As we continued to make our way west through the mountains, we weaved around highway 2, crossing it over half a dozen times. As we continued to push 20 mile days, we quickly found ourselves in the charred landscape of the the Station fire, one of the largest is Southern California's recorded history. Following the fire came a resurgence of the endemic Poodle-dog bush, known for causing severe skin irritations that can last weeks. For this reason we road walked 14 miles, taking advantage of the extra clearance. We spent the night near a memorial for two fire-fighters killed in blaze. From here one could begin to see the magnitude of that which was burned 7 years ago. Nearby we found the abandoned Little Gleason Forestry Plantation. Only concrete and metal remained, everything else disintegrated in the fire. After a quick morning exploration of the grounds, we made another 20 miles for the fourth consecutive day, a little sore and exhausted by the time we reached the low desert and the Santa Clara "River."
After being scalped at the Acton KOA for a few refreshments, we made 10 more miles to something we've long dreamed of -Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce. Along the way we passed through Vasquez rocks, where Captain Kirk fights the infamous Gorn. Upon our arrival in heaven, we were met with an introduction of the grounds, including the complementary laundry service complete with "Loaner" clothes, the certified post office being run out of the garage, the organized shuttles to the local REI, showers, Epson salt foot baths, computer lab and camping. We couldn't have dreamed up anything better. Everything is highly organized, despite the chaos that thru-hikers bring day in and day out. We pitched our tarp between the chickens and horses, enjoying the company of animals. We will enjoy a zero here, as the company and resources are a true treat.
Over the last 112 miles we have climbed and declined over 27,000ft, making for a net change of 500. Welcome to the desert.
Stump & Mandalynn
i just looked up Agua Dulce, and even parts of Blazing Saddles were filmed there! Legendary! The vision a ton of hikers posted up in mcdonalds is hilarious too, probably the cleanest it's ever been; good probiotics from the hills creepy crawling all over everyone. 9400 is up there! I always thought the mountains down there looked big, but not that big, dang. Could you still smell the salt from the sea? probably not...?
ReplyDeleteanyways I have a little adventure story, I got caught by my first cloudburst yesterday-it kicked my behind!!! It was almost like the clouds had wanted to drop rain but it was just slightly too warm-and so they were like saturated with moisture. I was on a very minor butte, but just high enough, that when this front of frigid cold wind came in it forced so much of the rain to drop! I was soaked to the core in less than a quarter of a minute. by the time i could get to the truck all the roads were mud! the rig couldn't drive straight for more than a few feet before fishtailing uncontrollably! TL;dr me getting very humbled and cold (temp dropped from about 50 to 30 in the same amount of time).
The last time we had an opportunity to see the ocean, everything a couple thousand feet below us was hidden beneath the clouds. Haven't smelled it yet either.
DeleteSounds like a wet time though. We have had very little rain but ample wind. Let me know when you're ready to trade. Where did you get a truck?