Highway 58 to Golden Oaks Spring -16 miles (26km) – 583 miles total
I woke this morning to see that snow had fallen on the mountains around Tehachapi. So glad I wasn’t camped in that. I got ready and left the hotel with the plan to hitch into town and then see if the bus was running to get me out to the trail. However, the hitch that I got was going along the highway so they were happy to drop me off along the way. They said that there had been snow down to 4500 ft, which was 1000 ft lower than what I saw was predicted.
Once at the trail, I had a climb for 8 miles which wasn’t pleasant with a heavy bag. I think my pack is the heaviest it has ever been, as not only does it have 5 days of food but there was also no water for 16 miles so it was full of water too.
As I started to climb the wind started to pick up and I became surrounded by cloud. At times the wind was so strong it pushed me off trail. It was not fun. There were also patches of ice, remnants of last nights temperatures. Once I finally got to the top, there was tree cover that blocked the wind which made things better and then as I started descending the wind died down a bit and blue skies came out, although it was still cold. I’m holding onto the fact that the rest of this week is meant to get significantly warmer.
The track for the afternoon was multi use trail with bikes allowed, however this meant that the trail was thick mud which stuck to the bottom of my shoes and poles making them heavy.
Finally, I made it to the water source at 16 miles. I had planned to go another 4 miles to a campsite, but when I saw there was space for tents I called it a day. It is exhausting walking in the cold and wind.
I’m hoping tonight doesn’t get too cold, but the fact that I could see my breath at 5pm doesn’t bode well 😬
Today I am thankful for wonderful hitches from lovely people.
