Made it through the Mojave! The 100 mile section that I just completed is known as one of the toughest on the trail. Notoriously hot and waterless - very few natural water sources on the trail. Temps of 110 to 120 are the norm. Incredibly, it never even got into the 80s when I hiked through!!! Lucky, very very lucky! It even rained at night, and I had to wear a fleece and gloves while hiking one of the mornings. Wind gusts were pretty crazy, often over 40 mph, but I'll take that any day over hot temps in the desert. Even with the cooler temps, I tried to put in some long days to get through this section as quickly as possible, just in case the hot weather returned. I put in 24, 28, then 27 mile days in a row, my longest days yet.
I've been hanging out in the very cool town of Tehachapi the last few days. Very hiker friendly. It's a bit spread out, so the owner of a local coffee shop rounded up a lot of people from the community. They gathered a bunch of bikes that hikers can take any time day or night to ride around town. You can call the coffee shop, and they'll send someone to pick you up or take you back to the trail. There's even a list at the trailhead of "trail angels" you can call to get a ride when the coffee shop is closed. The incredible generousity of people in these towns close to the trail still blows my mind away. I only hope that I'm lucky enough to give back to the trail one day!
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And some pictures (check out the Photobucket page for more!)
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