Day 49 (7 June) - Mile 525.3 - 541.55

Campsite on Side of Aqueduct to Tylerhorse Canyon Campsite

What a crazy night!  When we pitched our tents it was pretty windy, but then the wind died down right when we were ready to go to sleep. Then, around 2:00 AM the wind picked up again with some pretty large gusts.

At 2:30 AM I heard Share Bear calling out, "Guys?!?"  I asked her if she was OK and she said she didn't think her tent was going to hold up in the wind and that she was going to break camp and hike. I told her that I would join her and started packing up. I then asked her if she was outside to tell if the wind was going to be a headwind if we hiked in it. She got out of her tent and said it was. So we knew we couldn't leave. She walked around my tent and said that it looked good and didn't show any signs of coming down.  She then walked over to Kate and Max's tent that also looked good.  I heard some talk and then she came back and said that she was going to join them in their tent for the rest of the night.  I got my air mattress and pillow back out and went back to sleep in clothes and all.

I awoke at 6:00 AM to calm, packed up my stuff, ate breakfast, and was ready to head out at right at 7:00 AM.

Ready to continue aqueduct hike.

Share Bear left a bit earlier and Max, Kate, and Kennan were still packing up.  We will all meet up as we take breaks along the way.  The goal of this morning is to make it the 9.63 miles to water and a the Cottonwood Creek Bridge where we plan on hangout under while we wait for the weather to cool.

This was pretty much my view for the first 4 hours of the hike today:

The hike continued following the aqueduct.

Finally, around 8:40 AM we turned down a dirt road and left the aqueduct behind.  The dirt road provided for some shady areas that were way appreciated along with views of Joshua trees.

Much needed shade with Passport and Share Bear.

Beautiful Joshua Tree

More Joshua Trees

Finally, at 11:50 AM, we arrived at the Cottonwood Creek Bridge.  When we arrived there was at least 10 other hikers there hanging out in the shade.  We dropped our bags and made ourselves comfortable.  We planned on being here for about 5 hours.

Kate and I making ourselves comfortable.

We sat, talked, ate lunch, napped, and moved when the bridge shadow moved.  As I was lying on the ground resting my eyes I looked up and Tim was standing over me.  Somehow he managed to find this bridge in the middle of nowhere.  He said that he passed a sports bar 20 minutes out, so we headed there.  But first I snapped this picture of all the hikers under the bridge:

Hikers hanging out in the shade of Cottonwood Creek Bridge.

Tim got a beer and I drank two ice waters.  I really wanted a beer, but I was concerned about drinking alcohol and then hiking this afternoon in the desert.  We hung out there for about 1 hour and then headed back to the bridge.  Tim provided some trail magic by collecting garbage from hikers so they didn't have to carry it.  A guy also showed up with a cooler of beer to share with hikers. So much trail magic going around.

Just after 4:30 Share Bear and I got back on trail:

Back on trail after an afternoon siesta.

PCT sign of the day with Share Bear

We now entered into a wind farm.  These wind turbines make for some pretty neat photos, but also mean we are hiking through a pretty windy area!

PCT sign of the day 2

Wind farm in Mojave desert.

The hiking is hard because it is uphill and the wind is head-on and relentless.  The plan is to camp at Tylerhorse Canyon where there is the next water source.  Tylerhorse Canyon is in these mountains in the distance:

We have to make it to that mountain

I thought this was a cool place for a self-portrait.  Plus, I really needed a rest.

Self-portrait "Wind farm"

Wow...this hike section is really hard.  We had to climb 2,000 feet with this crazy, strong headwind, plus, it is still pretty hot.

The arid, windy landscape.

We finally made it to Tylerhorse Canyon just before 8:00 PM.  We filtered some water and found a place to camp.  it was still really windy and I thought about cowboy camping, meaning I would sleep on the ground without my tent.  I set up my tarp and laid down and didn't feel safe from the environment and the ants, spiders, snakes, etc., so I set up my tent figuring that if it survived last night's wind then tonight shouldn't be a problem. 

Share Bear decided to bunk with Max and Kate again who, by the way, has the 3-person version of my tent.  As I lay in my tent blogging the wind sounds crazy and the tent is collapsing on me and popping back up.  This tent is really nice.  It seems to be able to handle this crazy wind.

I better try to get some sleep now since the others want to get up at 5:00 AM and start hiking before it gets too hot.  Plus, we are hiking to a town so we are all anxious to get there.  I just hope the wind chills out so I can get some sleep.

Another night pitch.