PCT Day 23

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PCT Day 23, 04 June 2022 (Saturday)

“Dulce, No Banana”

Start Location:	LA RV Resort	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 23:	23.9	Cum PCT Miles:	468.2
Non-PCT Miles Day 23:	0.3	Cum All Miles:	492.3
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,184.4
Elevation Gain Day 23:	5,025	Cum Elevation Gain:	79,571

After leaving the RV resort in Acton, the next two immediate highlights are walking through the Vasquez Rocks area, and going through the tiny town of Agua Dulce.

I found Vasquez Rocks to be somewhat underwhelming, but maybe that was just because I didn’t have time to fully explore that area; it might be worth a day trip back sometime.

Agua Dulce has several restaurants, a hardware store, and a liquor store. There also used to be a small grocery store, but, unfortunately, it is now closed. Besides getting lunch here, a little bit of resupply can be done. I always look forward to going to a town, so I can get some fresh fruit, including bananas. Too bad for me, none of that was to be found in Agua Dulce now that the grocery store is closed.

I ended up hiking about 5 miles more than planned today, so I am pretty happy about that.

The next four days going towards Tehachapi, water will be very hard to manage; this might be the toughest stretch yet as far as water goes.

PCT Completion Monument



Hiking under another highway, this time highway 14 near Palmdale

Large bird nest near Vasquez rocks

 

 

Vasquez rocks, a lot of TV shows and movies have been filmed in this area



The PCT runs right through the middle of the small town of Agua Dulce


 
A PCT trail register just sitting out in the middle of nowhere



I don’t think I’ve seen this one before, a Prickly Poppy

A surprisingly nice campsite west of Leona Valley

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PCT Day 22

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PCT Day 22, 03 June 2022 (Friday)

“The Train, The Train”

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite	Destination:	LA RV Resort
PCT Miles Day 22:	19.4	Cum PCT Miles:	444.3
Non-PCT Miles Day 22:	0.8	Cum All Miles:	468.1
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,208.3
Elevation Gain Day 22:	2,352	Cum Elevation Gain:	74,546

Every day out here is somewhat the same, but also very different. It should have been a somewhat easy day, if you call 19.5 miles of backpacking easy.  But there was a lot of bushwhacking and for the second half of the hike it got very hot.

The goal was to get to Acton, where there is an RV park where they have a large area set-aside for hikers. They also have a pool and showers, which was nice.  The downside is that this park is right by the railroad tracks, and the trains just love blowing their horns when they go by, no matter what time of night.  I guess they don’t respect hiker midnight.  I don’t recall if I explained hiker midnight before, but it is essentially as soon as it gets completely dark, which right now is around 8:15 PM.

Interesting, also, I have hardly seen any PCT hikers on trail the last couple of days, but there are plenty of them at the RV park today.  It just goes to show how spread out the hikers get.

Parts of the PCT are very unmaintained right now, not good for clothing or equipment

 

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PCT Day 21

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PCT Day 21, 02 June 2022 (Thursday)

“Not So Hip”

Start Location:	Cooper Canyon Trail Camp	Destination:	Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 21:	29.7	Cum PCT Miles:	424.9
Non-PCT Miles Day 21:	0	Cum All Miles:	447.9
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,227.7
Elevation Gain Day 21:	4,210	Cum Elevation Gain:	72,194

Today I was hoping to get in some really big miles so that I would have a shorter hike to Acton tomorrow.  But things didn’t work out 100% according to my optimistic plan.  The first five miles was fairly tough, and I was also slowed by pain in my left hip.

I thought maybe I had a pinched nerve due to all the long, heavy water carries that have been required since the start of the hike. However, even back home, for seemingly no reason at all, I get the same type of hip pain.  After about 8 to 10 miles, everything fell back into place and I was back to hiking at full speed.

I ended up getting close to 30 miles, but had been hoping for a few more.  Oh well, I’ll still be where I want to be tomorrow, it’ll just be a slightly longer hike.  There are not too many camp spots around here, but I found a little nook right by the trail, just big enough for my tent.  Good enough.

 

 Nope, not old yet…400 miles.

Fountainhead Spring.

Nice view. Some of the LA area peaks in this photo are Rabbit, Strawberry, Occidental, and Desolation.

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