Los Angeles Aqueduct

Day 46

Miles Hiked:  24

Mile Camped: 541.5

I left hiker town with Mantra, Bluebird, Columbia, Anna, Mary, Grumption, Hitch Bait and Scarecrow.

We left Hiker Town at about 6:30p and walked the Aqueduct more or less together.  I packed out some beers and we all made a little party of it.

The sun set as we cleared the pipe walk and despite the timid moon which didn’t make an appearance until first light of day, the concrete of the Aqueduct was easy enough to discern by starlight and I Hiked without a light deep into the wind farm.  

I stopped to pee and lost the group for a bit which balanced out the social overload well.  I listened to music, danced and walked and goofed my way through the darkness in bliss, the stars blinking and falling and spinning above (Anna started the pipe-walk walking backwards and I took a few opportunities to change my own perspective through the night.  Additionally there was a mild meteor shower which was really the cherry on top of the evening.  

My beers were crushed by around nine miles into the 17 mile stretch to water.  I set out with 3L of water but dumped around a liter once we got within a couple miles of the first water source.  (Water.  Is.  Heavy.)  I know that’s not enough water but I felt good.  I usually carry too much and drink too little though I aim for a liter every five miles and drink at least a couple chugs every hour or so. 

Towards the end of that 17mile stretch everyone kind of spread out.  Usually Scarecrow and I out front (tall people) sometimes with Columbia.  At any potentially confusing change of Trail we all paused to make sure no one got turned around.  It was a sweet balance of solitude and companionship, my first time hiking with anyone other than Caiti and Ruth – and even that was a while ago now.  

As I walked the Joshua trees were sillouetted against the dusky desert sky.  The cities blinked off in the far distance and the red blinking lights of the wind mills loomed ahead.  

As the towering machines rose around me Iron Man played full blast in my ears and I laughed aloud at the menacing shadows.  In the last stretch Scarecrow and I silently pulled far ahead of the pack.  Half a mile from water we paused to lay back on a raised platform and take in the stars.  

When we all began to quietly trickle into the bridge area (it was already populated with a dozen discernable tents and cowboy campers) everyone started scouting a level plot of ground to pitch or sprawl upon.  I sat and waited for everyone to arrive and see if anyone else planned on continuing.  My inquiry was met all around with trail-weary dismissal.  So I took a last look at the path ahead and shouldered my bag, turning my back to the crew and my headlamp towards the hills.  

The trail continued past the Aquaduct and could no longer be followed by starlight alone.   I wrapped my lamp in a threadbare handkerchief to cut the extreme of artificial illumination – a mostly foreign thing by now. 

The desert floor had swapped lizards for mice, dozens…maybe a hundred total, of which darted and zagged along the path ahead.  I tried to catch a few that were frozen in my headlamp beam but my pack kept me top heavy and too slow to scoop them.  

For most of the 6+ miles to Tyler Horse Canyon the trail rose and descended calmly then finished with a sharp climb.  An hour or so in light began to show on the eastern ridge ahead on my right. 

Soon I retired the headlamp again and watched the dusty blue invade the darkness as I climbed.  My goal was to reach water by the time the sun crested the horizon and in my last push I traded out the heavy metal rock and roll that had kept me chugging along for a gem of a disco queen – Penny McLane.  When I caught sight of tents and the creek below I danced my way down, a big grin on my face, to sleepy hikers breaking camp and starting their own push onward.  

Setting up camp was tedious, the ground too hard to drive stakes more than a hopeful inch or two deep.  As soon as I accepted the idea of rest my body slowed wayyyyyy down.  

I gathered water and placed my pre soaked Muj next to my pillow, at the ready.  Before popping my headphones back in to drown out the babble and bumble of camp breaking I chugged a half liter of water and a couple Ibuprofen and Vaselined my cracking feet.  Big new blister on my pinky toe but nothing too  horrible.   

By 6:30a I was sound asleep, resting contentedly on my 24 miles of Trail.  My longest stretch yet.