Day 25

Today was quite possibly my favorite day on trail, despite its short length: around 20 trail miles to end at Mile 464.0 . Roadrunner and I set off at 6:30 from the 49ers Saloon, the first to leave of the massive group accumulated there. We failed to get a hitch back to the road while eating our Lenny and Larry’s cookies. While walking back to the saloon to call a trail angel, a decommissioned Crown Victoria pulled out of the lot and heeded my half-baked thumb and grin. Roadrunner immediately identified him as the same guy who stood outside the saloon yesterday, telling us that the owners suck, the food is overpriced, they force you to donate, and that we were far better off heading to Agua Dolce. We saw for ourselves that none of this was true, so we were in for an interesting ride. Sparing my kind readers the details, I just want to communicate how thoroughly this man despises the residents and businesses of Acton, CA, the town where he lives. The kicker was that when the ten minute ride to the trail was over, he told us for the first time that he hoped to receive a “donation” from us for his gas and to “help out other hikers.” What a joke.

The hike up above Acton was pretty and not too arduous. Two hours later, just after passing under Highway 14 and entering Vazquez Rocks County Park, we were feeling the heat. The walk through the park, though very pretty, felt like a slog.

The trail joins the road into Agua Dolce and we found ourselves outside the Maria Bonita Mexican restaurant 15 minutes before opening. Eventually, we got in and I was served a humongous plate of huevos con chorizo with rice, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, and several tortillas. I was so pleased I failed to take a single photo until I ate my leftovers hours later.

This meal marked the first hour of our six hour siesta in Agua Dulce. Yes, it was that hot, and the hostel we headed to to pick up my box, Serenity’s Oasis [sic], held many friends and (almost better) hammocks hung under shade trees. After setting my stuff out to dry, I promptly took a one hour nap. Glorious. Soon I retrieved my package. The banana bread therein was super popular and, having eaten much of it myself and with a ridiculously heavy food bag, I only saved a small hunk to pack out, opting to share the rest with several other hikers. We decided to night hike the big uphill to the spring separating us and a 15 mile water carry. As we were packing up, the proprietor Farmer John came by on his electric tricycle to give us root beer snow cones before we left. The place was heavenly and I would take such a mega-siesta there again in a heartbeat.

We started again at around 5, walking the road through the residential part of Agua Dulce. My pack was 25 pounds (full food bag, 2L of water) leaving the oasis, probably the heaviest it’s been so far. Soon we were climbing and the sun had disappeared behind the crest of the mountain we were ascending. The weather was divine: cool, no sun, no breeze. As the sun set on the mountains to the east, the views were just immaculate. I felt overwhelming gratitude to be able to do something like this. Here’s a glimpse of the beauty we experienced on our dusk walk:

No doubt this section made this day my favorite thus far. When we reached the top, headlamps became necessary for us to find our way to the Piped Bear Spring. The trickle we found here took 30 minutes to obtain our 9 liters, a task made more difficult by the aggressive mice who call this spring home. This was no matter after the bliss we felt hiking up. After leaving, we decided to find a campsite. Before finding a flat spot for our cowboy camp in an open meadow, we battled off the same confrontational skunk two separate times. We’ll almost certainly wake up wet from condensation, but the stargazing and sunrise view will justify the wet.

Editor’s note: we woke up quite wet indeed.