Day 33: Aquaduct

May 22, Day 33: 517.6-534.9

Miles Hiked: 17.3

Gratitude of the Day:  I’m thankful for powerful sunscreen and sun shirts, I don’t mind the warmth but I tend to get burnt in the relentless sun. 

It was a late start for us out of Hikertown, with the weather for the Aquaduct supposed to be a balmy 70 degrees and not tons of wind no one crawled out of the sleeping bags until 7am. By 7:30 we were all enticed with a pancake breakfast and coffee. We wouldn’t leave Hikertown until 8:30 to start the day on the infamous hike through a finger of the Mojave desert along the LA Aquaduct. There are pluses and minuses of walking a flat long gravel dirt road, the plus is that you can make miles relatively quickly and take more breaks. The minuses are that your legs and feet take a pounding possibly leading to shin splints. By 10:30 we had stopped for 2nd breakfast and then started back down the trail. About 2 miles up trail there was a gun club and these guys let us come in use their restroom, gave us water, fruit and hamburgers. Not bad considering this only happened because a couple of guys ahead turned off into the lot to use the restroom, a little spontaneous trail magic. 

Then it was back on the Aquaduct for the afternoon until lunch and to pass the time after lunch because there’s only so much to look at we played 21 questions. By 4 pm we had all regrouped and decided to camp at the water cache so we’d not have to dry camp up ahead or walk 6 miles and 2000 feet of elevation at the end of the day. We’re all camped in a ravine hoping that we’ll have some reprieve from the wind, but I’m doubtful as we’re in the middle of a wind farm. I definitely wasn’t in a big hurry to keep pushing forward as my left shin was starting to nag me. I think we lucked out on the weather and wind, but still feeling a little sun kissed and slightly wind burnt.  As we camped at the water cache, Jeffery the trail angel showed up to refill all the water jugs and Zippy, Django and myself helped him refill all the jugs for the hikers coming after us. Just a day and a half until we reach the town of Tehachapi and a cozy bed.