Sunday, May 24, 2026. Sunny, 60 going up to 74.
Up at 5:15. On trail at 6:15. Looking forward to brunch and beers at the Cowboy Tavern in 10.4 miles!
Started the day with a solid 2-mile ascent. We had another 1-mile ascent to bring us to our highest point of the day at 5 miles. That’s when the weather changed from sun and hot to descending through clouds and fine mist the rest of the way to town. It was pleasant and felt like walking in an air-conditioned shady room for 9 miles.
We walked through a tunnel under Hwy 14 and then walked through the Vasquez Rocks area.
Impressive rock formations. A lot of movies and TV shows have filmed here, including the original Star Trek series from the late 1960s. Specifically, this Famous Rock formation.
We reached Agua Dulce and the Cowboy Tavern at 10:15 and 10.15 miles. We got to town hours before the massive wave of hikers that would join us late in the afternoon. We had a great breakfast, chatted with other hikers, and headed to our hostel about 11:39.
We arrived at Serenity’s Oasis at 11:45. Farmer John runs the hostel. It offers tent space, toilets, showers, laundry, kitchen, decent resupply, grills, hammocks, and places to relax. By the late evening, there were close to 50 hikers here. Very cool vibe.
I picked up a resupply box that I shipped from Wrightwood and an Amazon package (LMNT, powered milk, protein powder). I sorted out all my supplies for the next 4 days to Hiker Town and figured out what I needed to purchase here in Agua Dulce. I only need to buy Skittles, dried bananas, jerky, dried mango, and 4 tuna packets.
No luck with the dried mangos at the small market in town. Also, I’m adding bigger dinners and more snacks to my diet as I just can’t get enough food. Hiker Hunger has kicked in.
I did score a 10k mAh power bank to replace my older one that is not holding a good charge. Nice!
At 6:30, six of us walked to the Mexican restaurant in town. This was the only restaurant open tonight. We were joined by many other hikers over the next 2 hours. I counted 34 of us in that restaurant.
We meandered back to camp in the dark, and I got into my tent at 8:45. I worked on blogs and route planning for the next several days.
Really nice, relaxing day. Very social day with lots of old and new faces. I need to triple-check my resupply tomorrow and mail my extra items ahead to Tehachapi. We will be there in 8 days.
Technical Notes:
- Protein Shake (10oz): 330 cal, 19g carb, 13.5g fat, 36g protein
- Banana Chips (18p, 30g): 150 kcal, 20g carb, 8g fat, 1g protein
- Skittles (2.17oz): 250 kcal, 56g carb, 2.5g fat, 0g protein
- Steak and eggs: 800
- Beers x 3: 450
- Beer x 4: 450
- Massive Mexican Dinner: 1300
- Water liters: 1
- Miles: 10.88
- Time: 5:49
- Up: 1965
- Down: 1608
- Calories consumed: 4000
- Calories burned: 1937
- iPhone battery used: 30%
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