Day 32, Getaway Day

Part 1, The Desert, Day 32

Getaway Day

Miles: 17

PCT Mile: 558.5

I'm currently immobile in a comfy motel bed watching tv. I couldn't get up even for a fire, so let's hope that doesn't happen. Let's go back...

I expected bad sleep last night in Tyler Horse Canyon, mainly because of what I call "canyon syndrome," but I was out like a light. I was really tired, I guess, and there was no wind, nor was it very cold. Between that and the low temps, I'd say that I've been very lucky in this desert stretch. But I still had 17 miles of exposed uphill until I reached Tehachapi-Willow Springs road. I was hiking by 6:30 am, and the trail went uphill early and stayed that way for hours.

Below is the wind farm from yesterday:

One great thing about what I call "getaway days," (days when I go to town) is that I'm usually out of food, so my pack was as light as it's ever been. I also only carried 2.5 liters of water, that I filtered this morning. It tasted like a family of frogs gave birth in it. It was gross. I still drank the shit out of it.

I love going uphill, because it's so much easier on my body than downhill or even straight hiking. Since I trained for nearly 5 months prior to my hike, I rarely get winded going uphill. The only time I noticeably got winded was hiking up Mt Baden Powell, which was covered in snow, but I'm sure I'll get my butt kicked very soon. 

As I'm sure you've found out by now, the trail wasn't too varied today. I was just trying to push through it. I was so tired and worn down from these last 100 miles, and the Mojave nearly broke me. The desert SoCal section is grating after a month of hiking, and I'm very happy to sense the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, but I still have over 150 miles of probably the hardest hiking I've seen so far, so that should be fun. 

I finally reached the top of the mountains after hours of going up. 

I came upon a water cache with chairs, a trash bag, and even a basket of apples. I'm sure I've explained this, but fruit is very appreciated and coveted out here. I ate an apple and drank some good water, and chatted with Poca, Radish, and Tin Man.

Below is Tin Man, from Michigan. He looks and talks EXACTLY like the actor Jeff Bridges.

So tired I could barely keep my eyes open, I got going, needing 7 miles until I could try and hitchhike to town. All morning I'd been struggling with the decision of where to zero, either go left to Tehachapi, or right to Mojave. After talking to hikers and reading a great comment from my friend Jason, I chose Tehachapi. Apparently Mojave is just a sad, sad place. 

It was all downhill from here, which meant that my feet and toes and ankles immediately began to scream bloody murder. 

Most plant and tree matter were burned, but I did see a few welcome Oaks and other trees.

"Hey, what's that in the distance...?"

"Good GOD!! Not another wind farm!"

Thankfully, the wind wasn't a problem at this hour.

I only had 3 miles left when I couldn't take another step. Each day, separate parts of my feet hurt, and this time, my big toes and pinkie toes were the victims. The aching I feel each day after 12+ miles is so bad that I feel like I'm about to lose consciousness with each step. It's that bad. I spend a lot of time holding my breath and tip toeing downhill because of this pain. I'm hoping my feet succumb to the beating and go numb, but I also wonder if this pain is just a part of thru hiking. I'm gonna start planning my days around taking small breaks and see if that helps. I stopped under a loud wind turbine and ate the last of my food.

As always, the last mile to the road felt like it took 3 hours. I stupidly did not apply sun screen today because my only mission was to get 17 miles to the road, and the sun didn't seem bad, but I got burnt to shit and it feels bad. The sun sure is sneaky out here. When I arrived at the road, it was hard to keep my eyes open. I just wanted to lay down somewhere that wasn't dirt, but I couldn't, so I stood on that hot road and tried to hitch a ride.

I hitched for nearly an hour without a car stopping. I hate hitch hiking, because every time a car passes me, many times in an hour, the rejection sucks. It makes me feel like some dirty vagrant, (which, by now, I am!) I was surprised to see Radish and Poca, two hiker girls, arrive at the road, and they hitched with me. They even had a sign that said, "hiker to town," which I need to get, so now that I had two "ride brides," a car stopped within minutes and picked us up. It was a very nice woman named Theresa, and she dropped us off in downtown Tehachapi. 

I wandered into a convenient store and bought a blueberry slushie for some reason. I got massive brain freeze. I walked up the street and since I knew I'd be lying in a bed for the rest of the day, I stopped  here to eat an early dinner:

It was nothing special, but I didn't care. I looked online at motels and picked a Best Western that had a good PCT Hiker rate. I paid for two nights. I mean business when it comes to resting these feet. The room is so great, and I melted into the bed, after doing some menial hiker chores with my gear. 

Now I'm watching tv and it's pretty awesome. (I'm actually typing this blog now, but still kinda relaxing.) I'm so excited about resting for a few days, but I have to do a bit of walking to resupply tomorrow. Time to rest now, until tomorrow.