Day 34
Tylerhorse canyon (mile 541) to Tehachapi, 17 miles and a 9 mile hitch
Cost: Stayed at the Best Western Mountain Inn with the gang, $15

It was a crazy windy night and I had a very disturbed sleep, but my trusty tent survived with all of the pegs still grounded 🙂

I left the canyon with 4 litres of water and most of my layers on as it was a very cool and windy morning. The trail was terrific and the first few miles flew by.

Tylerhorse canyon

I climbed from 4,800 feet back up to 6,300 feet and was greeted with a fully stocked water cache and comfy chairs at mile 549. Thank you to Trail Angels Daniel & Larry who maintain this cache! I sat down on a comfy chair (I consider any chair with a back comfy and much better than a rock/tree stump/ground) and relaxed for about 20 minutes.

The trail winded through another wind farm but the wind wasn’t anywhere as bad as yesterday and I managed to walk through it without being blown off my feet!

I was trying to catch up to Cuban B when I got stopped by a snake on the trail and thought originally that it might’ve been a rattle snake. After tapping my poles on the ground for a few minutes it eventually slithered away and I got a view of its tail – not a rattler, possibly a gopher snake?

A lady on a horse passed me shortly after this, with another horse tied behind the one she was riding. Her husband is her support crew and he was waiting down at the road to meet her. It must be a massive job to plan this trip with horses and a lot of extra weight carrying the horse food and water. It was lovely to see them and I was intrigued by the horse shoes that looked like the equivalent of crocs!

Riding to Canada

I made it down to the road where I needed to hitch into Tehachapi (left) or Mojave (right). I had sent my resupply box to the Motel 6 in Mojave but everyone was going to stay in Tehachapi. Cuban B was waiting by the road and Costco was right behind me and the first car that came past stopped to pick all 3 of us up (and take us to Tehachapi). The husband and wife and their dog Rocket (I feel terrible that I can’t remember their names!), had just been for a hike and were used to picking up hikers at that exact spot. They were incredibly kind and when they found out we were interested in camping at the airport they took us on a tour of both airports – we hadn’t realised there was more than one! It was the second airport that we were allowed to camp at but there was no-one around and no-one answered the phone number we had so we weren’t sure exactly where to go to camp. Tentfire had arrived the day before and was staying at the Best Western so she invited us over to share her massive room which we gratefully accepted.

Hitching to Tehachapi with Cuban B and Costco

Cuban B, Costco and Rocket the dog

A few days ago back in Hikertown we hatched a plan to go to Vegas to wait out a new storm that’s heading our way next week and dumping more snow in the sierras which we’re only 1 week away from arriving at. The general consensus was that it was much wiser to hang out in Vegas waiting for snow to melt than at Kennedy Meadows, the gateway to the sierras! The only problem is that the car rental places in Tehachapi and Mojave aren’t open on a Sunday so we need to stay in Tehachapi 2 nights before picking up the cars first thing Monday morning.

We’ve booked a 2 bedroom suite on the strip for 3 nights for only $30 per person per night and 2 cars for $40 per person. $130 each to get to and from Vegas including accommodation that comes with a kitchen, sweet! All I could think about today on the trail was the food I want to cook – fresh healthy food that I’m not getting on the trail or in the trail towns. I can’t wait!

I’ll pick up my resupply box on our way to Vegas but for now it’s time to do my washing, shower, eat at the Village Grill (recommended by the couple who gave us a lift) and hit the hot tub.