Miles hiked: 18.6.
Another early morning to beat the heat, and today the lack of sleep is catching up with me. I'm slow to wake up and pack and stretch, can't decide which task to do next. Walking by 5:10, starting slow on he last bit of the climb I didn't finish last night, letting my muscles warm and wake up.
The trail follows a ridge with the burned out leftovers of oaks and junipers from a fire some time ago. Big groups of Lark Sparrows, with 6-8 fledglings and a few parents move noisily between patches of thick regrowing shrubs while a Loggerhead Shrike looks on, maybe waiting for an opportunity for breakfast.
Because water was so scarce in this section of trail, my goal was to make it out to Tehachapi today to avoid dry camping 2 nights in a row. There are 2 different roads the trail crosses which lead to town, and my goal was to make it to the second one, Hwy 58, because after Tehachapi there is another stretch with no water somewhere between 20 or 30 miles, depending on which water report you believe. If I could make it to Hwy 58, then I would have a shorter waterless stretch when I get back on after Tehachapi. Unfortunately, Hwy 58 is essentially a freeway, and it's very difficult to hitchhike there. In stead my plan was to try and make it by 1 to catch a bus to town.
Almost 19 miles by 1. I'll have to hike quick.
Luckily the first half of the hike was a gradual descent down a long ridge, and I can cruise right along. The lower section of the ridge is the start of the Tehachapi wind farm, which was first developed in the early 1980s and still has some old small turbines scattered amongst the giant new ones. Some of these oldies are in the process of being disassembled and taken away somewhere.
A mile or so before reaching the first road to Tehachapi, I fall in with Gumbi and Not So Fast, from Portland. They are also trying to make the 1 pm bus so we join forces to keep up a quick pace.
But then we get to the first road and there is Coppertone, and we just have to stop to take a quick break. I have heard a little about Coppertone but not met him before. He is a well known hiker and trail angel, who has a converted delivery truck camper and drives around to various places the trail and makes root beer floats for hikers. Rumor has it he can also often be seen on day hikes wearing nothing but a hat and boots (leading to a tan that leads to the name, I guess).
We had our floats and chatted with Coppertone for 20 minutes. The angry guy who was at Tylerhorse Canyon yesterday was here for a bit, swearing up a storm because he couldn't get a hitch into town. Turns out he hiked all the way here last night, arriving at midnight, and started trying to catch a ride right then.
The next 8 miles went pretty well. The trail now traversed a ridge in the heart of the wind farm, and uncoincidentally there was a nice breeze to keep the temperature under control. There were more Lark Sparrows, and I also saw a California Thrasher carry food into a juniper. The last 2 miles are a steep descent down a hill that had been heavily grazed by cows or sheep or something. There were just a few scattered Joshua Trees and shrubs and just the slightest hint of some remnant grass. You could almost see erosion happening, which wasn't helped by the fact that many hikers apparently just walk straight down the hill in stead of taking the switchbacks, leaving a big vertical trail which will probably turn into a big gully if it ever rains again.
Just before we reached the bus stop, a car pulled up and rolled down the window and there were Energizer Bunny and Boyardee and a nice local lady who shuffled some stuff around to fit us in and drove us in to town. This was great because we were actually over an hour early for the bus, and it didn't look like there was much shade around. The asphalt was actually so soft that you could leave foot prints and stab deep holes win trekking poles, and some hikers had written their names in it.
Once in Tehachapi I got a room at the Santa Fe motel, and did the usual shower and stuff face with food routine. The town is a bit spread out, but there is a great little local burger joint next to the hotel, with big sloppy burgers and real milk shakes (I had cookies and cream). The rest of the day just sort of disappeared with me spending most of the time laying in bed with my leg up to try and get the swelling on my shin down. This is currently the only problem I've got, and it seems to be sort of stuck in the current condition, not getting worse, despite the recent big days, but also not getting better, probably because of all the miles. Saw a few other hikers around town but mostly kept to myself this evening, wanting to spend as much time as possible off my feet.
Birds:
Spotted Towhee
Western Wood-pewee
Lark Sparrow
Bewick's Wren
Oak Titmouse
Stellar's Jay
Western Scrub-jay
Western Bluebird
Loggerhead Shrike
California Thrasher
Common Raven
Northern Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
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