PCT day 30 - mile 644 to mile 666

"Killer trail with killer views up ahead on the trail. A trail crafted by skilled dwarves in days of yore. Cut into the side of the mountain with nothing but pickaxes, pry bars, rock drills and dynamite!" LongJohnSilver

"How many hikers can you fit into a car.. Wait, is this a Polish joke?" Pancakes

Town day, resupply day - slowly but surely it becomes more desirable. Just to aimlessly walk the alleys in supermarket, strike a conversation with a stranger or share a story with another hiker. It feels special, even for a loner like myself.

I camped only 8 miles away from Walkers Pass where I could catch a ride to either Lake Isabella or Ridgecrest in the morning. Calling trail angel was out of question as my T-Mobile credit ran out two days ago and local bus was running only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (and no one knew why). So I had to rely on my questionable hitchhike catching skills.

I arrived at the Walkers Pass at 8:30am, half an hour of sticking thumb up both ways (towards cars going to Lake Isabella and Ridgecrest) and.. nothing, well no surprise there. After about 40 minutes (I think the key is to stick your thumb confidently quite high, but I will review that) a car pulled over, it was two friends, soldiers and one was giving the other ride to a military unit (there's a military base close to Ridgecrest), they offered me a ride to Inyokern, a small town half way through to Ridgecrest, I gladly took the offer. 

We had a friendly chat about killing rattlesnakes with shotguns, that I should carry a machete with me in case I get attacked by one and that bears are only overgrown raccoons and I shouldn't worry about them. After they dropped me off, I bought few things in a local market and decided to try my luck catching another hitch to Ridgecrest (they had Walmart = Caramel Mountain trail mix!). I put my thumb up, and after few minutes a white mercedes pulled over, a gentleman and his wife offered me a ride to Walmart!

Ridgecrest turned out to be a very long road full of shops and services and Walmart was at the very end of it, I got dropped off after a 20 minute ride (I offered to pay few dollars for it but both times my offer got rejected).

I did my usual resupply here but this time got two Caramel Mountain trail mixes (that's 1.2kg extra weight, but hey it's worth it!) as I was finishing shopping a woman approached me and asked if I wanted a ride to anywhere in town. I said yes, I needed to go to T-Mobile to renew my credit and that was few miles up the road. She waited for me outside and off we went. Jenny as that was her name, said that she isn't a trail angel but she likes to help hikers when she can, she hikes herself with her husband so she's familiar with the problems of it. As we went down the road we could see the smoke going out from the military base area, Jenny said (she used to work for them) that they been exploding something there for the whole week and that there's nothing to worry about.

I thanked Jenny for the ride, sorted out my T-Mobile problem, went to 'Big 5' an outdoor company but hikers bought out everything good here (aka dehydrated meals). Then I treated myself to a Taco Bell a franchise recommended to me by Nugget and called a trail angel Pancakes asking if she could give me a ride back to the trail once I'm finished. I was quite lucky as she was in the area and on her way to pick up hikers from Walkers Pass. She turned out to be a very lively and chatty woman, reminded me of Kenny from Big Bear and I regret that I won't be staying at her house as it would probably be a fun experience. I was also the first Polish hiker she met since she started trail angeling (so from 2019!)

I went back on trail at 1pm and got greeted with a steady, long and quite beautiful ascent up the Mount Jenkins and Owen Peak, after three hours of good progress and as I zoned out another goddamnyoubastard rattlesnake popped up just in front of me from underneath the bush, it was less than a feet away, the closest I ever been to one. It started to rattle and move sideways on trail, I put my feet back and scored the ground with my poles to throw some grime and dust at it as I though it will strike. I think that must have confused it a little as it made a quick exit and disappeared to the side of the trail. It was also different colour to the previous ones I saw, it was golden yellow, apparently these are called Timber rattlesnakes. If it carries on like this, soon I'll become a rattlesnake expert, haha.

Few more hours of walking and I pitched the tent at the quite pretty but exposed campsite. I'm staying here on my own (which is surprising as I went pass few other hikers). It looks like it will be a windless night, a very welcome change. The moon is big and bright, I can hear the crickets jamming in tune with occasional F-18 circling around the military base. Life is good.

Pancakes:
Taco Bell meal:
Ravi from Bangalore, India:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more