Day 47, Mile Marker 539-558, Mojave

Monday, June 10, 2013 

Hiking Uphill: 3,429ft
Hiking Downhill: 3,620ft
Distance Hiked: 19 miles

Post by Nick:

I awoke at around 6am to find myself surrounded by windmills as expected.  I only had 4 hours of sleep from the previous night but wanted to complete the final 20 miles and get to Mojave by the end of the day where Mel would be waiting.  The temperature was already getting quite warm with the direct sun.












The trail went up into the mountains.  I always thought of the Mojave desert as flat but alas there are mountains here which the PCT  traverses.



Below is my first view of Tylerhorse Canyon where I planned to get enough water to carry me till Mojave.  I never get over how you can be in a very arid desert environment, with little signs of life, and come around a corner to suddenly find yourself in a lush green canyon with water flowing, birds chirping, and critters everywhere.  The water was flowing nicely and I spent 30 min getting water and relaxing the feet.

16 miles to go to reach Tehachapi-Willow Springs road, from where I would hitchhike or be picked up by Mel.  I better get moving!

A large mountain with switchbacks I was not looking forward to climbing.  I took a little break here under my solar umbrella before attempting.

It's hot.  My silhouette was pronounced on the steep terrain.



I just can't resist catching them when possible.  They look like little prehistoric dinosaurs...no?

At the top of a long strenuous climb to the top of the mountain ridgeline I came to an awesome water cache with chairs and shade.  I sat for 15 min, rested the feet, sipped a bottle of water which was surprisingly cold, and entered my name in the trail register.  Thank you Daniel & Larry!

This was a particularly ornery horny toad that promptly escaped from my grip and jumped to freedom down a hole.

Pictures of my decent down the mountains back into windmill farms.  Tehachapi-Willow Springs road is down there somewhere.  I turn on my phone and call Mel to let her know my ETA.  Hopefully her feet have been resting up.

Post by Melissa:
I originally had expected Nick to take 2 days to get to me but knowing Nick I knew he would likely push himself to make it to Mojave sooner.  I wanted to be able to pick him up from the trail and bring him to the hotel to save him the hassle of a hitchhike.  So I proceeded to seek out a rental car and used the hotel's computer to locate where Nick would be coming off the trail and where I needed to be to pick him up.

Screen shot of the rendezvous point!

While I was sitting in the lobby on the computer I had received a message from Pippin (who had left the Days Inn the day before) that he had ordered some food on Amazon and that it had failed to be delivered on time.  He said if it came while I was here I could have it.  No sooner did I see his message when the UPS man came in with the box.  They turned it over to me and I opened it up to find Organic Fettuccine Alfredo freeze dried meals. Thanks Pippin!

The only rental car option I could find was with Enterprise.  When I called them they let me know that they didn't have a manned office in Mojave and the nearest location was Lancaster.  They would send someone around 2pm to pick me up from the hotel and bring me to Lancaster to rent a car. While waiting for them to come I worked on the blog keeping myself busy.  Nick had already written a lot of the verbiage for the blog so all I needed to do was post it with the photos. It's a team effort!

At 2pm my ride came from Enterprise.  Her name was Lisa and she was incredibly nice.  She had no idea what the Pacific Crest Trail was so I let her know.  I also thanked her for driving the 25 miles to get me and let her know how important it was that I be at the side of the trail to pick up Nick when he showed up.  She seemed intrigued by this adventure and wished me well.  I ended up with a Mazda 3 and happily drove it back to Mojave.

While waiting for Nick I went to the Post Office to collect our resupply boxes.  Only 1 of 2 had arrived so I grabbed it and also went to the grocery store to stock up on some snacks and drinks for our room.  I knew Nick would want 1-2 zero days when he arrived as we were going to be celebrating our 3 year dating anniversary on the 12th.  I also picked up some flowers, a card, and his favorite beer and ice cream.

I eventually received a text from Nick that he would be ready for pick up around 6pm.  I jumped in the rental car and swung by McDonald's to grab his favorite filet-o-fish sandwich.  In the trunk of the car I had made a poor man's ice chest with plastic grocery bags and ice and shoved a selection of ice cold drinks in it for Nick.  I included chocolate milk, gatorade, water, coke, Dr Pepper, and Sierra Nevada. I also brought the ice cream.  I didn't know what he was going to be hungry/thirsty for so I brought an assortment.

On the way out to pick him up I was fascinated by all of the windmills!  Holy cow..they are everywhere and in different sizes.  It really is a unique and cool site to see all of them. I pulled the car over to take a few pictures.

I arrived at the pick up location and waited for Nick. You can see my rental wheels below.

While I'm waiting for Nick he texts me he is about 1.5 miles away and needs a bit more time.  I let him know I'm there and have a cold beer waiting for him. It wasn't much later that I was chatting with my sister on the phone and watching for Nick when I spot him running down the mountain.  I giggled with excitement and told Miranda I needed to go, Nick was literally running towards me.

Nick stops at the trail register to officially log Hard Target's passage through this section. Yay!

Nick emerging from the trail

Beer and Filet-o-Fish waiting...Nick is very happy to see these

Heading back to the car

View from our hotel room at the Days Inn (not too exciting).  There are a lot of trains that pass through here right across the street from the hotel.  I leave the fan on in the room to muffle the noise.

Nick takes a shower and lays on the bed to relax.  He had just hiked 40 miles in 24hrs and was nice and tired.