Day 31, Mojave Madness

Part 1, The Desert, Day 31

Mojave Madness

Miles: 24

PCT Mile: 541.6

It's my one month Trailversary today! I started at the border exactly one month ago today. I'm celebrating with a brutal desert hike.

Today was a notoriously difficult Mojave desert stretch, and it was so hard. 

The bed at Hikertown was comfy, but pretty gross and filthy, so I slept in my sleeping bag on the bed. I only slept 5 hours because a small army of roosters woke everyone up at dawn. I've been too tired to even plan lately, so I had no expectations for today, but I took advantage of the early start today and got going quickly. 

Today I had to go 24 miles through the shade-less desert. There wasn't water until mile 24, so I simply had to get there. I took a gamble and brought only 4 liters since it was cool in the morning. I followed the LA Aqueduct all day. 

After a few miles, the aqueduct went underground with the trail right on top of it.

I enjoyed watching this epic tumbleweed race:

I'm not sure which tumbleweed won. The race was pretty even. The trail was long and flat most of the day. I could see where I was going for miles and miles.

I briefly investigated this Breaking Bad situation:

This was a very traditional desert; vast, lonely, and dry. It was silent except for some wind. It started to get hot early, but not nearly as hot as it could have been. It was mercifully cool, and I was lucky.

I'm not sure, but I think this is a Joshua Tree:

I had little energy, so I stopped at some shade behind a wood box and ate some food. Then I got cold. I can't win out here!

I walked for what seemed like forever on these long paths that went for miles. These seemingly endless paths are mentally tough, because I know I'll be walking straight for hours with no shade and there's nowhere to go but forward. By early afternoon, I'd gone 17 miles. I reached the start of this massive wind farm. There were hundreds of giant wind turbines as big as buildings.

I was moving at a slow crawl since my feet were dead. I cannot move most of my toes these days, and it kind of worries me. After the first 17 miles today, I was in real pain and needed some shade to rest, so I stopped under the Cottonwood Creek bridge. It was really disgusting under there, but shade is shade.

The second part of the hike would be 7 miles through the wind farm to the water source. It was brutal and it sucked. 

It was somehow hot and windy at the same time, uphill, and the wind was such a bully. It was pushing me around for miles, and it's not easy pushing against the wind with a heavy pack. 

The wind harassed me for hours. In that wind, it's hard to think, breath, look at stuff, and it pushed against me as I hiked  uphill. It wasn't fun, but I plowed through, and it absolutely exhausted me.

After 24 hard miles, I arrived at Tyler Horse Canyon at 6pm. I am so tired and sore, but I had to spend an hour setting up my tent, filtering water, and cooking dinner. 

I'm camped by my water source, a small stream, and the only water for 25 miles in either direction. (It's not much..)

I just got bit by fire ants and my leg stings. I just hope the wind doesn't tear my tent apart tonight. Another big mile day tomorrow, but I get a zero day soon. I can either go to Tehachapi, which is much nicer but spread out and more expensive, or Mojave, which is an armpit of a town, but cheap and compact. Help me decide people. I need to rest.