Last night we slept in a white plastic and pvc pipe yurt, the one behind the two gals walking towards me. It was a good decision as it drizzled during the night so we didn’t have to roll up wet tents!
The weather looked overcast and low fog but we weren’t planning on leaving today until about 1:30pm to do 8 miles out of town. At 7:00am an announcement came over the handheld loudspeaker that the first ride back to town was in 15 min. Snacks, Flipper, Penguin and I weren’t planning on going to breakfast until the next ride at 8:30 but then Froggy came in and said he’s catching this ride. Enough said and we all quickly assembled ourselves with 5 minutes to spare.
Unfortunately no dazzling culinary photos from this breakfast although refer to the very similar Paradise Cafe burrito. I’ve been on a good roll with breakfast burritos so I didn’t feel like changing it. The rest of the morning was spent getting organized, reviewing how much water is needed and were the next reliable water is.
At 1:30 the ride to town arrived and we soon started the 1.5 mile road walk. The Aqua Duelce Canyon Rd is also the official PCT and runs through town. Eventually we were back on a proper trail and climbing with the all to familiar resupply weight. In this case my pack now weights 35lbs which includes 2.5 liters of water and 6 days of food to get me the 112 miles to Tehachapi. My pack is rated at 35-40lbs comfortabley so any more and I’ll need to evaluate breaking up to more resupply points thus reducing food weight.
The weather above isn’t looking the best, could just be a layer of fog. We’d know soon enough in the next 2000ft climb. How quickly it changed, clouds and rain blowing up hill hitting the underside of my ballcap. I anticipated this could be an issue so this morning so I used the plastic liner inside the backpack.
Eventually I added a trash bag over my backpack as well and put on my rain coat. The fabric of the backpack isn’t waterproof so adding the trash bag is lightweight secondary protection. This was looking to be a wet afternoon. I don’t have rain pants or any pants other than wind pants. To me walking in shorts has worked fine in mild rain as body heat keeps me fairly comfortable but this was getting chilly. Soon my shoes and socks we’re soaked. I came around a corner and Snacks, Penguin and Froggy were addressing the same issues.
Shoes soaked and muddy. Weather is still a bit windy and drizzling in the 40’s but way better than higher elevation.
The intented 8 miles turned into 11 in order to get down in elevation which helped. Tent sites were limited so I took a site about .2 miles away from the gang next to Bouquet Canyon Rd. This road reminds me of the Ellensburg Canyon Rd with cars passing fairly often.
Hopefully tomorrow morning will reveal the sun so we can dry everything out.
Penguin & Snacks the day earlier.
One minute after this photo Flipper tried to shoulder bump Penguin but she moved. He fell to the ground, trekking poles went flying across the concrete. His convulsing body lay there straight as a board on it’s side. We all looked at him with concern and bewilderment. Turns out that missing a shoulder bump with a loaded pack creates undefined gravitational pull to the earths surface. The convulsing movements are actually laughter from Flipper realizing his miscalculation. Aww instant carma….lol!
Man Seeking Mountains 