Sunday, May 31, 2026. Clear and 53 going up to 73.
Up at 6:00. On trail at 7:15. I am dying to get into Tehachapi, get real food, shower, do laundry, and relax.
We hiked into the largest wind farm in North America and stayed in that wind farm for the rest of the morning.
We reached Willow Springs Rd at 10:05 and 9.0 miles. We tried unsuccessfully to hitch a ride. I had no cell service, but Brad was able to contact a trail angel who picked us up and drove us and 2 others to town. We got dropped off at Walmart since we had 4 hours to kill before our hotel was ready.
We walked a block to a laundromat and started our laundry at 11:30. I used their bathroom to strip off all my clothes and socks and put on a pair of shorts and my fleece. Everything went into the wash, and we went next door to a restaurant for a nice big breakfast. I moved the laundry to the dryer during breakfast, and everything was done when we finished eating. Nice!
We ran into a hiker we met back at Hiker Town. She was doing laundry and waiting for her father to pick her up. He arrived just as we were getting ready to try to hitch a ride from Walmart to our hotel. He gave us a ride to the hotel. Good luck once again.
We dropped our packs at the hotel lobby at 1:30 and wandered town while waiting to check in at 3:00. That took all of 15 minutes. We stopped at a very old school diner/cafe for a few beers while killing time. Love these kinds of cafes!
We checked into the SureStay at 3:00, and I got my first shower since the LA RV Resort 7 days ago. I soooooo needed that shower! I worked on blogs, and we discussed hiking plans between here and Kennedy Meadows. I am trying to convince Brad to do a short day on Tuesday in order to break up the nasty 24.5-mile hike with zero water that we need to do when we leave Tehachapi.
If we don’t break up that first day, then we have 4.5 days to Walker Pass and our next resupply, followed by 2.5 days into Kennedy Meadows (KMS). KMS is where we need to get our bear cans, micro spikes, and other High Sierras gear and start Part Two of this great adventure.
I decided to not join the gang for an early dinner as I had a bunch of planning to do. I had a nice steak and lobster dinner to celebrate making it to Tehachapi. Then back to the room with some seltzers and watched TV until 10:30.
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
- Town food
- Country fried steak and eggs, OJ, OJ
- Beer x 2
- Big dinner
- Water liters: 2
- Miles: 9
- Time: 3:10
- Up: 515
- Down: 2638
- Calories consumed: lots
- Calories burned: 1039
- iPhone battery used: 30%
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