm dumping my trash in your back yard
Making certain you don't notice really isn't so hard
You're so busy with your guns and all of your excuses to use them
Well, it's oil for the rich and babies for the poor
We've got everyone believing that more is more
If a reckoning comes maybe we'll know what to do then
We can run, but we can't hide from it
Of all possible worlds we only got one, we gotta ride on it
Whatever we've done we'll never get far from what we leave behind
Baby, we can run, run, run, but we can't hide
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