I never do this. But I did. And I paid dearly for it. I slept under a widow maker. Widow makers are dead trees that could fall on you in the night. I had already settled in for the night and was eating my dinner when I noticed I had camped in a bad spot.
Even widow makers are generally stable if the wind conditions are OK. There were high winds last night!
I somehow managed to get to sleep, but woke I at 11:44 to hear the wind moving through the tree above. You know my imagination! For the next three hours I imagined what my obituary will say, how the reports of my death will all be prefaced with “Florida man,” who will attend my funeral, what will become of all my dear white rabbits, etc.
At 1:30ish I fell asleep again and yet I was only partly asleep. I was awake and dreaming at the same time. Have you ever done that? My dreams were tortuous.
Eventually 4:45 rolls around, and for the first time this hike I am excited to be getting up. I have cell service, so I quickly do the Wordle. Today’s word is WRONG. Perfect.
Early trail
It seems novel to start hiking in clear skies. A thin brown haze hangs over the horizon. There must be a prescribed burn nearby.
The valley (desert) spreads out below us. The hills around us are still green.
The lower we go, the drier it becomes. From our camp we will descend about 900 feet to the valley at 3050.
We are not the only ones who traverse these hills. (By the way, any hunter who mistakes a hiker for game is not a real hunter anyway, but just a crackpot with a gun.)
There is a sere beauty to these desert hills. They have a way of clearing the mind, and tickling the imagination.
Hiker Town
Eventually we can identify Hiker Town. It is an odd collection of buildings with a variety of amenities from showers to laundry to camp sites or beds. It is one of the oldest of the iconic stops on the PCT.
We amble along fields where hay has been harvested (how is anything grown here?)
A dilapidated gate marks the entrance.
Our host is Marta. She speaks some English. I get to try my Spanish out on her. Then of course she thinks I can actually speak Spanish and starts saying stuff I can’t understand!
She is super gracious and lets Seven, Dealer and I do our laundry in a real machine rather than the “Mexican laundry” (washboard) outside. As soon as we are cleaned up we pile into a minivan for a trip to the local store for a burger and cold drinks.
Then I try to take a nap in my tiny non-air conditioned room. The flies keep landing on my skin, so I don’t sleep.
Logistics
We are in the real deal desert. Tomorrow the trail follows (sometimes on top of) the LA Aqueduct. The aqueduct funnels water from the mountains to the city. There are many strategies for hiking the 17 miles of aqueduct. Every hiker has a different one. The problem is that there is no water for 14 miles and the trail has no shelter over that stretch either. At the end is a 6-mile hike through a wind farm. There is no good camp site along the way.
In normal years, temps can top 100 degrees here. Tomorrow the highs will be in the 80s. People generally hike some part of the day at night to reduce exposure. We plan to start at 2am.
It will be hard. I may not be able to post at the end of the day. We shall see.
- June 12, 2023
- Starting marker: 510.9
- Ending marker: 517.6
- Miles hiked today: 7
- Total PCT miles: 488