No! More! Desert!

Out of the heat and into the mosquitos

After 703 miles we are finally out of the sands and into the mountains! I’m definitely NOT missing the huge water carries, the insane heat, the earlier days of what seemed like endless zigzagging through the same landscape with indeterminable features, and thinking every swish in the bush was a rattlesnake. Our days were pretty much dictated by where the next water source or cache was, and trying to plan for a lunch spot where there might be some shade.

The wildlife in the desert was pretty mad though. I saw more snakes in these 6 weeks than I’ve ever seen in my LIFE. Been rattled at by two rattlesnakes (terrifying), seen two baby rattlesnakes (actually kind of cute), had a garter snake jump INTO a bush and puff its cheeks out at me (very funny). I’ve heard mountain lions and coyotes from my tent, and seen a coyote run out on the trail in front of me. I’ve seen a fox, bobcat, black widow spider, and a mule deer. Also had trail magic from an opossum which was one of the weirder trail magics I experienced 🫨

In Big Bear Lake I re-downloaded the Seek app and it completely levelled UP my hike, and completely slowed DOWN my pace. Whenever I see a cool new bug or plant (the lizards are too quick and I don’t want to be that close to a snake) I use the app to identify it - HOURS of entertainment, and I enjoy using my brain to do something other than walking. Personal favourites include the Desert Paintbrush, Beavertail Prickly Pear, Grape Soda Lupin (literally smells like a Kool Aid flavour that unlocked a childhood memory from Lisa (I think!) bringing over sachets from America), and Wolf Lichen (which we all agreed would be a very cool trail name).

One of the desert highlights HAD to be walking the LA aqueduct. We did an insane 41 miles in 25 hours - punctuated by one hour of sleep between 02:30 and 03:30 - to avoid the exposed and hot corner of the Mojave desert. After trying to nap and rest all day, we headed out from Hikertown at 18:30 - it was still so hot, and I soaked my sun hoody, head, and cap under the cold tap before leaving - and was STILL warm. We walked all through the night to the first water source, set up our tents beneath the wind turbines (this was where I saw the black widow spider!!), slept for one hour, and carried on before it got too hot. Felt very dazed and tired when we finally got into Tehachapi!

The 148 mile stretch from Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows was unexpectedly super nice! I was ready to be out of the desert, but really enjoyed the final stint we had - amazing views, the trail hugged the mountain edges, we did our first bear hang, our last cowboy camp in the desert, and I saw a bobcat 🤩 The excitement for the Sierras (and the famous Grumpy’s Hiker all-you-can-eat Pancake Breakfast) powered us through, and it was so cool to keep getting glimpses of the mountains getting closer!

I’ve been in the Sierra Nevada mountains - the Range of Light - for one week now! I’ll do a separate post on the Sierras (hopefully it won’t take pip threatening to unfollow my blog to do this) but as a quick summary: now at 790 miles, have summitted Mount Whitney as a sunrise side quest (highest mountain in the lower 48 states!!), FINALLY seen a bear, and crossed Forester Pass (the highest point on the PCT!) and am just generally loving being up high in the mountains!