Sunday, April 30 — day 35

PCT mile 478.23 to 503.05

I got up before sunrise to get a jump on the day. Even so, I was not the first, but the second one to hit the trail. I’m still feeling guilty about my day of sloth.

This town seems to be very movie oriented – the owners and son of Casa de Luna were set designers in Hollywood. They have a lot of celebrity stories. I started hiking to the trailhead with my thumb out and after a bit was picked up by, surprise, someone in the movie business, dressed in a black Newsboy Cap and black cape.

Today’s hike looks to be a 5,000 foot uphill and 3,200 foot downhill hike over a 20 mile distance. Ugh – that means the trail goes up and down a lot in order to get over the ridges.  This is going to be a tough day…

The trail took me by an old mine… not sure what was being mined…

I’m back in the desert — here’s my view.

And I saw more great flowers 

Water is starting to be an issue so sometimes I need to be creative in how I gather water. At one spot there was a 15 foot diameter cylindrical water tank that feeds a pipe in a small cement container below. The upper container was nearly empty but the water level was 10 feet down from the small opening on top. The lower container only had a 3 inch pipe exposed, but it was filled with clear water. In the lower container was. 1/2 gallon jug an a the re foot length of tubing. I realized this was a logic problem and figured out I needed to siphon water from the pipe into the jug. I was able to collect 3/4 of a liter!

The other water sources refs in thee mountains are called guzzlers – structures resembling tin roofs that capture rain water and transfer it to a holding tank. To access the water you simply crawl under the tin roof, remove the tank lid and scoop out water. I have never seen this before.

I got a view of my next challenge — crossing the Mojave desert…

And I completed another milestone — 500 miles. So hard to believe!

I ended up hiking 25 miles today, a new personal best!

I SS looking for a campsite near Red Rock Tank, crawling through Manzanita bushes and finding small sandy spots that were not level or were full of anthills when I heard a voice call out to me.  It was hikers Doc and Zero, two guys my age setting up in a spot big enough for all of us.  I set up my tent and ate a small dinner wth them until I got too cold and had to climb in my sleeping bag.  I liked chatting with these guys and we agreed that we would chat more at our next destination: HikerTown, a Trail Angels home at the base of a he mountain and the start of the great Mojave desert passage.

I slept great!

Thanks for reading!