Wrightwood – ~Agua Dulce.

Mile 374 -465.

Days 19 – 22.

After Wrightwood, the trail climbs steeply up to the 9,000+ foot summit of Mt. Baden Powell. From there, the trail works through pine forested ridges in the San Gabriel Range. Eventually, the trail descends to lower elevations and crosses through the low-lying canyons of Vasquez Rocks before rolling directly down the main street of Agua Dulce.

Day 19

Today was a great day! I woke up early enough to have a leisurely morning at the cabin. I drank coffee and ate some banana bread muffins and fruit from the grocery store. Then, trail angel Anne came and picked up me and Miranda from the cabin. Anne was wonderful and fun to drive with. She was knowledgeable about the local plants and pointed out Joshua Trees for us on the drive.

Anne gave us a ride around the rest of the Bridge Fire Closure. Because the PCT is closed in the burn area, she drove us to a dirt road. From there, we walked two miles on the dirt road to Vincent Gap, where we rejoined the PCT after the closed bit of the trail.

After a short, steep climb, Miranda and I summited Mt. Baden Powell, a 9,000+ foot peak. We took a nice long lunch break at the summit – one of my favorite lunch spots of the trip so far.

After Baden Powell, the trail was a dream – pine forests and prominent mountains. The trail crested the ridge and snaked around the sides of smaller peaks through the woods. The miles flew by, thanks to the beautiful landscape and good conversation. Miranda and I hadn’t seen each other for about 3 years and had a lot to catch up on as we hiked.

In the afternoon, I came around a corner on the side of a ridge and came face to face with… mountain goats. I wasn’t aware mountain goats lived in this area, but there they were! I took a quick photo, but the creatures quickly became camera-shy and trotted off.

Later that afternoon, I was filling my bottle at a water source and talking to Miranda about the mountain goats. Suddenly, a day hiker with a huge camera emerged from the woods. He’d overheard our conversation about the goats.

The day hiker told me that the goats I’d seen were extremely rare in this range – to the point that many people think it’s a myth that they live here! My chance encounter with the mountain goats felt even more special! The day hiker showed me beautiful, amazing photos of other goats he’d photographed with his camera set up. I was a little embarrassed to show him the grainy and zoomed-in pictures that I’d snapped of the goats.

My hike today ended similar to how it started: with a road walk. This road walk was due to another trail closure. This time, the PCT was closed for just a few miles to protect the endangered frog habitat. To get around this, hikers must walk about 5 miles on Highway 2.

We decided to camp along the highway on the reroute at a campground: complete with bathrooms, spigots, and picnic tables! Best of all, when we arrived, there was trail magic! Ray, a train driver, and his wife Lily were grilling up burgers and hot dogs for all the hikers in the campground! They even had cold beer and a charging station for phones.

I had so much fun sitting around Ray and Lily’s picnic table, socializing with the other thru-hikers, and getting trail magic there. One international hiker, Maddy, entertained us all by telling us how one of her goals for her time in the United States was to kiss a real American cowboy – complete with hat, boots, and a big belt buckle!

Tonight I camped with the largest group I’ve camped with on this trip. About 15 or so thru-hikers squeezed into a shared campsite in the campground. For a little privacy, I decided to set up my tarp for the 4th time on this trip.

---

Day 20

It was just a casual 29 mile day.

At least, it felt pretty casual, thanks to the easy walking, no long water carries, and trail magic.

As is typical for me, I was one of the last hikers to leave the Buckhorn Campground this morning. I felt especially spoiled to wake up and have potable water, trash cans, and best of all, a toilet!

It isn’t just the campground. This section of trail so far has been especially civilized-feeling. The trail crosses back and forth over scenic Highway 2 many times. As a consequence, the trail is constantly going by campgrounds, trailheads, and picnic areas – and all the great amenities found in these places. It reminds me of paralleling the Blue Ridge Parkway on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

I reached the 400-mile mark this morning while hiking with Miranda and Swish. Suddenly, I realize that I’m more than halfway done with the “Desert” section of the PCT! Woohoo! Honestly, I haven’t been the biggest fan of the desert, though I do enjoy the little fault-block mountain ranges that the trail keeps popping up into briefly, like the San Jacinto range, the San Gorgonio range, and now the San Gabriel range.

However, I hear that I’ve yet to reach the “true desert”. Some say that everything on the trail up through now has been chaparral, not actual desert. Apparently, I won’t see the real desert until I’m close to Tehachapi. I am quite nervous about this, as heat and long water hauls have been a struggle. Honestly, if the heat gets much worse than it has been, I might consider becoming fully nocturnal and only hiking at night.

A bit before noon, we came upon a parking lot at a trailhead. There, we found 3 sprinter vans arranged in a circle around a gaggle of thru-hikers in camping chairs and several non-hikers manning a grill. Trail Magic!

The trail angels ushered us over and we soon found ourselves sitting in camp chairs enjoying soda, beer, chips and guac, cookies, and more! Additionally, I ran into GTA, who I hadn’t seen in a day and a half since slightly past the McDonald’s before Wrightwood. Another wonderful surprise.

This segment of the trail has truly spoiled me. I probably could have left town with a few granola bars and still eaten well, thanks to all the trail magic we’ve received! GTA, Swish, and I returned to the trail with full bellies, and perhaps a little gigglier than normal from the beers.

Additionally, with all the toilets at the road crossing in this area, I’d managed to only use the bathroom in toilets since Wrightwood instead of using the woods. This phenomenon is called “porcelain blazing” the trail – walking from toilet to toilet. And I was having an impressive porcelain blazing streak by any thru-hiker’s standards. However, after my mid-day beer, I found myself pulling over to pee behind the bushes before I could reach the next outhouse. So much for my streak.

The afternoon miles were rolling downhills and very easy. They would have flown by, if it wasn’t for my stomach becoming quite upset, with bloating, pain and gas. Soon, I had broken my porcelain blazing streak on two fronts. After a while, I had to undo my hip belt to relieve some pressure from my painful abdomen, and hike with my pack fully supported by the shoulders only.

I arrived at the final water source of the day, a tap next to a fire station 0.2 miles off the trail. A group of several thru-hikers were already at the picnic table there socializing and making dinner. I filled up my water and chatted for a while, but didn’t eat due to my stomach pain.

After the water, Miranda and I chatted as we climbed up the final hill of the day to find a place to dry camp. After about 2 miles, we ran into GTA, who waved us over to a fantastic campsite with a view of the sunset and city lights below. It was the perfect spot.

At camp, my stomach pain finally subsided, and I suddenly felt famished! I gorged myself on anything and everything in my food bag. I would reach my next resupply stop in a day and a half – and I still had enough food in my bag for 3-4 days! Once again, I was way overpacked.

After dinner, I went to sleep, cowboy camping under all the fantastic stars in the desert sky at night. At some point on this trip, I’m going to get better at identifying constellations.

---

Day 21

Rumor on the trail this morning was that 15 miles out from our camp there’d be huge trail magic. Motivated by the prospect of hot food and cold beverages, I woke with the sun and soon after started cruising down the trail.

I spent a lot of the morning hiking and chatting with Gordo, a windsurfer, Iron Man athlete, and now a thru-hiker who I’ve been leapfrogging (passing back and forth with) since Deep Creek Hot Springs.  Since the Hot Springs, and especially since Wrightwood, I’ve been around many more thru-hikers. As a whole, we seem to sometimes spread out and then bunch up – especially around town, water sources, and trail magic. Today was no exception, with many hikers planning to take a long lunch break at the trail magic.

It was relatively easy hiking and the miles flew by. I finished my 15 miles and arrived at the trail magic by noon.

Courtesy of Trail Angel SnowAngel, a group of hikers were lounging in chairs under a shaded canopy, enjoying cold soda, beer, and Gatorade, as well as a wide variety of foods. I settled in for a multi-hour lunch break.

I had a wonderful afternoon relaxing, socializing, and enjoying the wonderful trail magic. Around 3 pm, GTA, Swish, and I hit the trail. The goal was to cover 8 additional miles to the nearby highway, where we could hitch to the nearby town of Acton. Acton isn’t one of my planned resupply towns (and my food bag is certainly still way too full!). However, it is the home of the 49er saloon, which allows hikers to camp behind their building on a donations only basis.

The 8 miles were a sweaty blur, under the intense sun. We lost a lot of elevation, and things started to feel real desert-y.

From the highway, it took us about 10 minutes to catch a hitch to the Saloon. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when we got there, but I was pleasantly surprised. At the saloon, we were welcomed with open arms and shown to the backyard. There, we found a dozen or so other thru-hikers, ample room for tenting, hot showers, hand-wash laundry, cold drinking water, and a hiker box.

I was pretty tired from my day, but enjoyed a meal at the saloon (chili and salad!) before pitching my tarp, showering, and going to bed.

This section has felt almost like a glamping vacation, not a thru-hike. Since Wrightwood, we’ve had daily trail magic, and today, I found myself getting to shower and doing laundry for the second time in three days. It was a welcome surprise since I get dirty in the desert amazingly fast with all the dust sticking to my sunscreen.

---

Day 22

I had a great morning at the saloon. Despite “sleeping in” until 6:30 am or so, I was one of the first ones up in the little tent city behind the bar. The backyard was mostly quiet. It had been thru-hiker Uphill’s birthday last night, and many hikers stayed up late celebrating, and now were sleeping in. GTA was already gone – perhaps getting an extra early start hiking? A little later, I was sitting on the patio of the saloon when GTA suddenly showed up and passed me a cup of hot coffee over the fence from the grocery store across the street, where she’d been buying her resupply.

On my way to the hardware store (an unsuccessful mission to find a replacement ground sheet), I ran into a trail angel who offered to take me and my friends back to the trailhead from Acton. This was a huge relief, as I suspected it might be a difficult hitch back to the trail.

At 8:30 am, Miranda, Swish, GTA, and I hopped out of the trail angel’s car and started hiking north on the PCT. This is a strange area. On the drive, our trail angel pointed out a tiger sanctuary, a movie set from Breaking Bad, and other strange tourist traps in the Acton area.

We all hiked together the 10 miles to Acton. Notably, we passed through the Vasquez Rocks area, which kind of looks like a white version of the Red Rocks amphitheater, minus the amphitheater.

Towards the end of the 10-mile stretch, as we approached the town of Agua Dulce, we saw a sign pointing towards a parking lot near the trail. Trail magic! And for the 4th day in a row! We chowed down quickly on watermelon and sodas, before continuing into Agua Dulce.

The route of the PCT goes straight down the center avenue in the small trail town of Agua Dulce. In town, I bought and mailed a postcard, ate at the Mexican restaurant, and picked up my resupply package at Serenity’s Oasis, a hiker camping facility. I enjoyed lounging around at Serenity’s Oasis in the shade for quite a while and organizing all my exciting new resupply items. I shipped myself all my favorite hiking foods, electrolytes, and new toiletries.

By mid-afternoon, some light cloud cover appeared and I hiked on. The trail was surprisingly beautiful leaving Agua Dulce. There were lovely hills covered in dense green shrubs and tall grass, which brought back memories of Chestnut Knob on the AT. I tanked up on water at a small spring and ate my dinner. I night hiked only a short distance before finding a tiny dry campsite where Swish, GTA, and I cowboy camped together.