Day 34

May 12

Mile 508 - Mile 538

We had planned on getting an early start today but mornings are not a strong point with our group, so we got out a little later than we'd planned, about 9am.

We descended from the ridge line and as we crossed a dirt road we stumbled across trail magic in the form of a cooler. On a side note, there we discovered a soda (that apparently is only sold in the southwest) named cactus cooler which has become our new favorite treat.

Trail magic on the way to the desert floor.

The pines disappeared as we neared the valley and the grasses and small shrubs took over as the predominate plants.

View of the approach to the Mohave desert. 

Once we reached the desert floor we could see our next stop in the distance, a hostel called Hikertown.

By this point the sun was very intense and we were glad to be reaching a shaded spot (with water) in the next mile.

 We decided that we would take a siesta there and plan out the rest of our day.

Interesting signs along the way reminding us to respect private property and stay on trail. We reached Hikertown around 2pm and were glad to be out of the sun for a little while.

The hostel itself is made up of a number of scaled down western style buildings which may or may not have been used in the filming of old westerns. There seems to be some lore surrounding this place, but we didn't stay for long enough to find out more.

Most of the hikers were hanging out in a garage complete with a bathroom and kitchen, not to mention the free range chickens.

Two of the wild chickens guarding the driveway.

As we were joking with other hikers about how we were still going to be leaving soon and doing a "big mile day", our friend Croom challenged us to put our money where our mouths were and do a 30 mile day. His reasoning was we'd get the hot and exposed crossing of the Mohave along the LA aquaduct out of the way after the heat of the day was over. None of us were ready to turn down the challenge so after a group chant of "21 after 4:30pm" we set out again into the blazing sun. 

A group of us walking along the aquaduct.

For the next 15 miles or so we walked along a large source of fresh (drinking) water for the greater Los Angeles area. 

Sign along the way directing us as the aquaduct snaked through the desert.

Along the way we saw what looked like a forest of Joshua trees, more than any of us had ever seen in one location.

We spent the rest of the evening hiking into the sunset, and then well into the dark of night. We followed the aquaduct, then followed some dirt roads until we reached a wind farm, about 11pm, and then continued until we finally reached our goal of 30 miles well after midnight. It was an incredibly long day but we were happy to have crossed one of the hottest sections of the trail by starlight and not in the daytime. We collapsed into our tents under some brush as the wind was gusting and slept.