PCT day 35, a cool humid hike into Hiker Heaven

Start mile 440, end mile 454, 14 total miles. Little beginning to end elevation change. Total elevation gain, 1986 feet, total elevation loss, 1,680 feet. Average grade, 320 feet per mile. High, a humid 74 when I arrived at Agua Dulce, low 55 in the KOA. Light winds.

My day started early because about a half dozen loud crows had a lot to say about 5:30 in the morning. A few doves joined in the ruckus.

It was fairly warm, but cloudy with drizzle early on. The temperature was 52 degrees when I went to bed, but was 58 with drizzle when I woke up.

We were slow to start this morning. ‘Gravity’ started off first. I had a steep hike right out of the gate, climbing about 800 feet up and over the ridge. It was very humid. In fact, it was so humid that I had to take my sunglasses off on my first real descent because my sunglasses were fogging over as I breathed out and walked into my breath.

I had sweat through my shirt within the first 4 miles! It was like hiking in Kansas in June! The temperature never really warmed up very much, but it doesn’t have to with that humidity.

I ended up at Vasquez Rocks state park. This was a really neat place. Numerous movies have been filmed there, including lots of Star Trek! There were bunches of wildflowers again. I took pictures of new flowers I haven’t seen yet. They are included below. I also hiked through lots of very tall grass. The grasses had a distinctive smell, a really arid smell I can’t accurately describe, almost like a very faint sage smell. There weren’t near as many bees in the flowers today. I’m guessing the cooler temperature and humidity must keep them somewhat at bay.

I arrived at “Hiker Heaven” fairly early. Hiker Heaven is a location within Agua Dulce, hosted by the Saufley’s. They allow hikers to spend the night. Talk about wonderful people!!

The big story of the day is the forecasted rain tonight and tomorrow along with more cool/cold temperatures, highs in the area barely touching 60 tomorrow!!! Highs are supposed to moderate up to the mid 70’s in a few days, then back down again. I may end up hiking the LA aqueduct/Mojave in a jacket. This is becoming unreal for the desert entering May!

I’ll take a minute to talk about the group I’m currently hiking with. We don’t really hike together much. 90% of my hike is alone. We plan on a rendezvous point, usually where we’re going to camp. We may run into each other on trail on occasion, at the beginning, or on an extended lunch break by a creek. There is no rhyme or reason to how we start. We all wake up and take off hiking randomly. I can be first out of camp, or 7th. I may be gone hiking before others are even awake, or vice versa. It just depends on the day.