The aqueduct was pretty ok. I left Hikertown at 5:30 pm and walked 16 miles to a bridge with a water spigot. It was mostly flat, but climbed a little into a wind farm. Temps were cool. Winds seemed to be 30-40 mph. It was hard to push through, but I wanted to maximize my nighttime hiking. Near the end, at around midnight, I spotted a hiker hunkering down for the night in a grassy ditch by the dirt road which made up the trail. "I can't take this wind, so I'm sleeping here," shouted at me in a British accent. Told him it was good to see another hiker out here, and kept walking. I reached the bridge at 12:30 am, and cowboy camped (sleeping outside without a tent or other enclosed shelter, just a sleeping bag, pad on a groundsheet) next to a small concrete building on one end. Winds stayed the entire night. Another party arrived at 3:30 am, headlamps shining, and I tried to fall back asleep.
I got up an hour later. Pre-dawn hiking, siesta, then night hiking was the plan. The following section was through a large wind farm. This was fine. Wind turbines are surprisingly noisy up close. Reached Tylerhorse Canyon at 8 am, which had a flowing creek and a large oak tree. I was the first to arrive that day, but in a few hours there were about a dozen hikers trying to beat the heat. I left around noon because it really wasn't that hot.
Then I miscalculated. While the temp wasn't that high, the air was much dryer than in earlier parts of the trail. I brought 2.5 liters of water to hike 15 miles. A couple hours in, I saw the trail switchback up a hill for 1,500', fully exposed. I had around a liter left and over 10 miles until the nearest road. I had to ration (a sip every 15 minutes, on the hour), and started slowing my pace to avoid overheating, since I couldn't afford to sweat much. I figured I could reach the top, wait until sunset, then descend for 7 miles to the road, and hitch into town. I'd be very thirsty, but I could do it.
I didn't die. At the top was a massive water cache stocked with 30 gallons and a basket of green apples. I stayed for an hour, considered camping there, but ended up just going all the way down. Around 7 pm, a naked guy wearing only sneakers came running up the trail. It was Coppertone, a trail angel who makes root beer floats for hikers at various points on the trail. I reached the parking lot where his van was parked. He came back down, put on clothes, and we talked about running before I went to sleep on the edge of the lot.
I got up an hour later. Pre-dawn hiking, siesta, then night hiking was the plan. The following section was through a large wind farm. This was fine. Wind turbines are surprisingly noisy up close. Reached Tylerhorse Canyon at 8 am, which had a flowing creek and a large oak tree. I was the first to arrive that day, but in a few hours there were about a dozen hikers trying to beat the heat. I left around noon because it really wasn't that hot.
Then I miscalculated. While the temp wasn't that high, the air was much dryer than in earlier parts of the trail. I brought 2.5 liters of water to hike 15 miles. A couple hours in, I saw the trail switchback up a hill for 1,500', fully exposed. I had around a liter left and over 10 miles until the nearest road. I had to ration (a sip every 15 minutes, on the hour), and started slowing my pace to avoid overheating, since I couldn't afford to sweat much. I figured I could reach the top, wait until sunset, then descend for 7 miles to the road, and hitch into town. I'd be very thirsty, but I could do it.
I didn't die. At the top was a massive water cache stocked with 30 gallons and a basket of green apples. I stayed for an hour, considered camping there, but ended up just going all the way down. Around 7 pm, a naked guy wearing only sneakers came running up the trail. It was Coppertone, a trail angel who makes root beer floats for hikers at various points on the trail. I reached the parking lot where his van was parked. He came back down, put on clothes, and we talked about running before I went to sleep on the edge of the lot.
Nice, so you've seen Coppertone's balls too now. Enjoying the updates. Good thing you didn't start earlier... you are flying! - Josh Owen
ReplyDeleteYeah my start date worked out pretty well! There was a traffic jam at KM this year as a ton of hikers showed up in mid-late May, and were waiting out the snow. The general store was turning hikers away, and they were going south to stay at motels.
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