Mile 534.88 to 552

We woke up to the sound of wind turbines and a rising sun burning on the horizon. The Joshua Trees stood silently as we packed up our camp and climbed out of the ravine back to the trail.

We followed the trail over service roads and between the massive turbines, which stood like sentinals, stretching out in lines to the mountains we would soon climb.

We made it the 6 miles to Tylerhorse Canyon, which would be the only water for the day and the remaining 17 miles to the Tehachapi Willow Springs Road from which we will hitch. We stayed there reluctant to leave the water and shade. By 8:30 the temperature was already climbing and the sunlight harsh as we squinted out over the dry hills. Looking for reasons to stay, we ate our lunch at 9:00 in the morning.

We finally left in staggered pairs with Viper and I leading the charge. As we climbed up, we looked back across the desert floor, L.A. Aqueduct, and mountains we came out of just a day before.

Viper and I soon spaced out and I put in my headphones to listen to some podcasts to pass the time. The climb was a nice grade and made it easy to get in a rhythm. Rounding a bend about 15 miles into the day, I came upon some trail magic in the form of water, an apple, and some oreo cookies. I waited in a lawn chair for the others to join. About 50 minutes later, we were all reunited and we killed about 2 hours eat our remaining food and squeezing under logs and next to bushes to get in anything resembling shade.

Not motivated to go much further, we walked 3 miles to an open area with a view of another wind farm and set up camp. We ate again and hid in what shade we could find.

Bedazzled decided to sew up the holes in her shoe. I looked over surprised to see her foot still in the shoe. We were all talking when Bedazzled bursts out laughing. She had gotten up to change into her PJs and just realized she had sewn her sock to her shoe. I loaned her a pair of scissors to rectify the situation.