5/11/20, mile 528, elevation 2,900 ft.
I spend most of the day rehydrating and trying to wrap my head around big water carries in exposed desert. This birthday/retirement weekend was bad timing for this section. No one to blame but myself. Add in the thought of late afternoon/night hiking, and I my stomach gets tied in knots. Oh well, just focus, this too shall pass.
Most of us are leaving today, with a few people coming in. One of them includes Diego! Plus a father and two teenage boys. He’s trading hiking time with his wife, keeping with the young men as they fly north. They don’t even plan on staying the night, but continue beyond the 17 miles they already did today!
Waft, Safety and I arrange for a ride back to the trail, hitting the dirt at 5pm. This is wide open spaces with no shade or wind protection. Lucky for us, a cold front is moving in, so the temperatures are way below normal. After some walking in fields, we walk next to the State Water Project open canal, then make a turn north again to follow the Los Angeles Aquaduct from Owens Valley. A very contentious and controversial project to say the least. It’s kinda cool to see the exposed riveted pipe just sitting in the desert, still in operation after all of these decades.
Eventually we are just walking a dirt road as the sun starts setting. We all find our pace, spreading out, unspoken thoughts wandering in our minds. It’s surreal to just walk long dirt roads with no end in sight, no plan for the night. We’re all carrying enough water to last the 17 miles to the next source, plus all of the food for 5-ish days, so we’re loaded down physically. And maybe some of us are mentally, as well. I’m tired. The last couple of days have been fun, and certainly push my social buttons, but they’re no good for big miles in the desert.
After 10 miles or so, I pull the plug at 8-ish pm. Safety has already pulled ahead, I got re-passed by Lamb Chop (she started earlier), and then Waft pulls past. I set up on a concrete slab that is part of the newer L.A. aquaduct and quickly fall asleep. I awake at midnight for pee break and see/hear the Farts approaching. They can’t see me, so when they get close I give them a good scare. Two hours later, the father and two sons who arrived at Wee Vill that afternoon pass by, and they get the same animal noise scare treatment. I got ’em good. I nap again for an hour or so and finally figured I got enough rest to continue. I’m on the trail/road by 4am, eating just pre-packaged food for breakfast, sans coffee. No light needed, the 3/4 waning moon is providing plenty of light to navigate a well-graded dirt road.
Savior out.
Boooogie, booooogie booooogie!