Day 28 – Luck of the Irish
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 17 to Tehachapi (mile 558)
I meant to wake up early, I really did, but it was windy and cold and my body told me that it needed more recovery time from the 87 trail miles I’ve put in over the past 3 days. As a result, rather than early morning hiking to the top of a big hill, I got to do it in the full heat of the day.
As one might expect, that was no fun. It was a little more than 2,000 feet up, but knowing that you are on a 42-mile dry stretch makes you consider water differently. Instead of drinking whenever you’re thirsty, you drink when you’re thirsty AND it’s time for your water ration.
I was struggling the whole way up due to the heat, so I thought I was hallucinating when I got to the top and saw… chairs? An umbrella? What is this place?
It’s trail magic! Yay! 🎉 A few kind souls, some of which I had the pleasure of meeting today, stock a surprise water cache at the top of this brutal climb with snacks, fruit, water, and juice! They don’t want people expecting it because they would rather help make people happy than potentially disappoint people who are relying on it, so it’s not on the water report at all. Since I didn’t know about it, it was an amazing surprise that thoroughly brightened my mood for the day. Thanks, Alice and friends! They pulled up in a truck while I was sitting there and I talked to them for a while about what this section used to look like before the fire while the kids in tow checked on all the supplies in the water cache to make sure future hikers were covered. It’s super awesome to continually see this kind of kindness throughout the trail and I look forward to paying it forward in the future.
Once I had enjoyed my water, juice, and clementine, I signed the guest book and it was time to hit the trail again to make it into Tehachapi before sunset. The hike was mostly downhill now, but the hours were stretching on and on, never seeming to get any closer to my expected arrival time. I started to feel pretty tired as well, tempting myself with short breaks every so often. I began wondering if this was normal “I’ve hiked 87 miles in the past three days” exhaustion or if the heat was having an effect and causing heat exhaustion. I took more and more breaks in the shade, drank lots of electrolytes, made sure I was eating, and doused my bandana in (hot 😞) water to cool myself off.
I was feeling better by the time I came across another hiker who was clearly struggling with the heat as well. Bloody Smooches, who I had met last night, was lying down under a tree, seemingly waiting for the sun to go away. We discussed which trail exit into Tehachapi to take (the second one, we decided) and I continued on my way. I had pretty much resolved to go 9 miles further to the highway to hitch in, when I saw a car in the parking lot next to the trail.
Generally, seeing cars is a good thing. These are fairly infrequently used trails, so a car either means you’ll see people, or even better, you’ll encounter trail angels. In the case of towns, however, it usually means a convenient and free ride in with a nice person who is used to hikers. This kind of ride is really hard to pass up. Hmmm… either I can ride with this person immediately with no effort and get my burger NOW or I can walk further and stand for an unknown amount of time in an attempt to get a ride that may never come. Needless to say, as soon as Real Irish got out of his car and tried to convince me not to hike to the highway, I was sold and was sitting shotgun with the AC blasting.
He was a super cool guy, back here from Ireland after thru hiking the PCT last year and he wanted to pay the trail magic forward. What that meant for me was that he drove me to the campground (literally 20 feet from the runway of the airport), waited for me to set up my tent and change, drove me to the grocery store to resupply, came back, hung out, and gifted me some beers before heading back to the trailhead to find more hikers. What a nice guy! He even offered to drive me back to the trailhead tomorrow whenever I wanted! Apparently other people had waited over an hour for a hitch from the same spot, so I was incredibly lucky to immediately run into such an awesome guy.
The campground is… interesting. It’s inside the barbed wire fence of the airport and you have to walk along the runway to get to it. It’s apparently a public park with camping, horseshoes, picnic tables, power outlets, and portapotties (both bathroom AND shower versions!), so for $5 a night, I’d say it’s a pretty good deal. It’s somewhat hard to get into and out of due to the barbed wire, but overall it’s a nice, albeit bizarre, place.
As is expected, once I was settled in at the campground, I met up with some people I knew and set off into town in search for a burger. Burger Spot seemed like they might have what I needed, so I stopped in there for a delicious dinner and the biggest milkshake I’ve ever seen. $4.99 for a liter of milkshake. A full LITER.
That picture may not look like much, but it was HUGE. Probably a bit too much milkshake for one sitting, but hey, I’m always up for a challenge.
Heading back to camp, I stopped at a picnic table to share some beers and some opinions about Adam Sandler’s most recent works with a couple guys before attempting to sleep in between train horns. I’m a pretty talented sleeper and even I woke up a few times, so I’d hate to see what the night was like for a lighter sleeper. 🚂 CHOOO CHOOOOOO