At first light I wake up to the dull throb of shin pain.    Sitting still is uncomfortable.  When I start walking on it there is going to be a pain-party.  

My plan was to get to 566 and hitch to Tehachapi.   That’s what most of us wanted to do.   Instead I’m going to aim for 558 and catch the early alternate.   I don’t think I’m going to make it much further.  

The trail follows the several ridge lines in a gradual and, for me, painful downhill grade.    Eventually I run into a monster wind farm that seems to go on forever.  

I reach Willow Springs road, happy to just be able to still walk.   I run into a German couple who are trying to catch a ride too.   We try calling some folks listed on the trail angel paper posted at the exit do not have much luck.   

We give up on this angle and head to the road.   Johan lays out the strategy.   His GF Anna on the road with her thumb out while we, the male portion of the group, sit on a rock.   When a car pulls over we join her and the driver gets a 3 for 1 deal.    Sounds good to me.   Within 5 minutes, some unlucky motorist is driving our smelly asses to town.   Thanks Anna.   

When I load my pack in the car I realize that I forgot to turn on my footpath tracing today.   I’m really off my game.   Hopefully Alice is not freaking out.    I flip it on and jump in for the ride to town.    All I want to do is find a cafe and sit there all day.

Once in town I ring Alice and arrange a pick-up.   I need to get off the trail for a while and get this leg working properly again.    She arrives around 2ish and we head back.   Funny enough, the route takes us through Green valley and find a couple of PCTer’s trying to hitch to Casa De Luna.   We pull over and give them a lift.   

After X-Rays and various examinations it seems to be some muscle tear.   Folks are telling me I could be out of action for several weeks.    I’m shooting for 1 week.   If I can get to Kennedy Meadows, I can take another 2 week break while waiting for the snow to melt a little.    

As I’m writing this on Sunday, June 4th, the leg is definitely feeling better.   It is still swollen but that is going down little by little.  I’ve spent 5 days off the trail with my iced leg propped up watching TV.   I’m going crazy. 

So here’s the plan: I’m going to wrap my leg up tomorrow and hit the trail.   I’ll try to hold it together for the last 140 miles to Kennedy Meadows, then work out a ride to Mammoth.   I’ll meet my cousin up there and hang out there for a week or two of healing while wait out the snow melt.   Perhaps we can section some bits while we are there.    Sometime around July 1, I’ll give Kennedy another try. 

 

Didn’t know it last night, but we are camped almost underneath several huge wind generators.    Could hear their whoosing, but it was cool waking at dawn under these swinging blades.   

Video of Generators in the Morning

I’m first up and first packed.    I do my usual stretches, but my leg is still killing me.    This is definitely a new injury for me.   I dose up on Ibuprofen and take off while the others are packing.   I’m pretty sure everyone will be passing me today. 

Turns out that I can climb without much pain.   The flats hurt and the downhills are pain-stabbed misery.    It was mostly climbing so I did alright. 

After 6 miles, the heat was getting ridiculous again.    Most of us stopped at Tylerhorse canyon to get water, find shade, and wait it out.   The hard part was that the shade was skimpy.   We were jockeying around trying to find shade that would last a few hours for a nap before moving.   I had to relocate 4 times throughout the day.   Bam Bam tried huddling valiantly under his umbrella until giving up and disappearing somewhere up stream.    

Most were napping until 2ish, when folks began drifting together in some shade near the stream.   Spent a few hours chit chatting.    Manny and I spent some time geeking out on the wind farm, trying to figure out how the blades control their speed, the peak and average output, etc.   The rest of the group….well, they talked about something else.  

I filled up my water bottles and bladder from the creek.   Laying on the ground looking at my bladder, I noticed some of the sediment in the bag was moving.   Hmm.   On closer inspection I found various sea creatures swimming around in my drinking water.    They seemed happy in there.   According to one of the guys a few looked like mosquito larvae.   Hope my filter still works.

Folks started pulling out at 4:00.   I was the last to leave, since my leg is still hurting.   I know it is going to be a long night.  Goal is get another 17 miles in tonight.  

The trail is rather dull up/down ridge running.    The ups are fine, the downs are pain-wracked.  

In the fading light I found a nice vantage point to take a good panoramic at around mile 545.   For the last 3 weeks most of the trail has been going West and Northwest.   Only now is it switching to North and Northeast.  This picture is looking South and shows the mountains and hills we have been hiking through over the last 2+ weeks.   Mostly blocked at the extreme left is the 15 coming through the Cajon pass.  Moving to the right is probably Baden-Powell.   It might even be the peaks around Wrightwood.   Center is Angeles Forest.  To the right are the hills North of Lake Hughes.    

Panoramic of the last 3 weeks of hikingHad dinner on top of some ridge as the wind was building up.  Both before and after dinner was mostly climbing so I made decent progress.   Into the night.    Then the trail flattened and the pain became unbearable.   I setup for the night at around mile 550, giving me a pathetic day total of 15 miles.  

The shin splints on my right leg are definitely hurting more.   Even worse, my limping around is causing me to favor my left foot which is developing hot spots.   Those will soon be blisters if I don’t change something.   I wrapped my leg in magical unicorn duct tape.   Maybe that will help.

 

 

 

 

Last night the trailer was buffeted by some high winds.    It was rocking around while some tree next to it kept scraping and scratching.   I had plenty of time awake to contemplate just how nasty the cushions are that I’m laying on.   In hindsight, I think my tent would have been a better option.  

It was already in the 80’s when I stepped out of the trailer.    Caught a cafe ride for breakfast.   Came back and dug into my resupply box to prep for the next leg.   After yet another round for lunch I brought back some beer and ice for the group and spent the remainder of the day lounging.

Happy Times showed up in the morning.   He immediately began digging through the hiker boxes for discards.   I gave him some of my stuff which he combined with random baggies of dehydrated grains people had pitched.   Some of that stuff looked pretty sketch.   Happy Times seems unfazed.

The lounging was split between the shade pictured below and “city hall”.   I asked the folks at city hall when they planned to leave for the evening/night hike.    There is a dial thermometer on the wall that looks like a clock.  The consensus was at 80 degrees.   No time, just 80 degrees.  

Lounging

Trash Panda took off at 2 together with this dude.   Bam Bam and I kept a running debate about when to pull the trigger.   Sitting in the shade things seemed ok, but a couple minutes of full sun sent us back to our chairs with another beer.  I got tired of the debate and just told him to make the call.

It was interesting hearing the younger folks at the table get into a long debates about society.   Being on the trail tends to generate a semi-utopian feeling about humanity.   Folks are letting us lounge on their properties.    They give us water, beer, food, and rides.  Hikers are honest, generally considerate of each other, and are either riding the high of a 20 mile hike or the satisfaction of a well deserved rest.

The debate goes something like, “Why can’t the normal world be more like this”.   If I was in my 20’s again, I suppose I’d be asking the same thing.  Instead Bam Bam and I are jaded old guys.   We don’t have the heart to give them our opinions on reality.   Better to just enjoy the moment.   I suspect this explains why I run into so many repeat hikers out here.  

Bam Bam and I have similar styles, generally hiking alone or in pick-up groups.  He had some good observations about group dynamics on the trail.  When these groups form, there is typically some Alpha setting schedules, planning the distances, and acting as chief recruiter.  Wonder how two of these little tribes would react to one another if there was only enough water for one of them.  

At 4:30, Bam Bam had enough.  It was time to leave and since I delegated the start time authority, that means me too.

After a short flat walk, hit the Aqueduct.   Bam Bam was fascinated by this.   I, well, wasn’t.   That put me in the lead.  Turned off the exposed aqueduct and began walking this pipe.

Probably 6 miles of pipe walking.   As the sun was setting we caught up with Melinda, who is a young gal who started last week on a section hike.  She is new to all this and wanted to join us.   The dark was freaking her out a little.  

After leaving the pipe, it was dirt road walking for the rest of the night.   We ran into kangaroo mice every 100 yards or so running around.   They would freeze when our lights hit them.    I offered to spear one for Melinda,  but it was Bam Bam who impressed.   He snatched one.   

By this time, my right leg is killing me.   Appears I have some kind of shin splint.   It hurts more and more with every step.   Doesn’t help that Bam Bam is telling me about friends who had to quit the trail due to this type of injury.   By the end of the night, I’m limping using my trekking poles more like a walker.     

We make our stop around 11:00 at mile 534.   There is supposed to be some water around here.   I’m a mess.   I can barely stand on my right leg and just want to pass out.   Maybe the pain will be less tomorrow morning.   Melinda and Bam Bam setup their tents, cook some food, etc.   I just throw my mat on the ground and curl up in my sleeping bag.   This sucks. 

 

Had to trek to the water catchment which was 200 feet up some hill and in an obscure location.    Took a while to find it.   

Once I found the thing, I had the figure out the operating procedure.   First you take a stick with a leaky Gatorade bottle, kneel in the mud, and try to reach under the enclosure to a small pool of water.   Of course, once you pull the Gatorade bottle out, it has 3 or 4 holes in it leaking all over me, the ground, and my pack.   Less than half the bottle eventually reaches my platypus bladder per round, so I get plenty of time to practice.

 

Chatted with the car campers up here and got the route on the dirt roads.   This is another one for a moto trip next year.

Ran into the 500 mile marker.   This one is kind of significant for me.   Stopped to have a little fun.

Soon the trail broke out of the tree cover and began the decent down to Lancaster.    Going to lose 4k feet today. 

Most folks stopped at Pine Canyon Creek for lunch.   It is the only water stop on this 20 mile stretch.    Most of the gang from Casa De Luna was here.   Trash Panda, Joe Dirt, Manny Pack, Grams, Melinda, Bad Ass, Iron Man, Mashed Potatoes, and others.   Most of us hung out hoping the heat would go away (it wasn’t), then finally getting up one by one and taking off.   

The last 7 miles sucked.    Downhill, super hot, no wind.   If we are lucky there is some thorny scrub.   Mostly it is just burned misery.   I decided to trail run some of this.   Made great time until I ran into an area where someone had cut some bushes off the trail leaving little 1 inch diameter stumps sticking up on the trail.    They were hard to see and one got me on the left foot.  Man that hurt.

Of course, this is another one where the destination can be seen while there are still miles of switchbacks to hike.   Afterward everyone shared my frustration.  

Made Hiker Town at 4:00.   So this place looks like a big movie set.    There is a bunk house and a bunch of shacks and old RV’s that you can sleep in.   The caretaker comes out and gives me a trailer to sleep in.    It had two bunks, so I invited Bam Bam to take the other.  

Every hour the owner from the cafe down the street shows up in a van to take hikers to his place.   They’ve a general store there as well.   It is quite a racket….everybody wants a burger and beer. 

Did a solid 20 miles today.   Plan for tomorrow is to hang around Hiker Town until it gets cooler, then take on the Mojave Desert.  Bam Bam seems to have a similar plan.   We might be hiking together tomorrow night.

 

 

Took me a while to pack-up and beg a ride back to the trail.   Got there around 10, when see Sitting Rock and her Mom hanging out.    Hadn’t seen them since Wrightwood, so we spent 30 minutes catching up.   Turns out that Sitting Rock is going off trail today.    Her Mom will be back in a week or so to carry on alone.  

I figured today would be just more of the same, since I pretty familiar with this area.    Low hills and shrubs.  Fortunately, the temps were in the 60’s, cloudy, with 20-30 mph winds.    It was a little uncomfortable, but way better than the usual 90’s and sun. 

 

After Lake Hughes crossing I stopped for some lunch next to a borehole from some failed mine.   Happy Times turned up mid lunch and hung out for a while.    He’s lost his wallet and phone.   Fortunately it was found, but shipped way ahead to Mojave.  So for the next week he’s is going 100% trail generosity.   Dude always has a great attitude.   Hence the name.  Seems to like the challenge…wouldn’t take any cash from me.

Goldmine !!!Munching on lunch I watched Happy Times climb the hill and walk across the ridge.   Every minute or two I’d snap a pic.   Here is my photo study of a broke, phoneless hiker.  

To my surpise, the trail started climbing into the tree line.   After 4, it was nice forest trails again.   Never thought I’d see this again until the Sierras.   Pleasant surprise.

This I ran into Manny Pack and hiked with him for an hour until he took dinner at 6.   He’s an electrical engineer from Seattle.   Our paces are similar.

After I split with Manny, I immediately run into TJ and Emily who are section hiking for a couple months.   Both just graduated.   TJ is going to Africa for a couple years in the peace corps, Emily is going to med school.   Really nice folks.    

They saw a bear at the last water source and freaked out a bit, so were out of water.   There was supposed to be some kind of tank at 496, but all we found was a steel pipe sticking out of the ground with some water in it.  I said “no thanks” and moved on, but they stuck around to filter.

Found the cut-off trail to Sawmill Campground 498.    It was a bit of a climb off the trail, but a wonderful protected meadow on top of the ridge.    There were some car campers here together with at least 10+ hiker tents.    Busy spot.   It was after 7, dark, and cold when I arrived.   A few folks were out, but I decided to just put up the tent and cook there.  

While sucking on a jolly rancher after dinner, I bit down on the last bit and managed pop a molar cap off.   Great, now I need a dentist.   I stuck it back on and went to sleep.

Feeling pretty good overall.   Did a 20 mile day after a late start and got 4k of climbing in.