A combination of a slow writer, no off days, and a four day stretch without cell service has left a gap in my blog. It's been an eventful trip since Green Valley, particularly with the weather. After spending two nights with "trail angels" (more to come in a separate post), the treck into Kern County, California has been marked by exposure to a sequential set of elements. First, the sun, as there was a full day treck across flat, shadeless desert land heading into the Tehachapi Mountains. Next, the wind, as the pass between where the Tehachapi Mountains end and the Sierra Nevada range starts is the location of one of the largest wind turbine farms in the world. What I imagine were 60 mph winds snatched away my sunhat in my ascent (lesson for me; put my hat away during those kind of winds. My temporary replacement has been wrapping a T-shirt around my head and holding it in place with a headlamp). Then, snow and ice, as ironically during one of the driest stretches of the trail, I ran into a storm that at peak spots left six inches of snow and hail for me to push through (happily, the daytime air temps in May meant my toes didn't face frostbite). And then, back to sun, as just a day after trekking through snow, I was hauling 17 pounds of water on my back as I traversed the edge of the Mojave Desert.
It's May in the U.S., and a number of hikers are temporarily leaving the trail to attend events like weddings and graduations. I, too, am taking a temporary break (as I'd been planning from the start) to close out some administrative and logistical items that I couldn't complete prior to commencing my hike.
When I return to the trail and head into the Sierras, I'll leave behind the relatively widespread cell coverage of southern California, and blog updates will be much more infrequent, on a par with this gap.
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| Aqueduct, sending water south to Los Angeles |
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| Joshua Tree |
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| On the left, a Joshua tree apart from the pack. Sadly, for U2 fans, these streets do have names. This road eventually turns into Aqueduct Road. |
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| Wind farm, south of the Tehachapi Mountains |
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| Wind farm, north of the Tehachapis |
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High altitude pine forest, Kern County
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| Pacific Crest Trail marker. The crest at the top is a favorite sight for PCT hikers -- it shows you haven't strayed from the path |
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| Western side of Mojave Desert. Luckily, temperatures on this day were mild, and there was a breeze |
