Day 44 – From Spanish Needle Creek to Manter Creek, mile 694

June 3. Early start, 5am on trail. As often, not so easy to get up. But once awake, the cool air and the darkness is nice.

The vertical profile today said a first climb to 7000 feet, down to 5500 feet, up again to 8000 feet. With every day you feel the Sierra coming closer. Also the trail itself changes. Less sandy patches, more and more rocks.

Took a break after getting water 12 miles in. Nearby forest road. Car driving by. I joked about smelling trail magic… And guess what! Mountain Dew, Cliff bars, cookies,…. Yeah! Surprising trail magic is the best.

The last days in the desert turn to be really hot. But the beautiful scenery, the blossoming flowers, …

After the 8000 feet peak today, it was more or less downhill towards Manter Creek. The heat remained and the last few miles felt longer and longer…

Came to campground after 24 miles today around 6pm, with tomorrow morning less than 10 miles left to Kennedy Meadows and the breakfast there at Grumpy Bear’s Retreat.

Day 43 – From Lake Isabella to Spanish Needle creek, mile 669

June 2.

Breakfast at Nelda’s Diner. Tinkle had found a trail angel (Mariann) to pick us up right at the diner at 8.30am to go back to the trail head at Walker Pass.

Took two Gatorades from the trail magic at the trail head. Started walking 9.30am.

Lots of climbing. Really hot day. There was talk about a heatwave with temperatures in the high 30s Celsius.

At 5pm, when getting water, everyone was tired from the heat, so we went an early end of the day.

When pitching my tent, I realized that one of the guy lines nearly had ripped, it must have been scratching at a rock when I had pitched it last time. Kind of disappointing. The guy line is long enough to continue using it… But I wished they would have used a bit robust material for the guy lines.

Day 39 – Tentsite to Landers Campground, mile 609

May 29. Another early start around 5am. The new tent is good, but my sleep wasn’t.

Today we would hit the 600 miles marker. It feels like hitting these 100 miles markers happens faster and faster. But it would also be a really hot day.

It was another climb to get to the 600 miles at about 5600 feet, later we would climb to 6300 feet. It feels like we are getting closer to the Sierra despite the heat.

In the afternoon I walked finally through some forest providing shade – a truly very beautiful landscape.

Pitched my tent first, had my food prepared when the others came after a longer lunch break.

Not my day. Not enough sleep. Went to bed early.

Day 35 – From Tylerhorse Canyon via Springs Road to Tehachapi, mile 558

May 25. We had planned a very early start the day before, but that didn’t really work out. So today we woke up around 4am and hit the trail by at 5am. There were just 17 miles to the highway crossing that would take us with hitchhiking to Tehachapi and with that to the long anticipated break… Food, laundry, shower…

We have been constantly increasing the daily mileage… so even this 17 miles day feels like half a day or a nero. 😉

After some more altitude gain, the trail descended constantly with a view on a very big wind farm.

Song of today: Come on, come on – Billy Idol

My blister still hurt, but the thought of a break in Tehachapi helped pushing forward. We made it to the highway crossing around 1pm… and as usual, getting a hitchhike was no problem at all. Thank you Tehachapi citizens for being so hiker friendly!

fbt — Hitchhiking with two dogs on the back seat. Everyone is happy, and the dogs enjoyed licking some dirty and sweaty hikers…

cof — Food at Denny’s just opposite of the hotel

After lunch checking in to the Holiday Express, I picked up my new home for the next 5 months… My ZPacks Duplex tent! 😁 So excited…

Left: MSR Hubba hubba (1.7kg), right: Zpacks Duplex (0.6kg)

We didn’t really do much in the evening. After dinner at Subway’s, everyone was just exhausted. Two more lazy days in town with lots of food, rest and a movie or two to come.

Day 34 – From Highway 138 crossing to Tylerhorse Canyon campground, mile 542

May 24. Got up at 4am, quick breakfast at the market. Since they feed all about 10 hikers camping there, it took a bit longer than planned. Driving to the trail head from Wee Vill Market was planned at 5am, with the breakfast taking longer than expected, we actually made it to trail at 6am.

The famous aquaduct walk was waiting and with that normally one of the hottest sections of the PCT. Temperatures in the 100s F/ 40s C are common – but we were once again lucky with the weather. No shade though, so still not an easy day.

It was 17 miles on very flat terrain to the only water source, we had planned totally 24 miles for that day.

First break after 10 miles, at 9.30am, with little shade. We covered the 17 miles until 1pm. Filtering the water, a long rest under a bridge followed. Probably 20 hikers were waiting out the hottest hours there.

What’s the difference between a homeless person and a PCT hiker?

We started walking at 3.30pm again, last 7 miles to Tylerhorse Canyon Campground. Arrived 6.15pm. Quickly pitched tent after this long and hot 24 miles day.

My newly acquired two blisters were painful. Happy to get to town tomorrow and enjoy the planned zero day. This time I feel I need it to rest and take care of my blisters.

Amazing day. Went out of my comfort zone again. Thank you PCT.