Hiking The Pacific Crest Trail: Day 36

We got back to the trailhead at around 2:00PM. The sun was positioned directly over the top of our heads and with the complete lack of shade there was no escape from 100 degree heat. Despite the fact that we took almost a 24hr rest, we were still pretty exhausted from hiking during previous weeks.

Dasha has been having a very difficult time getting used to her new “zero drop” shoes. Even though they worked great and she hasn’t been getting many new blisters on the first 5 days, she developed foot and ankle pains, which were making things very difficult for her.

After descending down to the desert floor, we have reached the place called “Hikertown”. It’s a bit hard to describe what this place is about, but for $5 a night you can get a camp spot, water, “shower” and a friendly guy named Bob, will give you keys to an old Chevy mini-van that can take you to the one and only convenience store that makes burgers and french fries.

After saying good-bye to Hikertown, we have joined the Eastern branch of California’s Aqueduct – a system of water tunnels that transfers large amounts of water for hundred of miles to supply nearby towns & cities of California.

The Aqueduct runs through the edge of Mojave dessert, which contains large amount of Windmills and Solar Panel structures which power the entire city of Los Angeles and surrounding areas. The water for the aqueduct is collected all the way from the foothills of Sierras and then transferred South for hundreds of miles to the city of Los Angeles and many eastern farmlands. For instance, to transfer such an immense amount of water over the mountains, it needs to be pumped some 2,000 feet up through the mountain ranges and only then it can be delivered to it’s final destination.

Half way through our day, we were pleasantly surprised by a group of volunteers from the “Burning Man” association that organized a trail magic for PCT hikers. They had water, beers, food, snacks and most importantly – shade.

After a hot and treacherous 24 mile day we finished our hike by cold and windy Tylerhorse Canyon where we camped for the night. The next day we had to ascend for almost 4,200 feet and then back down to Mojave dessert floor where we hitched our ride to the city of Mojave.