May 29, 2008 to June 7: Tehachapi to Walker Pass
About a month later I returned by bus to the town of Tehachapi in Southern California to continue north on a 86 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I picked up the PCT at Tehachapi Pass and did a long and steady climb back into the high country. In the distance I could see Sawmill Mountain and Antelope Valley, features from the last trip. (Above Tehachapi Pass)
As the hot air rises from the desert, the cooler winds race in from the coastal west and compress against the ridges, creating a wind tunnel in Tehachapi Pass. Wind speeds here reach up to eighty mph, powering wind farms along the PCT. (Windmills) Spring still touched the land, with bursts of red flowers dotting the trail. (Owl's Clover) In the distance I could see the air strips of Edwards Air Force Base, where the space shuttle lands.
Geologists consider Tehachapi Pass the start of the Sierra Nevada, which then runs 400 air miles north to Mount Lassen, the beginning of the Cascades.The Sierra Nevada is the longest continuous mountain range in the lower 48. Since the PCT winds back and forth, it clocks 800 trail miles along the Sierra Nevada, almost a third of its entire length from Mexico to Canada. Thus, it was very exciting for me to pass this 6700' granite mountain (Cache Peak) and to finally arrive in the mighty Sierras, a range of soaring granite.
Note too that the slopes of Cache Peak are cloaked with Pinyon Pine. This small, bushy tree has only single needles, not clusters of two or three needles like other pines. The nuts of this pine were an important food for Native Americans and are still used in our salads. Much of my camping in this section was in the shelter of Pinyon Pine.
Here's another set of windmills (Sky River Wind Farm), much taller than the last ones. The PCT goes right next to Sky River, which is planned for expansion. The visual impact does not bother me personally; I like to see power being created from renewable sources without greenhouse gases. However, I do worry about the killing of migratory birds, especially raptors like golden eagles and hawks, from the blades.
The PCT soon ascended into the Piute Mountains, with their tall and stately Jeffrey Pine and flowing water at Landers Meadow. The trail then dropped into the scenic Kelso Valley with piles of boulders (Boulders) and bushes decked out with yellow flowers (Fremontia) The public land here is largely under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the California Desert Conservation Area. The PCT went near BLM's Bright Star Wilderness, as it approached this pointed peak (Peter in Front of Mayan Peak) In this area BLM posted many signs to warn off-road-vehicles to stay off the PCT and use other trails. Thanks, BLM.
Kelso Valley is also infamous for its dryness and its wind. In a stroke of good fortune I arrived at the main road crossing just as some local trail angels delivered water jugs. With big smiles a bunch of us hikers helped unload. (Hikers and Water Jugs) I also chatted with a couple from Georgia. As it turned out we knew each other from our work together on conservation a decade ago and had last seen each other on the Appalachian Trail. I was to meet them again later in the summer.
The climb out of Kelso Valley was hot, shadeless and sandy. As I got back up on a ridge, the barometer dropped like a rock and a cold front blew in. (Clouds in Barren Landscape) I found a lone Joshua Tree and threw up my tent in its shelter. The wind pounded my tent all night. During a slight break in the wind in the AM, I packed up and dashed off. There was no escape from the wind however; it blasted wildly in all directions. One gust even knocked me to the ground. One hiker told me he was thrown down a dozen times that day!
I finally reached Bird Spring Pass (Peter at Sign) with tree cover and even some color (Prickly Pear Cactus in Flower). Bird Spring Pass also marked the gateway to the 90,000 acre Kiavah Wilderness in Sequoia National Forest. This wilderness protects the beauty of this semi-arid land. (Kiavah Wilderness)
This is also the first is a long string of Congressionally-designated wildernesses along the PCT, separated only by the occasional road, that extends hundreds of miles north, all the way to the Lake Tahoe area. As I reached the other side of the Kiavah Wilderness, near Walker Pass, I could see far in the distance the snowy slopes of Olancha Peak and Mount Whitney.
With all the banging around from the wind, I had brushed into tree branches and chaparral and had sat on the ground a lot. Changing my socks a short distance before Walker Pass, I noticed two dark spots on my shin, each surrounded by a red circle. The guidebook alerted hikers that a ring-like red rash around a tick bite could be a sign of infection with Lyme disease.
My plan was to hike another thirty miles to Kennedy Meadows but I decided instead to go home and get screened. The blood test turned out negative: no Lyme disease. I learned too that only a tiny fraction of ticks in California carry Lyme disease and that chances of humans getting Lyme disease from a tick bite are very low. The rashes soon went away on their own. All in all, it was another scenic and inspiring adventure, well worth the challenge to body and spirit.
As the hot air rises from the desert, the cooler winds race in from the coastal west and compress against the ridges, creating a wind tunnel in Tehachapi Pass. Wind speeds here reach up to eighty mph, powering wind farms along the PCT. (Windmills) Spring still touched the land, with bursts of red flowers dotting the trail. (Owl's Clover) In the distance I could see the air strips of Edwards Air Force Base, where the space shuttle lands.
Geologists consider Tehachapi Pass the start of the Sierra Nevada, which then runs 400 air miles north to Mount Lassen, the beginning of the Cascades.The Sierra Nevada is the longest continuous mountain range in the lower 48. Since the PCT winds back and forth, it clocks 800 trail miles along the Sierra Nevada, almost a third of its entire length from Mexico to Canada. Thus, it was very exciting for me to pass this 6700' granite mountain (Cache Peak) and to finally arrive in the mighty Sierras, a range of soaring granite.
Note too that the slopes of Cache Peak are cloaked with Pinyon Pine. This small, bushy tree has only single needles, not clusters of two or three needles like other pines. The nuts of this pine were an important food for Native Americans and are still used in our salads. Much of my camping in this section was in the shelter of Pinyon Pine.
Here's another set of windmills (Sky River Wind Farm), much taller than the last ones. The PCT goes right next to Sky River, which is planned for expansion. The visual impact does not bother me personally; I like to see power being created from renewable sources without greenhouse gases. However, I do worry about the killing of migratory birds, especially raptors like golden eagles and hawks, from the blades.
The PCT soon ascended into the Piute Mountains, with their tall and stately Jeffrey Pine and flowing water at Landers Meadow. The trail then dropped into the scenic Kelso Valley with piles of boulders (Boulders) and bushes decked out with yellow flowers (Fremontia) The public land here is largely under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the California Desert Conservation Area. The PCT went near BLM's Bright Star Wilderness, as it approached this pointed peak (Peter in Front of Mayan Peak) In this area BLM posted many signs to warn off-road-vehicles to stay off the PCT and use other trails. Thanks, BLM.
Kelso Valley is also infamous for its dryness and its wind. In a stroke of good fortune I arrived at the main road crossing just as some local trail angels delivered water jugs. With big smiles a bunch of us hikers helped unload. (Hikers and Water Jugs) I also chatted with a couple from Georgia. As it turned out we knew each other from our work together on conservation a decade ago and had last seen each other on the Appalachian Trail. I was to meet them again later in the summer.
The climb out of Kelso Valley was hot, shadeless and sandy. As I got back up on a ridge, the barometer dropped like a rock and a cold front blew in. (Clouds in Barren Landscape) I found a lone Joshua Tree and threw up my tent in its shelter. The wind pounded my tent all night. During a slight break in the wind in the AM, I packed up and dashed off. There was no escape from the wind however; it blasted wildly in all directions. One gust even knocked me to the ground. One hiker told me he was thrown down a dozen times that day!
I finally reached Bird Spring Pass (Peter at Sign) with tree cover and even some color (Prickly Pear Cactus in Flower). Bird Spring Pass also marked the gateway to the 90,000 acre Kiavah Wilderness in Sequoia National Forest. This wilderness protects the beauty of this semi-arid land. (Kiavah Wilderness)
This is also the first is a long string of Congressionally-designated wildernesses along the PCT, separated only by the occasional road, that extends hundreds of miles north, all the way to the Lake Tahoe area. As I reached the other side of the Kiavah Wilderness, near Walker Pass, I could see far in the distance the snowy slopes of Olancha Peak and Mount Whitney.
With all the banging around from the wind, I had brushed into tree branches and chaparral and had sat on the ground a lot. Changing my socks a short distance before Walker Pass, I noticed two dark spots on my shin, each surrounded by a red circle. The guidebook alerted hikers that a ring-like red rash around a tick bite could be a sign of infection with Lyme disease.
My plan was to hike another thirty miles to Kennedy Meadows but I decided instead to go home and get screened. The blood test turned out negative: no Lyme disease. I learned too that only a tiny fraction of ticks in California carry Lyme disease and that chances of humans getting Lyme disease from a tick bite are very low. The rashes soon went away on their own. All in all, it was another scenic and inspiring adventure, well worth the challenge to body and spirit.
posted by peterkirby at
4:44 PM
