April 4, 2008 to April 16: Agua Dulce to Tehachapi
This 110 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) connects the rugged mountains south of Agua Dulce -- the San Bernadino and San Gabriel ranges that encircle LA -- to the beginnings of the mighty Sierra Nevada, north of Tehachapi. Unlike these high mountains, however, this section goes along lower ridges covered with chaparral and strikes out into the dusty and hot Mojave Desert across the Antelope Valley. Fortunately, I was able to do this section in the spring when creeks were still running in the ridges and golden poppies were in bloom in the desert.
Let me add also that this desert mileage of the PCT will soon be history. The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) and other groups have reached an agreement with a large landowner to allow the trail to be moved up onto their ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains, out of the desert. This was the intended route of the PCT as a premier "crest" trail. This new portion of trail should be open by 2015 or so.
The PCT runs right through the town of Agua Dulce -- quite unusual for this remote trail that ordinarily bypasses towns. I dropped in on Donna Sauffley who sponsors a hiker's hostel there along with her husband Jeff. They put me up at the hostel at the end of a hot, hot hike in 2007. I had recently seen them at the PCT Trail Fest in Sacramento where Donna gave a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the National Trails Act, which established the PCT as a national trail. Helpful as ever, Donna gave me an up-to-date list of the water sources on the PCT for the next 110 miles. Hooray for "trail angels," as they are rightly called.
The PCT left the road in Agua Dulce for an ascent up pretty Mint Canyon in Angeles National Forest. After recent rains red (Scarlet Gilia) and yellow (Goldfields) flowers decorated the trail. Hummingbirds sipped from the trumpet-like flowers of the scarlet gilia. A vista (Bouquet Reservoir) sparkled in the distance.
A local wit hung a skeleton (Skeleton) along the trail -- I guess to spook us about the Mojave ahead. Other locals though helped us avoid that fate by putting out water (Trail Angel at Green Valley) After a couple of days I left the trail for an overnight in the town of Lake Hughes and stayed in a hotel with the outside walls all of rocks.
Back in the national forest I climbed up on the PCT to the summit of long Sawmill Mountain, with elevations above 5,000', as pine replaced the chaparral. I camped on a soft bed of pine needles and enjoyed a balmy breeze. (Tent in Pines) These were Coulter pines, which have the heaviest pine cones in the U.S., weighing over five lbs. (Coulter Pine Cone) Note the small size of my glove, in contrast.
With the elevation too came more wildness. As I looked at the landscape and at my map, it seemed there could be a 5/10,000 roadless area next to the PCT centered around this peak. (Sawtooth Mountain) There were even occasional patches of snow in the shade of the black oaks. (Snow Patch) In the descent from the forested ridges the PCT led past the one and only trailside lake in this entire section. (Lake on Liebre Mountain) I saw ducks and a heron in the reeds.
At last -- Ta Da! -- the expanse of Antelope Valley opened up before me: about 50 miles of the Mojave Desert to reach the Tehachapi Mountains. (Antelope Valley) Fortunately, there was a hostel on Highway 38 on the edge of the desert, allowing me to water and rest up before the desert. When I arrived at "Hikertown," the manager, Bob, gave me a giant platter of spaghetti and showed me to the comfortable bunkhouse.
That night I watched the movie, "Four Weddings and a Funeral," with Hugh Grant and laughed until I cried. I suppose after days of solitude I was hungry for humor as well as pasta!
The next day, my "zero" day, for "zero" miles hiked, Bob gave me a tour of some of the "old-time" false store-fronts built to lure Hollywood to film there. (Peter at Cat House) George Clooney has yet to appear but a couple of commercials were made there.
I left Hikertown the next day carrying about three gallons of water -- about 24 lbs. Luckily, the heat was tolerable, in the 90's, although the wind was starting to build. Ironically, the first major feature in the desert was the California Aquaduct (Concrete River) brimming with water on its way to thirsty L.A. Fences keep out the hikers!
Far from barren, the desert was ablaze with vast orange fields of California poppies, the state flower. (Poppies 1) (Poppies 2) (These photos were from a state park near the PCT where I did a training hike; the PCT vistas were just as colorful.)
I talked to a hiker coming my way who warned me to be careful as she had seen some snakes on the trail ahead. A local, she identified them as Mojave green rattlesnakes, similar in pattern to the western diamondback, but with yellow-green coloring. Their bite is very potent; the venom can be lethal to humans! The Mojave green is likely the most dangerous creature on the PCT.
I took out my camera and crept slowly along. There they were! Not one, but two. A big green (4') and a medium-sized green (2'), curled together, perhaps mating. (Mojave Green 1) (Mojave Green 2) In the fading shadows of twilight I could easily have stepped on them were it not for the warning. Thank you, guardian angel.
Along the trail was the signature plant of the Mojave -- the Joshua Tree, named by the Mormans after the Joshua from the Bible with arms outstretched. (Joshua Tree) PS, the plant is actually a yucca, not a tree. Hikers like them since they offer welcome shade and windbreaks. Joshua Trees can grow over thirty feet high and can live over nine hundred years.
The PCT next follows the Los Angeles Aquaduct, with a closed top this time, which is crossed by various roads. And roads bring ... you guessed it, garbage. (Garbage) Dry creekbeds seem the most popular spot to dump sofas, refrigerators, etc. As a peace offering the aquaduct does pipe out some water at Cottonwood Creek, about halfway across the desert. Ice-cold too, from Sierra Nevada snowmelt.
As if on cue the wind whipped up as I hiked off with my sweet water. The wind became fierce, pelting my face with sand and actually making it hard to stand up and walk forward. Even the horned lizards stopped running around and hid in the cactus. After miles and miles of this I rested next to this friendly rock (What, Me Worry?) and the wind finally calmed down.
All was still at last that night as I sat by my tent (Tent in Desert) and watched a million stars pop out. Desert coyotes howled the whole time too -- first together as a pack at sunset and then scattered when dark fell. Yapping and barking as they called to each other. The next day I walked out to the road at the end of the section, caught a ride to the rail town of Tehachapi and took a bus home.
Let me add also that this desert mileage of the PCT will soon be history. The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) and other groups have reached an agreement with a large landowner to allow the trail to be moved up onto their ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains, out of the desert. This was the intended route of the PCT as a premier "crest" trail. This new portion of trail should be open by 2015 or so.
The PCT runs right through the town of Agua Dulce -- quite unusual for this remote trail that ordinarily bypasses towns. I dropped in on Donna Sauffley who sponsors a hiker's hostel there along with her husband Jeff. They put me up at the hostel at the end of a hot, hot hike in 2007. I had recently seen them at the PCT Trail Fest in Sacramento where Donna gave a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the National Trails Act, which established the PCT as a national trail. Helpful as ever, Donna gave me an up-to-date list of the water sources on the PCT for the next 110 miles. Hooray for "trail angels," as they are rightly called.
The PCT left the road in Agua Dulce for an ascent up pretty Mint Canyon in Angeles National Forest. After recent rains red (Scarlet Gilia) and yellow (Goldfields) flowers decorated the trail. Hummingbirds sipped from the trumpet-like flowers of the scarlet gilia. A vista (Bouquet Reservoir) sparkled in the distance.
A local wit hung a skeleton (Skeleton) along the trail -- I guess to spook us about the Mojave ahead. Other locals though helped us avoid that fate by putting out water (Trail Angel at Green Valley) After a couple of days I left the trail for an overnight in the town of Lake Hughes and stayed in a hotel with the outside walls all of rocks.
Back in the national forest I climbed up on the PCT to the summit of long Sawmill Mountain, with elevations above 5,000', as pine replaced the chaparral. I camped on a soft bed of pine needles and enjoyed a balmy breeze. (Tent in Pines) These were Coulter pines, which have the heaviest pine cones in the U.S., weighing over five lbs. (Coulter Pine Cone) Note the small size of my glove, in contrast.
With the elevation too came more wildness. As I looked at the landscape and at my map, it seemed there could be a 5/10,000 roadless area next to the PCT centered around this peak. (Sawtooth Mountain) There were even occasional patches of snow in the shade of the black oaks. (Snow Patch) In the descent from the forested ridges the PCT led past the one and only trailside lake in this entire section. (Lake on Liebre Mountain) I saw ducks and a heron in the reeds.
At last -- Ta Da! -- the expanse of Antelope Valley opened up before me: about 50 miles of the Mojave Desert to reach the Tehachapi Mountains. (Antelope Valley) Fortunately, there was a hostel on Highway 38 on the edge of the desert, allowing me to water and rest up before the desert. When I arrived at "Hikertown," the manager, Bob, gave me a giant platter of spaghetti and showed me to the comfortable bunkhouse.
That night I watched the movie, "Four Weddings and a Funeral," with Hugh Grant and laughed until I cried. I suppose after days of solitude I was hungry for humor as well as pasta!
The next day, my "zero" day, for "zero" miles hiked, Bob gave me a tour of some of the "old-time" false store-fronts built to lure Hollywood to film there. (Peter at Cat House) George Clooney has yet to appear but a couple of commercials were made there.
I left Hikertown the next day carrying about three gallons of water -- about 24 lbs. Luckily, the heat was tolerable, in the 90's, although the wind was starting to build. Ironically, the first major feature in the desert was the California Aquaduct (Concrete River) brimming with water on its way to thirsty L.A. Fences keep out the hikers!
Far from barren, the desert was ablaze with vast orange fields of California poppies, the state flower. (Poppies 1) (Poppies 2) (These photos were from a state park near the PCT where I did a training hike; the PCT vistas were just as colorful.)
I talked to a hiker coming my way who warned me to be careful as she had seen some snakes on the trail ahead. A local, she identified them as Mojave green rattlesnakes, similar in pattern to the western diamondback, but with yellow-green coloring. Their bite is very potent; the venom can be lethal to humans! The Mojave green is likely the most dangerous creature on the PCT.
I took out my camera and crept slowly along. There they were! Not one, but two. A big green (4') and a medium-sized green (2'), curled together, perhaps mating. (Mojave Green 1) (Mojave Green 2) In the fading shadows of twilight I could easily have stepped on them were it not for the warning. Thank you, guardian angel.
Along the trail was the signature plant of the Mojave -- the Joshua Tree, named by the Mormans after the Joshua from the Bible with arms outstretched. (Joshua Tree) PS, the plant is actually a yucca, not a tree. Hikers like them since they offer welcome shade and windbreaks. Joshua Trees can grow over thirty feet high and can live over nine hundred years.
The PCT next follows the Los Angeles Aquaduct, with a closed top this time, which is crossed by various roads. And roads bring ... you guessed it, garbage. (Garbage) Dry creekbeds seem the most popular spot to dump sofas, refrigerators, etc. As a peace offering the aquaduct does pipe out some water at Cottonwood Creek, about halfway across the desert. Ice-cold too, from Sierra Nevada snowmelt.
As if on cue the wind whipped up as I hiked off with my sweet water. The wind became fierce, pelting my face with sand and actually making it hard to stand up and walk forward. Even the horned lizards stopped running around and hid in the cactus. After miles and miles of this I rested next to this friendly rock (What, Me Worry?) and the wind finally calmed down.
All was still at last that night as I sat by my tent (Tent in Desert) and watched a million stars pop out. Desert coyotes howled the whole time too -- first together as a pack at sunset and then scattered when dark fell. Yapping and barking as they called to each other. The next day I walked out to the road at the end of the section, caught a ride to the rail town of Tehachapi and took a bus home.
posted by peterkirby at
6:47 PM
