Day 30

Today we hiked an easy 8 miles up and over a wind farm to reach an overpass over highway 58 at Mile 566.5. Here we hoped to hitch into Tehachapi and resupply, a somewhat daunting prospect give that 58 is a pretty major highway. Fortunately, a trail angel had just dropped off a few hikers and we were able to get a ride to the post office and then, after a long tour of Tehachapi, we were finally dropped off in downtown. The first order of business was, of course, breakfast. I ate a huge plate of huevos con chorizo with rice and beans at Kelcy’s diner, leaving a happy man. To recover, we relaxed in the shade at the beautiful Phillip Marx park for four hours, lazily making phone calls, figuring out logistics, and napping. At this point we decided to stay the night at the cheap motel, as we had done basically none of our tasks. After getting our rooms, I started my laundry, showered, and we headed west for Chipotle and a Walmart resupply. Both were glorious and I ended up buying a ridiculous amount of food, I think around 5,000 calories per day for the three and a half days to Walker Pass, where we will hitch to Ridgecrest for Roadrunner’s package. The consequences of my eyes’ gluttony will be suffered tomorrow when I add four liters of water to my pack for the long climb 2500 feet up during the hottest day we will have experienced thus far.