Tehachapi

Day 36, Mile 558

This last section I went through was pretty hot! I guess it should be since it goes through some of the Mojave desert. Water has been hard to come by and it was pretty common to have to go 15 to 20 miles before you hit another water source. So that means carrying over 10 lbs of water which I am finding out makes a big difference in my progress. This next section will probably be more of the same then I am gonna be out of the desert for the most part. The desert and So Cal has been beautiful and all but I am ready for some new scenery and a little cooler weather. Man I can't imagine going through all these past sections in a few weeks when the bulk of the hikers go through, most of the water sources will be dried up.

One of the places I ended up stopping for water a few days ago was this trail angels house called Hiker Town. My timing couldn't have been any better since when I showed up the people living there were having a BBQ with the Mayor of Lancaster and Gator and I ended up being the token hikers, pictures and all. The funny thing was as I was hiking on the trail the day before I was dreaming of BBQ chicken, baked beans, and potato salad, and guess what they were serving, all that and more! It was amazing and as I was stuffing my face with all this food the people were coming up asking us all these questions. Now here was my deli ma...you are starving for real food and can't wait to eat but you are trying to be polite by not answering these questions with your mouth full, I ate anyway. Hiker Town was actually pretty cool. It looked like an old western Hollywood set with all the different buildings lined up next to each other (saloon, city hall, etc) and you could stay the night in the little buildings if you wanted too. I didn't stay even though it was tempting but I did get a nice meal, shower, and most important... water.

Now I am in Tehachapi and just finished a few errands of getting supplies for the next section. I will relax tonight and head to the Post Office tomorrow to get my resupply box since today is Sunday and PO is not open. After that back on the trail.