Day 38 – 29 Apr 19. Desert Storm, Wind Turbines and Windy Hills

Today 38 km (23.6 mi), Total Distance 887.7 km (551.6 mi). 9 hours 45 minutes (0800 -1745)

The forecast for rain was correct. At 0130 it rained lightly for about 10 minutes and then at 0430 the storm came through. It was loud rolling thunder which vibrated through me and lightening. There was barely any gap between the lightening and thunder as the storm was right over me. The rain was torrential and sustained until about 0700 when it started easing off.

I decided to lay in for a while to let the worst of it to pass through and by the time I was ready to pack up the rain had stopped and the storm moved on. Just as I was about to hit the trail a hiker went past. I think I gave him a fright as I called out good morning as he was not expecting anyone there.

About 5 minutes later I hit the trail. I was still on the aqueduct for another 1.6 km (1 mile) and then turned off.

The turnoff was really subtle. At a bridge there was a skinny post with a faded PCT sticker and arrow showing to turn onto a dirt road. If you were not looking for it you would miss it, as the hiker in front of me did. I had started catching up to him but he was too far in front to hear me.

I turned onto the dirt road and it turned parallel with the aqueduct about 400 meters away. About 5 minutes later the other hiker appeared on a trail to my right after he had realised he missed the turn and found an alternate.

Now it was pretty straight for several miles and as we came over the crest of a hill the wind turbines came into view. I knew we would be around the turbines for a while. I walked with the other hiker for about 10 minutes. He had left Hiker Town at 0300 so was walking through the big storm. He stopped for a break and I continued.

It took a lot longer than I thought to get to the turbines as distances are hard to judge in the desert. Once reaching the turbines the trail turned left, climbed a hill and then after veering right came out at the aqueduct again.

Now it was back to walking on the dirt road beside the aqueduct, though now with massive wind turbines around. It was hard to grasp the scale of the turbines until I noticed the stairs and door at the base of them which looked tiny.

Just short of a bridge over a river I came across the 3 Stooges. They were one of the groups that walked past me last night. Disco offered me some coffee with coconut milk and it was pretty good. I gave them all some vitamin C lollies. They were still finishing up breakfast as they had camped there. I left them to it and continued.

Just over the bridge there was some trail magic, I think provided by the workers of the wind farm. I had a diet coke which was nice but I am not used to the fizz anymore and spent the next 30 minutes burping from the gas.

The trail turned off he aqueduct onto a dirt trail with flowers and Joshua Trees. Now the wind became more obvious and it had moved from behind me to in front.

There was a short while on the road and then onto single track when the climbing started. The trail headed in straight lines but turned a few times before starting the main climb up into the foothills. I passed a group of 4 having lunch.

The sustained climb was getting to me and my legs were feeling really weird. My stomach also started playing up and I was on the verge of nausea. I stopped for lunch but wasn’t hungry and gave up after forcing the minimum amount into me. The two of the three stooges passed me, and the guy from this morning, as I was having lunch.

I was just about to leave when Disco caught up. He told me to go in front and I quickly left him behind on the climb. The wind was getting really strong and the climb was a struggle. My nausea had gone but my thighs were still feeling strange.

After a lot more climbing we joined a road for a short time then back on single track for the final push to the ridge.

Just short of the ridge I nearly stepped on a Rattlesnake. Once again there was no warning until I heard a rattle right by my ankle. I jumped forward then looked back and saw the snake by the track and my footprint showing how close I got.

Once at the ridge we dropped straight down the other side on a steep switchback down to a stream, the first water in a while.

There was a big group there filtering water and lying around. The stooges, Pickles and another guy I hadn’t met before as well as the guy from this morning who was called Nate and had the trail name of Flipper.

I filtered some water then sat down and took off my shoes and socks to air my feet. I had a snack and relaxed for about 10 minutes but started to get too cold. Pickles took off about 5 minutes ahead of me but I quickly caught her going up the hill.

My legs were feeling good now and I was enjoying being out of the wind. The trail headed up the side of a hill steadily climbing. There were lots of big gulleys to go around and the trail was washed away in some places. I was enjoying this part.

Once we went over a saddle there was a steep downhill and then the bigg hill of the day. As I dropped down I could see the big zig zags (switchback) climbing the hill. I filled up with a muslea bar and some M&M to have energy for the climb.

The first part of the climb was a grunt with a fairly steep gradient and sandy track making it harder. At the top I thought I was now just going along the side of the trail but I had not looked at my map properly and while it was along the side of hills, it was a constant uphill for the next few hours.

Near the top I spied bright red across a valley and it was an area set up for hikers with umbrellas tables, chairs and a small water cache. There was a new guy there setting up camp. It was really windy and I wanted to cover a few more miles to make tomorrow’s effort into town less.

The trail was now downhill, though still sandy. It went in and out of trees and after a while I started looking for a campsite. After a few rejections I found a nice place sheltered from the wind.

After I set up camp I texted Cheryl who had followed my blog. She asked which exit I was taking and I looked again. I had planned to exit at Highway 58 but when reading Guthook I realised hitching from there was difficult so I decided to get off at Willow Springs Road, 8 miles closer. This meant I only had 7 miles to do tomorrow instead of the expected 15 yay.

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