Day 32 - Slack-Packing

May 17 - 8 miler

After my epic 36 Mile day I enjoyed two Zeroes in Tehachipi. May 16 was mainly a day of running around, with the first chore being to pick up my food resupply parcel from the post office. Fortunately Evad, who had picked me up the previous evening, had kindly agreed to pick me up from my hotel and run me around. We picked up my parcel and I opened it up as we were on our way back into town and discovered I had someone else’s package. I checked the name, and although it was the same Surname that’s where the similarities ended. After returning to the post office I was reunited with the right package this time and then it was on to the store to pick up lunches for the next leg of my journey. After grocery shopping it was off to the camping and hiking store, so I could pick up a gas canister, and then back to my hotel to organize my gear. That night I took Evad (that’s Dave’s trail name), out for dinner as a thank you for all his help and we went to a great little Mexican place where I enjoyed terrific chicken fajitas followed by frozen ice cream. It really was tremendous value. 

May 17, I was up relatively early as I had decided to go and slack-pack the 8 mile stretch that was book ended by two roads, one of which was a major freeway. The previous day I had spoken with the young group of hikers who had greeted me as they came through the lobby the evening I was checking in, after walking 36 miles. The advice I received was to get a ride to the highway, and walk back to the less busy road as it would be easier to get a ride into town. Evad had kindly agreed to pick me up and he was there right on schedule. I had my backpack on but it was almost empty. All I was carrying was a water bottle, rain jacket and first aid equipment, as I prefer to err on the side of caution and you never know! I was dropped off by the highway and after some initial confusion I located the trail and was on my way. The first mile or so was along a paved road and after about 3/4’s of a mile there was a sign pointing me to the trail which led into the hills. I started to climb and the trail led me up, up and then up some more. I was certainly glad that I only had a light pack, but even if I had been fully loaded up that would have been okay. I had been led to believe the trail was flat but this was anything but! The walking really was exhilarating and I was now back among the windmills, I bumped into Sundown, a hiker I had met previously, and he told me to be aware of a large rattlesnake that he had seen up ahead. At this point Sundown showed me a video he had taken and the snake was very healthy. I eventually reached the summit and enjoyed a lovely downhill walk that led me to the secondary road. As luck would have it a Trail Angel was there and I was able to get a ride back into town almost immediately. The walk had taken me less than 3 hours and I was so glad I had decided to slack-pack. After dropping my pack I then went up to a terrific German bakery where I enjoyed coffee and a sandwich for lunch. As I sat on the patio I thought “does it get any better than this? I don’t think so”! I had thoroughly enjoyed my time in Tehachipi but was feeling the need to push on, and so it was an early night as I had been warned the climb out of Tehachipi was a Bear!!

The view to what I thought was the climb out of Tehachipi. Turned out to be a different trail altogether.

Turn right I guess!

The incomparable Evad.