Tuesday April 5, 2022
Start: Highway 58/Cameron Canyon Rd (Mojave)
End: behind a large Joshua Tree, underneath a windmill, near Cottonwood creek/faucet
Elevation gain/loss: 5075/5791
Mileage: 31.3
After a lovely evening in town, I was up at 5:15am to catch the 6am Kern bus. I was back on trail and hiking by 6:15am. I only had to carry 2L to start to get me to the first cache, which I was glad for during my initial 2000′ climb out of the valley.
Up higher, the wind was wicked, with gusts up to 70 MPH, taking my breath away and knocking me sideways. But it did keep the temperature cool, even as the sun warmed things up to the mid-70s in the shade. I passed by three caches today, including “Cafe 549” – a small water and snack cache with chairs and a table.
Later in my day, I passed by Mac and Cheese, two SOBO section hikers from WA. They just started at the highway yesterday and are heading the ~560 miles to Campo over 6 weeks. We chatted for a bit and then I pushed on.
I arrived at Tylerhorse Canyon around 4:15pm, filtered 6L, drank 1L and had dinner, and then pushed on since it was getting cooler and it was predominately downhill. I went another 6-6.5 miles before stopping for the night around 7:15, as the sun set. High wind warnings are in place until perhaps 11pm tonight, so the wind is still gusting and howling. I found a large Joshua Tree that provides a quality windbreak, in the shadow of a windmill, on a windfarm. It should be an interesting night. I plan to get up early to hike the LA Aqueduct in the cool of the morning, to get to Hikertown early.
Transcending Mountains 