Day 32 mile 508.1 – 535

Elevation: ascent 1,634 ft, descent 3,008 ft

PART 1 – Phew…no wind last night made for a great night of sleep. We were up right before 6:00 as we knew we had about 9.5 miles to Hiker Town and the road to WeeVill. WeeVill is a place hikers can get some food, resupply a bit, get a shower and even camp for free. Today Double Down and I have a plan to hike early before the heat and then take a big break in the middle of the day eating and resting before heading back to the trail to walk 17 miles along the “DRY” LA Aquaduct.

The trail this morning was mostly down hill and we were treated to beautiful meadows today full of poppies. However it was much hotter this morning with little wind. Very glad we made the decision to take the break because the walk on the Aquaduct could be brutal in the mid day sun. Hiker Town is a spot many hikers have used for a resupply spot in past years, but is closed this year. It is a very unique spot as it looks like a movie set out of the old west. By 11:00 we had reached the road and called WeeVill who generously offer to pick hikers up. We waited about 20 minutes along with SoBa and Raven when we were all picked up in a truck with AC. What a treat!!

Once we got to WeeVill the first thing we needed was a cold drink and ice cream. Then we took a shower in one of the grossest shower stalls either of us have ever seen, but it felt OH SO GOOD!! Then we grabbed lunch and snacks. Eating and chatting with other hikers (Rabbit, Zen, Turtle, SoBa, Raven and High Stakes) at a Picnic table in the shade. The plan is to head back to the trail around 4:00 and hike the Aquaduct in cooler temps and into the night under almost a full moon. We are really enjoying the down time and getting to know these hikers better.

PART 2 – At 4:00 Freddy came out and asked if the hikers heading back to the trail were ready. It’s easy to see how you can get sucked into what they call the Vortex. This is when you go into town with other hikers and not everyone leaves at the same time. Makes you second guess if staying with them, and the cold drinks plus food is the better option. We piled in the van with Rabbit, SoBa, Eric and High Stakes heading back to the trail. This is when Freddy gave us a lesson on the poppies in bloom. I guess normally the poppies are gone by the end of April but because of the late rain this year they are blooming later. Also, he told us due to the amount of rain the poppies are about double what we would normally see. HOW LUCKY CAN WE BE!!!

We were dropped off at the trail head at 4:20, each hiker heading out at their own pace. The walk on the Aquaduct is very interesting because the majority of it is covered in cement or in large pipes, so we couldn’t grabbed any water even if we wanted to. The only nice thing is that it is a fairly flat dirt road.

We walked with Rabbit for the first three hours and even took time to enjoy the sunset while eating sandwiches we had brought from WeeVill. We seemed to be quite the attraction out there as all of the cows stopped what they were doing to stare at us as we walked by. I can only imagine what they were thinking. What are these crazy people with packs on out here just walking 😂. Rabbit left us at dinner as he was hoping to go a bit further than Double Down and I. We hung around a bit to fully take in the sunset before starting our night hike, as we had about 8 more miles to go.

This was the first time either of us had night hiked and I have to say it was pretty cool with the almost a full moon. It may have been more difficult if we were on technical terrain but a flat road was great. The moon was so bright we even had shadows that almost looked similar to the ones at sunset.

Shadows from the moon

Around 10:00 we both were starting to feel the affects of us the mileage we were putting in today. As we entered a wind farm we hit the uphill section of the road and right into a 25-30 mph headwind, not what we needed at the time. We arrived at mile 535 and a water source at 10:30. Now we had to pray we could find a sheltered spot to pitch our tent. Wow, did we luck out. We found a large bush that made the strong winds feel like a light breeze. We then got the tent up by headlamps and were in bed by 11:00.

Woah, quite the day as we ended up totaling 26.9 miles today, but far our biggest yet. The alarm is set as we have a good size climb in the morning and it’s suppose to be hot again tomorrow. Thanks for following along. Link