Days 44 and 45, Double Zero in Tehachapi

The cough I developed about ten days ago was getting worse, not better. Being in town gave me an opportunity to visit a walk-in clinic. Conveniently enough, I found one that was within walking distance.

Well, for a long-distance hiker, everything is within walking distance. Nonetheless, I walked there after breakfast.

Along the way, I saw two German hikers I had met before on the trail. They were sitting on a bench by the road and told me they were waiting for a ride to begin their long trip home. They only had time this year to hike the first 560 miles of the PCT, but they hoped to return next year.

I had to sit a long time in the waiting room at the clinic. When the doctor finally saw me, she made a quick diagnosis. She said my cough was definitely due to allergies related to desert dust and pollen.

That’s common this time of year, she added, and she sees a lot of hikers because of it.

She had the nurse give me a shot of Kenalog, a corticosteroid, which she said is commonly used to treat my kind of allergy. Then I walked back to the hotel.

Just before I got there I saw Steel Belted. He was in a car, heading out of town. He told me he was leaving to see his step-daughter’s graduation.

Steel Belted said he was coming back, so I wished him well and said I hoped to see him again on the trail.

Then when I arrived at the hotel I saw a pleasant surprise: Bookworm. His foot was in a soft cast because he had suffered a stress fracture. He was determined to stay on the trail, though.

Bookworm was going to lunch with Captain and Gilly, as well as the trail angels he was staying with. They invited me to go along, and I happily did. It was fun to see him again.

I had hoped to do laundry today, but the hotel’s laundry room was being remodeled. Because I would also be staying here tomorrow, I decided to put off doing laundry until then.

I should add that I was wearing the town clothes I carry with me — a t-shirt and running shorts — so I hadn’t been walking around town filthy and smelly.

For the rest of the afternoon, I worked on hike plans. I had decided by now I had no choice but to go home after arriving at Kennedy Meadows, which is where the ascent into the Sierra Nevada begins. There was still too much snow there, at least as far as I was concerned.

I usually have a rough idea of where I’ll be for the next few days on the trail. That’s necessary for knowing how much food to buy until the next town. This time, though, I needed a more detailed plan. I was about to make reservations for a rental car and buy a plane ticket, so a solid plan was needed.

The next day, I discovered the hotel’s laundry room was still being remodeled, so I found a laundromat that was near a grocery store. This way, I could combine the two tasks I needed to do in one trip.

Just Awesome received a message today from a Swiss hiker he met on the trail. The hiker said he had gotten off the trail after only three days of attempting to walk through the Sierra.

He was miserable. Ninety percent of the time, he said, he had to use his GPS to navigate because the trail was buried under six feet of snow. The cold and difficult footing made it impossible to walk more than .9 miles per hour. He said he typically walked 3.5 to four miles per hour.

The message was just another confirmation for me. I was feeling confident about my decision to get off the trail at Kennedy Meadows.

I wasn't happy that I was going to go home. I wanted to keep walking, but it needed to be done. It was the only way I could be sure I would successfully finish.

Now I just needed to get moving forward again.