Start point

Tentsite at mile 553.3

End point

Willow Springs Road: mile 558.5

Miles hiked

5.2

Wilderness area

Oak Creek

The day on trail

It’s going to be a shorter day, thank goodness. And I’m not going to make it to the freeway. There’s a road called Willow Springs where most people hitch from. It reduces todays hike from 13 to five miles, and my body and shoes need the shorter day.

Luckily I’m not the only one wanting to get off at Willow Springs. Everyone else in the group is feeling it too. Not only is it closer, it’s supposed to be an easier hitch.

It was a lot of wind farms and gates. Lots of land managed by energy companies.

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I was walking along when I heard someone shout “ahoy!” I ignored it because I saw a work crew coming out. They answered the “ahoy” and he responded “No I was talking to the hiker!”

There was a guy up on the top of a turbine!

Up there. I just missed getting a shot of him, but I saw the man! It was terrifying!

The work crew normally works on the turbines. Today they were fixing a washed out area of trail. They were all super curious about the hike and asking me questions.

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There was another wind farm. So many wind farms.

And a Joshua tree corridor!

At the trailhead, there was a lot of information for hikers.

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We hitched a ride with a really nice guy who waits tables at the country club in Tehachapi. We got out by a Vietnamese fusion place and went to a thrift shop. I didn’t get anything at the thrift shop, but I did find an unfortunately named book. And I got a salad at the Vietnamese place.

From there it was a trip to the post office then checking into the Airbnb. At the Airbnb we put our rain flies out in the yard to dry, did laundry, and then left to get groceries for the night.

I made the fam’s favorite sautéed kale with tomatoes, some boneless skinless chicken thighs in a rosemary Greek yogurt marinade and grilled, and Sunrise made some rosemary roasted potatoes. We ate like royalty.