Friday April 8, 2022
Start: Green Valley Fire Station
End: campsite under power lines 4mi shy of Acton KOA
Elevation gain/loss: 5423/5974
Mileage: 31.1
I woke up at 5am after drowsing since 4am, after falling asleep at 9pm. I had a solid night of sleep, despite the road noise. Early on in my day, I ran into The Giver and Zebediah and chatted briefly, sharing trail beta. Zebediah gave me some great advice about upcoming water sources, Agua Dulce, and Acton. I guess Agua Dulce doesn’t have a market anymore so resupply is very limited, but Jim the night guard at the Acton campground will shuttle into town 10 minutes away for resupply. I chatted with Blaine (upperstate NY) for a bit, talking East Coast, the AT, and the ADKs. Blaine was the last hiker I saw all day.
I plodded along all day, as the heat rose. I carried water for 15mi to Bear Spring and found disgusting water. It was sulfuric and smelled horrible. I skipped taking water from there, and had to make do with 1L of water for a very hot and exposed 9 miles with no shade.
I made it to Agua Dulce by 4:15pm, despite flirting with heat exhaustion in the 92-degree heat. I stopped at the liquor store for some cold drinks, snacks, and an ice cream sandwich, then headed over to the Mexican restaurant after looking at the hardware store. The Mexican food wasn’t very good and I only ate half of it, though the water and horchata were good.
I hung out for an hour, waiting for the day to cool off and headed back out around 5:45pm. I pushed until 8:45pm, climbing in the dark for quite a while before I could find somewhere flat to cowboy camp. As it so happens, I can hear two other people camping nearby, from the sound of their voices and hearing the zipper on their tent closing. The half moon is quite bright tonight, but it seems pretty quiet here, without high winds. Given that the KOA is near train tracks and a big cat sanctuary, the ridge will be a better night of sleep.
Transcending Mountains 