Day 33
Published:
Adopting a less aggressive pre-siesta itinerary than yesterday, we started late and sadly hiked out of the nice pine forest and down into the driest stretch of trail yet: 35 miles without a natural water source. This stretch of trail looks inhospitable, to say the least.
Fortunately, there are two very well maintained water caches along this stretch, at Miles 617.1 and 632. Since today was set to be an absolute scorcher (highs of 100 in Tehachapi if I recall correctly), we aimed to siesta shortly after reaching the first cache. However, the cache is actually in the above photo, which is to say there is no obvious shade to be found. Fortunately, after tanking up, I spotted an outcropping of boulders half a mile off trail where we would discover a cave. A siesta with an excellent view.
This little spot offered a nice, albeit warm, breeze and ample sun protection until about 4, when the sun’s movement turned made our shade scant. It was around this time that we realized that we had been lounging in the mouse den to end all mouse dens: millions of little sticks collected and millions upon millions of little poops pooped. We felt that walk we must, must stepping out into the sun just to put on shoes drained us of our resolve and we decided to reassess at 5. I relocated to a much cozier nook, a great place to nap and listen to Mazzy Star.
We were back on trail and moving at 5:30. With the sun low, the air felt cool and we were able to crush the climb out of that stinking-hot valley. We were rewarded with golden hour views of a humongous valley, including an unknown snow-topped peak in the distance!
Soon the sun was setting, the nearly full moon was out, and the mountains to the east were becoming purple.
The colors continued to get better and we finally got a view of the sunset which had been hidden from us.
We ate dinner in the dusk light and hiked until around 9:30, when we decide to call it quits at Mile 625.5 in order to get as much sleep as possible before our early start tomorrow.
