Written Tuesday, 18 May 2021

Again, not the best site selection for the camping spot. It never occurred to me when the staff at Maria Bonita offered me the porch that the light would never be turned off. I woke up about 10 times last night with the light in my eyes.

I didn't need to get going very early today because part of my plan is to eat breakfast I town and get some minor resupply at the convenience store, but I can't sleep past about 0545. I gather my gear and wander down the street to Home Made and sit on their outdoor seating porch, waiting for them to open.

Unlike the Appalachian Trail, which winds its way through or very near dozens of trail towns, the PCT tends to stay away from towns, often miles away. Agua Dulce is one of only two towns on the entire 2,650-mile length of the PCT that the PCT passes through.

Around 0700, the owner of Home Made shows up, keys in hand, to open up, and about 15 minutes later, he brings me a cup of coffee without me asking for one. Good stuff!

Not too much later, Resupply and Kitty show up and join me. We all order big breakfasts, and I also get a bacon breakfast burrito to go for later. The breakfast is great! Plus the owner let's us fill up our water bottles for the hot day ahead, and they have a nice, surprisingly clean bathroom. It's the little things!

Finally, after a stop at the next door convenience store, we're back on the Trail by about 0830. Wish I could have moved a bit faster on this hot day, but my resupply strategy depended on eating and resupplying here in town.

The first couple of miles were an easy road walk out of town and past a large staging area for on-location movie shooting which appears to be one of the primary local industries.

Before long, the Trail starts to climb...and climb... and climb some more. The long, slow climbs are a hallmark of the PCT. The trail climbs up the face of a large hill, usually switched back to make the climbs easier. Just when you think you have reached the top, the Trail tutns s corner around the top of the hill to reveal...

...a taller hill!

And the process repeats over and over again. On the PCT, there's always another hill to climb!

In this case, we grind out 2,300 feet of climb before the process reverses, and the Trail plunges us into a canyon. Somewhere on this descent, I miss a side trail to a water source, and I don't realize it until I'm over a mile past the turn-off.

You know, I may not be the smartest hiker out here...

I debate whether to turn back to refill water or go ahead with the 3 liters I have to the next reliable water source almost 20 miles ahead.

I decide I can stretch the water I have, even if I have a couple uncomfortable miles at the end. For the whole descent I wonder if this was the right choice. It is so hot, and, as usual there's very little shade.

Luckily for me, Providence comes to my rescue. At the bottom of the descent, I cross a road and find a beautiful shady spot, in which some kind soul has set-up a lovely water cache specifically for dumb guys like me.

I can't emphasize how stupid it was to pass the previous water source and decide to stretch my water rather than turn back on a very hot day. If I hadn't found this undocumented water cache, the end of my day might have been much more than merely uncomfortable.

I'm not headed for the Hiker Hall of Fame, folks.

Also at the cache is another hiker I've met several times. He goes by Just Mike, and we chat while snacking and drinking water. Tutns out he and I share a birthday. Not just the same day of the year, but we were actually born in the same day!

Mike has also hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Arizona Trail, a couple of other shorter trails, and this is his second thru hike of the PCT. That's a lot of hiking!

Since the cache is on the floor of a canyon, the afternoon begins with another climb. Again, this is a climb that just won't culminate. It keeps going and going, transferring to higher and higher hills for 1,900 feet of climb, all under an unremitting sun. There's no shade anywhere.

At least we have a great view of the Lake Bouquet Reservoir, another massive California state water project. It looks so inviting in the heat.

I catch up to Top Rock on the climb, relaxing on a bench that someone has placed under the one tree in a three-county radius in memory of a loved one. Considering that Top Rock left Wrightwood the night before me and hitched around the closure, I feel pretty good about catching him this quickly. He is no slouch as a hiker.

After a good catch-up conversation I continue the climb which does, late in the afternoon, turn a corner and start downward.

Presently, I arrive at another water cache near the bottom of this descent, and it looks to be maintained by the same good Samaritan who maintains the cache Just Mike and I were at around lunch time. Plenty of water and nice place to sit in the shade. I decide to eat my dinner and press on another 1.7 miles to a nice camp spot up the Trail.

Of course, the nice camp spot is several hundred feet above me on a hill overlooking the Grass Valley... Ugh. After dinner, my legs just don't want to work.

I finally arrive at the spot. Lovely views, but a little bit breezy. Taquito, a recent civil engineering graduate, is already there. He's putting up his tent when I show up, but one of his tent poles breaks during the process, and he doesn't have the repair kit so we're both cowboy camping tonight.

I'm safe, dry, and warm under the stars, overlooking the Grass Valley.

NOTE: For some reason, I'm still having trouble posting pictures in the correct order. This is something I am doing wrong, I think, not the app. I may have to wait until my next town stop, in Tehachapi, to sort things out.

Miles Hiked Today: 25.5 Total Miles Hiked: 479.9

Sea Otter Fact of the Day: Scientists have determined that sea otters have just about the same range of hearing as a human being has (about 20 Hz to about 20,000 Hz)