The LA Aqueduct
Mile 478.4
Last night at dinner, Shortcut told us she had decided to last-minute get off trail to go and visit family in Canada. We were sad to say goodbye! She’ll be coming back to trail, but since she’s going to be starting back in Agua Dulce, we’ll end up being about a week or so ahead of her and may not see her again for a while. It was sad saying goodbye to a member of this trail family we’ve created, but I’m sure I’ll see her again, and am so grateful for the time I’ve spent with her.
After an early wake up call this morning, the day ended up being jam-packed with mileage. I had my biggest mileage day, something like 23.5! I did it, but it was painful because I desperately need new shoes. Yesterday at the campground I ordered new ones and sent them ahead to Hiker Town in another 70 miles. Praying they get there in time. I should have sent new shoes to Wrightwood, but I didn’t think ahead enough. Going to try not to make the same mistake in the future. Typically trail runners need to be swapped out every 450 miles or so, and I won’t get the new ones until after 500.
I’m continuing to love the group I’m with, and we even hiked with Mountain Man today which I always enjoy. We’ve also been joined by a Dutch hiker named Workshop. It’s great to be meeting new people while rejoining with old friends too.
Tomorrow my plan is to just do 15 miles and then see how I’m feeling. It would be awesome to do two more twenties and make it to Hiker Town a day early, but I just don’t know if that’s the smartest thing for my body right now.
I am looking forward to Hiker Town though because it means we get to hike the infamous Los Angeles Aqueduct. It’s a pretty iconic part of the desert section of the PCT. We’re all planning on night hiking it together which should be a cool experience.
Mile 492.9
The miles were tough today. My feet are still hurting quite a bit, and I’m slightly concerned I might have a small infection in my blister on my right foot. I doctored it up with some advice from the guys, and am hoping it stays okay until Hiker Town.
I took a nice siesta in the shade of some amazing trees today with the others. We had shade, it wasn’t buggy, and there were no ants. That’s almost impossible recently, so it was fantastic.
After leaving our siesta spot we had maybe 4-5 more miles to get to our planned campsite. The miles took us through some easy terrain with beautiful views, but the one thing that we didn’t want to be seeing was the plethora of Poodle Dog Bush that was around. This is a plant we’ve been warned about even before starting the PCT because of the terrible irritation it can cause to one’s skin. After passing it in patches for a few miles, I arrived at our planned campsite to see it was literally a forest of PDB. It was honestly a little terrifying. I didn’t see anyone else at the campsite so kept walking a little further until I ran into Stakes and Bubbles. We got a Garmin message from Girl Scout that she was camping further ahead with Hot Pink and Workshop because they didn’t want to camp in the PDB forest. I definitely don’t blame them.
The three of us really didn’t want to go any further for the day, and the sun was already setting. We carefully made our way through the devil’s thicket up to a dirt road above the trail, hoping there wouldn’t be too much PDB. Luckily the road is clear, and there’s even a pull off area for us to camp.
Stakes and I are planning to wake up early again tomorrow to avoid the heat of the day, and the plan is to hike the road (instead of the trail) for about 5 miles to avoid dancing with PDB in the dark.
Mile 508.1
Had a terrible night of sleep because of crazy wind gusts that didn’t let up all night. At one point around 10pm Stakes’ tent actually fell down and he ended up having to cowboy camp the rest of the night. It made for a tough morning when it was time to get up. After getting through that first hour of packing up in the dark and the insane wind, we got a move on.
Stakes and I walked together all morning which was a really nice change. I love walking and chatting, it makes the time go by so much faster and I really enjoy spending time with others. Most of the time everyone I’m with is just naturally a lot faster, so it was great to spend so much of the day with him. Unfortunately for Stakes, he was having a hard day physically and mentally, so I hope the time spent together helped him get through.
After about 7 miles, we hit the 500 mile mark together! It felt like such a milestone, I’m so proud! I can’t believe I’m still out here. It’s wild but also makes so much sense at the same time. Stakes suggested we play “Rose, Bud, Thorn”, discussing our highlight of these last 500 miles, our low point, and what we’re looking forward to about the miles to come. I really appreciated that we took the time to do that, it was great to be reflective and it made me feel closer to Stakes.
Our whole group had a siesta for about 4-5 hours in the middle of the day at a good water source and then pressed on for the remaining 6 miles of the day.
Near the last few miles, the terrain became really cruise-y and beautiful. It was a welcome reprieve after spending a large portion of the afternoon in an exposed burn zone. The vibrant green forest floor was tucked under a calm canopy of live trees. It was golden hour and light was streaming down through the leaves. I felt lucky to be blessed with such a beautiful evening.
Despite it being a gorgeous final few miles, I was really beat when I got to camp. I didn’t get a lot of sleep the last week or so with all of our early mornings, windy nights, and just stress on the body. Seems like I haven’t had good sleep for most of my time on the trail, and it’s starting to wear on me.
Early wake up tomorrow to get us into Hiker Town.
Mile 517.6
Woke up early this morning and hiked 9.5 miles to Hiker Town. The first few miles came easily enough, but then I just seemed to hit a wall. My feet were aching and I just wanted to sit down and be done. Maybe because we were so close to town, I’m not sure. But also I’ve desperately needed a new pair of shoes for a week or two now, so my feet have just been aching with every step.
At one point I sat down in the middle of the trail and called Erich. I had service since I’m so close to town, and we got to chat for a few minutes and he cheered me right up. I really miss getting to be around his humor on a daily basis.
I kept going and decided to switch my audiobook from “Goblet of Fire” to “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. I’ve never read it and don’t know anything about it, so I’m excited to listen more since I’ve heard good things about it.
I finally made it to town around 10:30am. I showered at Hiker Town and picked up my Amazon package which had my new shoes! The color difference is hilarious between the decrepit old ones and the shiny, neon new pair. The tread on the new ones made me realize how bad the old ones are. I’ve been slipping and sliding a lot more recently, and now it makes sense.
After a short pit stop in Hiker Town to take showers, Girl Scout, Workshop and I hitched to a place called Wee Vill Market. It’s a super hiker-friendly convenience store that allows camping. They let us do bucket laundry and they have picnic tables out back for us to congregate. The owners and workers are all extremely nice, and I can tell this is going to become a popular hiker spot as the years go on. It seems like it already is, there’s likely 30 hikers here tonight.
I got to FaceTime Erich for a long time which was much needed, and he finally got to meet my tramily members too.
For dinner I ate a couple microwave dinners from the convenience store. After living in the woods for 7 weeks, things like this start to feel like a gourmet meal.
Tomorrow around 6-7pm we’ll start hiking one of the most infamous parts of the desert, the LA Aqueduct. The trail becomes flat and exposed, and follows a pipeline full of water headed towards Los Angeles for 17 miles across the valley we’re in. Because of the dangerously high temperatures this area gets and the distance we need to cover (with no water sources), we’re hiking it at night. I’m excited! I’m hoping it’ll be a lot of fun. And now that I have a good pair of shoes again, I’m hopeful my feet will be a lot happier.
Mile 534.9
We left Hiker Town around 6:30pm and started making our way towards the aqueduct. We left all together and walked in a line as we approached. It really felt like we were buckling up for a cool experience, and it made the beginning very exciting!
After a few miles we made it to the concrete river section that the trail follows for a short time. The water is exposed to the air, but is inaccessible as a water source. You can see how fast the current is; you definitely wouldn’t want to be swept away in it!
Finally we approached the pipeline. It was an extremely surreal moment for me. This is such an iconic part of not only the desert, but the entire Pacific Crest Trail, and here I was approaching it. Not only that, but it’s near the end of the desert, which meant that I’ve made it this far and I’m almost done with this section of the overall PCT. It’s crazy to think I’m here. I remember being in Big Bear, about 300 miles ago, thinking the aqueduct sounded so far away. I’m proud of myself for getting here and for still being out here, moving forward.
It was golden hour when we got to the pipeline, so we took a bunch of pictures to commemorate the moment. We were all together - me, Girl Scout, Workshop, Stakes, Hot Pink, and Bubbles. It felt like a momentous occasion, and we couldn’t stop freaking out about the incredible sunset and this new night-hiking experience that was in front of us. The first 5 miles we all walked together. First we hiked on the pipeline itself, but after our feet got tired of that we moved onto the dirt road that parallels the aqueduct for the remainder of the night.
At the end of that first 5 miles we took our first break. We had snacks, drank some water, and then got into shenanigans while attempting to create the letters “PCT” with a long-exposure shot using our headlamps. We never got it exactly how we wanted, but by the end we were happy with the best version we had. Honestly the hilarity that had ensued from that activity was worth way more than the picture anyways.
After this we hiked a few more miles together until we naturally got separated by different paces. I was super grateful to Workshop who slowed her pace down to walk with me so I wouldn’t need to walk in the dark alone. We made it to “lunch time” around midnight and had a break all together. We were fading fast, the exhaustion was catching up to us. The dirt road felt more like an endless beach, and hiking for hours in the dark when you’re tired started feeling more and more like sleep walking in a murky dreamscape.
Workshop and I played games to keep our brains distracted from the long hours with nothing to look at but the 5 feet in front of us lit up by our headlamps. One thing we did see however was a kangaroo mouse! I had heard they might be on this section of trail, and I was so happy to see not just one, but 5 total throughout the night.
Finally we made it to camp after picking up Stakes a mile or so before the end. He’d gotten lost at some point and caught back up to us while we were obnoxiously singing along to the Mamma Mia soundtrack to keep ourselves awake.
And now here I am - I did it! I’m in my tent at the little creek 17 miles from Hiker Town. I made it through and I now know why the aqueduct is infamous. Sand, darkness, paved sections that are hard on the feet, long and monotonous, tiring and exhausting, sleep deprivation... we got to the end around 2:30am, with 8 hours of hiking behind us. Only a few hours now until the sun rises and I’m completely exhausted. But wow, I can now say that I’ve conquered the LA Aqueduct on the Pacific Crest Trail!
