Over 500 miles and still going!

Tehachapi represents 558 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail! I am starting to look like a thru hiker now, a bit travel worn and needing a shave, but I haven't even reached the halfway mark yet. 

At mile 558, we got off into the small town of Tehachapi, CA.  I have to say it has been one of my favorite if not my favorite trail town thus far. 

We arrived late on June 5th and were picked up by an awesome trail angel named Ricky who got us cold sodas and into town without a problem making sure we got settled into the Best Western Mountain Inn. Not having to hike all the way into town was a big help. 

The first night Nightrider, Alex, Liam and I shared a space at the Best Western. Our arrival date changed many times due to the fire and other issues and they were able to make the changes for us multiple times.  For those out on the trail behind us, they accept hiker packages at no charge. 

I had packages coming from a couple of different places because of some gear changes and they had them waiting when I arrived. It couldn't have been easier. Another positive is that they have a business center with a computer. I definitely needed access to the computer to finish up my medical school application. I had worked on my application for almost a year, but had to wait for the online access to open to finalize and send it off. In the future, I will need to get off the trail to complete secondary application work. 

After getting the work on my application done, I took care of laundry and a few other things. Later on two

other hikers named Pretty Boy and Dirty Sink showed up.  

At the movie theater.

It was our chosen lazy day. We went to the $4 movie theater and got picked up by another Trail Angel named Lea. I found out that she had been communicating a lot with my mom when I came out of the post office. She snapped a picture and sent it to my mom.  It was great for her to see me in relatively good health. Taking a shower can do wonders for you.  

Lea is an amazing southern belle from Georgia that found her way out to Tehachapi. It was great for us to get to know each other.   Later that evening, Lea took our whole group back out to the trail. She looks like she should be joining with us.  Great time with Lea and thanks Tehachapi for adopting hiker trash.   

The hardest stretch of the desert lies ahead of us. My thoughts on why it will be the hardest is because of the amount of weight we must carry in our packs to make it through the last stretch of the desert.  The water supply is scarce and temperatures will soar to as much as 116 degrees.  Carrying almost 40 lbs in the heat will be extremely difficult. There aren't a lot of places to get off the trail for the next 150 miles so I am carrying almost 8 days of food and water. You get less mileage in the desert heat. To make matters worse there are two stretches of 40 miles without a good water supply. My plan was to have at least 6 liters of water with me because you can't count on finding a water cache. If the weather is good we will hike as many miles as we can before the heat of the day.  We'll take a nap and then get up about 4am to hike again. 

It feels like I have taken longer than a day off, so I feel the need now to get my hiking legs back to working so I will be in tip top shape by the time we reach the base of the Sierras in Kennedy Meadows.

By the way, if you lose your husband you may want to look for him at the husband drop off bench in Tehachapi. 

Sunset on the PCT.