This was a rough stretch. The desert is slowly starting to lose its charm and gain its heat, a lot of churn in who I’m hiking with, and the wind is here with a vengeance. There were a lot of positives though, like lots of trail magic, getting to fly, a fantastic trail town, and seeing old friends.
First off, the weather. Coming into to Tehachapi, We’ve been hiking through the Antelope Valley and Tehachapi Pass areas. There are over 3,500 wind turbines in these 2 valleys, and the wind has been relentless. You have to tie or pin everything down, and the wind blew me around, or in the worst case, it blew a stiff headwind for 4 miles while I climbed uphill.
The heat has also been tough. Days getting into the 90s and high 80s with no shade are a reason for a siesta in the middle of the day. You also need more water when it’s hot and windy, and water is scarce here. Without caches, it’d easily be over 20 miles between sources, and its not much better with the caches too.
To make up for it, the trail magic has been fantastic. I got 2 trail magics in one day leaving Acton, one at Vasquez Rocks, and one at the Agua Dulce airport (L70 for airplane people). I then got trail magic the next day at the road into Green Valley. Snacks and a cold soda make a long day a lot better.
I was also able to fly in Tehachapi. There’s no flight school, but I was able to find a private instructor and former Lockheed test pilot with a Piper Cherokee. We went up for 35 minutes, doing some air work, slow flight, then a landing. I’ve lost some stamina for turbulence since I left, but it was still a fantastic flight.
Tehachapi was also a great trail town. A great Thai place, some karaoke, and some of the friendliest locals. The town is somewhat spread out, and several times I’d be walking somewhere with my pack when a car would stop and ask if I needed a ride. To top it off, there is a city park inside the airport fence where they allow hikers to camp.
