I’ve been through two town stops since the last update, Agua Dulce and Hikertown. I unexpectedly reunited with friends who made the miles come very easy this week.

Long as it is, I have almost completed the Desert section of the PCT, and will soon enter the Sierra.

05/19 I leave Wrightwood with Enema Boy, Alyssa, and Dancer. My shoes are completely done and I can feel every rock I step on. The tread is smoother than a baby’s butt.

They have almost 800 miles on them, including some brutal races like Javelina Jundred and Devil on the Divide. They died suddenly and my feet take the fall.

Just before we are about to climb Mt. Baden-Powell, I eat way too much pasta from trail magic, and pay on the way up. My stomach ties itself in knots. Near the summit I see a plaque related to the Angeles Crest 100 mile race, whose course intersects with the PCT, which I hope to run someday.

I judge (correctly) that nobody will be on top of the interestingly named Throop Peak (named for the founder of Caltech) on a Tuesday night, so decide to camp there early.

5/20 There is a trail closure due to an endangered frog species, so we need to walk on the road. I run into Dancer early in the morning and we take the highway for a number of miles, further than strictly necessary. Dancer has a strong norcal accent (hella gnarly, dude), speech infections of a ___boarder (I later learn it’s snowboarder), charmingly idiosyncratic tattoo choices, and is quite stoned almost constantly but still putting down some serious miles.

A fellow trail runner based Auburn, we talk shop for a while (he wears a Pa’lante Desert and has a 7.5lb base weight, the lowest I have encountered so far), the book “Fixing your Feet” which he follows more faithfully than I do, and how to eat healthier out here. Later we run into trail magic where a woman has brought her pet possums to the trail. They are surprisingly well behaved and very cute.

I camp in yet another unmarked spot on a ridge and watch the sun set and rise in silence.

5/21 I hike mostly alone today. I see two rattlesnakes and two other snakes, but they are all courteous and move out of the way. It’s hot and I feel like I have seen these same bushes 1,000 times before. My shoes are beyond done and my feet hurt. I try to get as close to Agua Dulce as I can for tomorrow, where my new pair are waiting. By late afternoon my feet hurt so much that I decide to just run down most of the 3,500 ft descent. If it is going to be painful either way may as well get to camp faster. I cover 27 miles without too much difficulty despite my feet. I am getting faster, or at least, the miles are coming easier.

At the bottom, I start to set up my sleeping bag when all of a sudden I see a familiar face. Biscoff! I hadn’t expected to see him again. I haven’t done a 30 mile day since my hike with him into Big Bear. Every time he is mentioned it seems like people end the sentence with the exact phrase “…and that guy is ripping some serious miles”. I hope they say that about me someday. He is with Lea and Matthieu, who I hiked out of Mission Creek with. It’s good to reunite.

5/22 A short day into Agua Dulce. I wake up at 4:45am and hike out before sunrise since Biscoff doesn’t like the heat. We pass through Vasquez Rocks park, which served as the set of countless movies including many westerns and Star Trek. And there are for some reason llamas here.

In town, we stop at a “hiker oasis” run by a calm and good natured man named Farmer John. I am elated to take a shower and do laundry. It feels so good to be clean, and we are all in high spirits. Everyone gets new shoes today. Triple crowner (someone who has hiked all 3 major long trails in the USA) Monkey Man and his friend BaToNa (Back to Nature) fire up the grill and treat everyone to burgers and hotdogs, which I can barely get down after I consumed a pound of guacamole and multiple ice cream sandwiches earlier.

5/23 Biscoff’s friend, the so called “Heavy metal handyman” who toured with various punk bands in the 90s as a roadie, and is also a longtime vegan, arrives with his van and dogs. We pile in to take the europeans to Trader Joe’s in Santa Clarita for the first time. They are flabbergasted by the excess of it all.

Later we head back out on the trail, towards Hikertown. Despite the name, this place has quite a shady reputation and I am glad to not be heading in alone.

05/24 On the Sunday before memorial day we run into some great trail magic: boy scouts serving burgers, fruit, and drinks. A girl named Maggie is running the show like a tight ship, taking our orders, keeping everyone in line, and we all ask for her autograph before we go.

5/25 Another early start with Biscoff, we do 27 miles. Today we pass the mile 500 marker, as well as the worst water cache I have ever seen.

The sign for Hikertown is unfortunately indicative of the actual place. There is running water and flat ground to camp but almost nothing else. The shower, the primary reason I came here, is of course, broken.

To get to the only store nearby, the two of us are shuttled into the open back of a pickup truck full of backpacks, then told to lie down 0.1 second before the driver hit the gas. Apparently the driver was telling the story of someone who recently swerved off the road here and died, and started demonstrating. It was an uncomfortable, bumpy ride, and the store sold little more than cans of soda and beer. Good thing we were not relying on it for a resupply.

Tomorrow, we will wake up early to hike the LA Aqueduct, then close out the desert through Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows. With the first major section almost done, I am feeling good, and happy to be with a consistent group again after so much time alone. I finally feel like I am getting the hang of things, though I know there will always be a curveball or two when I least expect it.

Bye for now!

Milk&Cigarettes

Hiker special photo of the week: