It was a 4:30 AM wake up call and we were on the trail by about 4:50. We had a 14 mile hike to hiker town for a long siesta before our walk along the LA aqueduct. The walk itself was quite nice and mostly downhill. It was incredibly windy but the thought of getting to a ‘town’ to get some hot food motivated us.

After a stop midway for some instant coffee, I kept pushing forward towards our morning destination. We made it to hiker town around 10:30 AM. I’m not sure the best way to describe hiker town. It’s as if a kitschy western movie combined with a hostel and a junkyard. The lady that runs it is named Marta and has a think Spanish accent. She was running around the property constantly helping hikers with packages and more. Everyone was incredibly thankful for her help.

From hiker town, we took a hitch to a market called Wee Ville. The selection wasn’t great but they had hot food - burgers and burritos. There was one guy working the entire market and kitchen named Edgar who had the patience of a saint. 15 of us hikers rolled in with empty bellies and ordered far too much food for one person. Given our orders and his lack of support, we were there for about four hours but we were in AC and we’re slowly getting fed.

We got back to hiker town and napped after our coma inducing meal of a double cheese burger, fries, fruit, and a whole tub ice cream. We had a big hike ahead of us. A 26 mile night hike through an exposed portion of the desert along the LA aqueduct and wind farms.

A wild fire started behind us earlier in the day that created a massive cloud of smoke. Funny enough, this became a life saver for us as it blocked out the sun and the heat. We got moving for our night hike around 6PM as a result.

Fueled by good conversation and motivation to get to Tehachapi to meet our girlfriends, we walked late into the night. Lit by moonlight, we walked passed the aqueduct through a wind farm. The wind was intense blowing at a steady 40 mph. Our pace slowed and the effort increased. We reached camp around 4AM exhausted, sore, and hungry. We set up our sleeping bags and are cowboy camping next to a stream protected in a valley between two ridge lines.

Tired bodies…

The sun woke us up around 8AM this morning. We all agreed we felt as if we had approximately 11 beers the night before - we felt hungover and tired.

After I made some instant coffee, a crew that was behind us just rolled up to our camp site. It was 8:30 AM and they hiked through the night and looked beat up. They found a tree and were likely going to sleep several hours before starting the hike we were embarking on in that moment.

The hike itself was 4,000 feet of elevation gain. A brutal last challenge before our town day. It was hot, exposed, and sandy with less than ideal footing. Still, the views were impressive as we climbed up and above the wind farm we hiked through early this morning.

When we reached the summit, I was shocked to see a soda cooler, chips, and an umbrella. A guy by the name of Ray set up a mini oasis on the summit for PCT hikers. It was an amazing surprise and gave us all such a morale booster. The next stretch was all down hill.

As we were walking down the mountain, we came upon another, even larger, wind farm. We were all blown off the trail multiple times but the sheer size and scale of the wind turbines were incredibly impressive. We understood the reason for the location of this wind farm quite quickly.

The whole time I was craving lemonade. Iced cold. When we walked to our hitch location, there were multiple gallons of water and a lemonade mix. It wasn’t iced cold but it was damn near close. That was a blissful first sip.

We got a hitch from a wind turbine repairman named Don who explained the naming conventions of all of the wind turbines and the type of maintenance he does. It was a fascinating story - basically, a V-90 would mean the diameter of the fins of the wind turbine is 90 meters. The largest in the farm there is a V-132.

We reached town around 4:30 and met our girlfriends at an Airbnb. It was such a great reunion. We enjoyed pizza and beer as well as a hot tub in the back. Now, sleep in a real bed. I am exhausted and cannot wait.

Happy dreams…