Start point

Willow Springs Road: mile 558.5

End point

Highway 58 Overpass, mile 566.5

Miles hiked

8

Wilderness area

Angeles National Forest

Cameron Canyon

People I met

Moon and Tie Dye

Monica and Carl

Stats, Joe, Prometheus, By The Way

The day on trail

Today’s the day! In the words of Bender from Futurama, I’m back, baby!

I left Hollie’s around 4:30 this morning and got to my dad’s around 5:15. We drove to the bus stop, and I got out and waited for the 6am bus. It was on time. Yay.

There was a young woman there with a Hyperlight bag, and she looked like possible hikertrash. We ended up connecting after the ride. She hiked the Colorado Trail a couple years ago and was on her way to Peru. Her name is Beefy.

I swear, hikertrash has its own community and I’m learning to sniff it out. I love talking trail with randos.

The bus ride, otherwise, was spent talking with my seat mate, Mike. He was telling me about his kids and his wife. It was nice to chit chat even though I really wanted to catch up on rest or my journal. Both were calling.

The arrival to PHX airport was great. It was a few minute shuttle to the airport proper, and security took maybe 20 minutes. My bag got selected for enhanced security because of the foil pouches my protein cookies were in. Whatever.

Soon I was waiting for my plane.

After arriving in Bakersfield, it was a quick Lyft to the bus station. I had time for a stop at a pita food truck, then the bus came.

Bakersfield to Tehachapi was easy.

I walked the 500’ to the German bakery there, ordered a sandwich, and invited my way into a table of hikers. Curtis, the trail angel with my bag, met me shortly after. I had lunch, and then he drove me to the trail.

Oh it’s nice to be back.

Sinead has been asking me to skip some miles to hike with her. She had to get off for a week due to injury. It’s a really tough decision — hike or skip. I decided when I get to the highway, if I can get a ride, it’s meant to be and I’ll skip to her.

This is the last of the wind farms. After this there’s wind, but no turbines. So I need to enjoy it while I can.

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I saw turbines in disrepair, turbines being repaired, and turbines in fine repair. It was so cool. They’re such incredible pieces of technology. They all also make their own sounds. Some whistle and most whoosh. They have different pitches though.

There was also this great info display about the turbines.

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I got to cross some suspect looking bridges, and they were surprisingly sturdy.

It felt amazing to be back among the flowers.

And back among the winding trail.

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This lizard was kind enough to pose for me.

And an encouraging rock was encouraging!

Near the end of the trail, at the road walk, someone hid a Modelo in the bushes. I should’ve left it because it was warm, but hell, I was back on trail and I wanted it.

And then it was a road walk to the highway. The app I use for planning my hike, FarOut, is divided into sections. The first section starts at the Mexico border and goes through my end point today. I’ve officially finished sections A through E of the PCT and the Southern California map of FarOut. This is a big day.

I also found a ride to get to Sinead, so I’ll be skipping 85 or so miles, the entirety of Section F, to get to Walker Pass.

Moon and Tie Dye drove me to Lake Isabella, where I met trail angels Monica and Carl and reunited with Sinead. It was a wonderful reunion. Monica gave me some leftover enchiladas for dinner, I commiserated with their dogs, and then I was off to sleep.

It’s so nice to be back on trail. It’s so nice to be with my family.