Day 44: High Spirts and Milkshakes
Date: Thu 5/31
PCT Start Mile: 630.8
PCT End Mile: 652.1
PCT Mileage for Day: 21.3
Total PCT Mileage: 652.1
The Highlights: our first views of the Sierras!!!, breezy hiking, and milkshakes.
Today was a high spirit day, after three long hot days, we finally got a break in the weather and had nice breezes for our hike all day
Leaving early in the morning again, with winds still blowing, no one wanted to get out of their sleeping bags, but we eventually made it onto the trail around 5:45am.
Views of the moon on our long climb.
The day started with a long climb – the longest and really only significant climb of the day and we were happy to get it out of the way first thing. There would be other small climbs throughout the day, but this was the big one. With miles of mostly gradual switchbacks, it wasn’t that bad, and the wind kept us cool the whole way (and sometimes even cold).
Toward the top of the climb, we could see snow capped peaks far in the distance. The Sierras!!!! We were so close! In just a few days we will be out of the desert!!
Hard to see in the photo, but there are some snow-capped peaks in the distance.
While the day warmed up, the nice cool breezes also kept up, such a relief after the heat we’d hiked through over the past three days. The hiking was also easier after the first climb, with some rollers and shorter climbs, as well as nice gradual descents.
Two mile gravel road walk before lunch.
We took a lunch break around 13 miles into the day, tucked behind a giant boulder along the trail to block some of the wind.
Walker Pass was the next major road, with options to go into three different towns for resupply. While many were planning on heading into town today – most going into Lake Isabella – we were planning to camp at the Walker Pass Campground, just a half mile before the road and take a local bus into town tomorrow morning at 7:30am.
The hitch into any of the surrounding towns was long – 35 miles for Lake Isabella, the most popular option. We figured this may be difficult in the evening hours and it’d be easier to just take the bus in the morning. So, while many passed us after their lunch breaks, we took a leisurely lunch hour since we only had 7.5 more miles to go and didn’t need to worry about hitching. Best laid plans…
It was around 1:45pm when we started hiking again. Somehow a conversation about Powerade soon devolved into new plans.
I should mention that probably the #1 craving we have while hiking – certainly shaped by the fact that we are hiking through blazing hot desert – is ICE cold sugary beverages – sodas, Gatorade, and Powerade being at the top of the list.
For Shawn it would be an ice cold coke. If I could find it, the Lemon-Lime Strawberry Gatorade would be at the top of my list (I have seen this only once in my life at Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce. They don’t call it Hiker Heaven for nothing.) Otherwise some other Gator/Power Ade or a cold Sprite. We don’t even drink sodas in our “normal” lives, but hiking 10+ hours a day is not normal.
Anyway, on this particular section of trail, Dead Zone had packed out a Kiwi Pineapple Powerade for the first day out of Tehatchapi and talked about how good it was.
News had traveled through our hiker bubble about this mystical delicious beverage that tastes like you are laying on a beach somewhere tropical and amazing, surrounded by water everywhere, cool ocean breezes in your face. I already think about cold beverages a majority of my day. Now we were all fixated on getting this Powerade.
So, as we were walking down the trail someone (might have been me) mentioned that we would be able to get these Powerades tomorrow. But then the idea crept out (also might have been me) that… maybe we could get them today…
Soon we had a new plan: we were heading into town today like everyone else and would camp at the RV park there. We would get our Powerades today!! And also the yummy burgers and milkshakes from Nelda’s Diner that everyone had been talking about. We started hiking MUCH faster. Town days do that to you, the lure of real food and cold beverages is very strong.
Again, can’t really see in this photo, but the Sierras are in the background, including Mt Whitney in the very far distance.
We made very quick work of the last 8 miles, other than a brief moment of cheering and photos when we had more Sierra views, with even Mt Whitney far in the distance. Then it was back to beast-mode hiking.
The trail was mostly downhill, wild flowers were abound, the scenery was spectacular, and we would have milkshakes TONIGHT! And, At 650.1 miles we hit the point where we have less than 2,000 miles of trail! Spirits were high!
It was around 4:45pm when we hit the highway at Walker Pass. Thumbs up, legs out! Kidding, we didn’t need to put our legs out, but we aren’t above trying if we need to!
Remarkably we got a hitch very quickly and soon all four of us were squeezed into a small SUV with a mountain biker named Juno on his way home from work. We talked cycling and PCT and LOL embarrassed us all by exclaiming “Wow, look at those trees!”, every time we passed even the most mundane of trees, like we hadn’t been out hiking a wilderness trail for 650+ miles already…
In Lake Isabella, Juno dropped us at the Happy Haven RV Park, where we checked in and got the park rundown from the host. Soon enough, tents were set up, showers were had (by at least some of us… cough, cough – LOL still stinks – cough), and we were headed for Nelda’s Diner.
While it had been simple to get a 35 mile hitch from Walker Pass to Lake Isabella, it was nearly impossible to get one two miles down the road to the diner.
We were over halfway there when a teenager finally stopped to pick us up. He had just graduated high school and was on his way to a graduation party. He had just seen his buddy with a truckload of hikers and thought he should help out too, and stopped to pick us up.
This is a seasonal thing for these towns. They are used to seeing hikers roll in with their thumbs up in May and June, and again (less so) in the fall for southbound hikers. We congratulated him on his graduation and thanked him for the ride as we jumped out of his car at Neldas.
Vanilla shake with hot fudge and Reese’s Pieces.
The diner was slam packed but soon enough we had towering burgers and milkshakes in front of us. Life was good. We even managed to get a hitch back to the RV Park after only walking about 1/2 a mile from the diner.
Since it was after dark, we were not expecting to get a ride, but a car pulling out of a fast food joint offered to drive us down to the RV Park. They were actually the girlfriend/wife of another hiker and were on their way back to their own lodging for the night, so that helped.
What a day!! Tomorrow we find the magical Powerade.
