Ericholscher - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2013

Made it to Tehachapi

Made it into Tehachapi, mile 560. The last few days have been pretty hellish. The walk across the Mojave has been incredibly windy, with gusts up to 50mph and above. Walking uphill in the sand with heavy winds is pretty disheartening. Easily the most exhausted and worn out I've been when heading into town.

That said, I can taste the Sierras. I've never actually even seen the High Sierra, other than on a plane, so I'm excited to hike through it. SoCal has been full of civilization and towns. A nice ease into the trail, without going much more than 4 days in between stops. We've been crossing roads pretty much daily. The juxtaposition between this and the Sierras will be striking. Along the JMT (John Muir Trail), which shares the PCT most of the way, there is a section of over 200 miles without a road crossing. The trail also never goes below around 8000 feet, maxing out at over 13000 feet going over Forrester Pass. I will also be doing a side trip up Mt. Whitney, which is the highest point in the lower 48.

Things are still going amazingly well overall. My feet are sore and hurt most evenings, but walking 20 miles everyday will do that to them. I did 30 miles heading into the Mojave, which is a new personal best.

I have been walking with some of the same and some different people. Still camping most nights with Tapper & Birdhaus, but we've also drafted Crossover and JIT (Just In Time) into our merry band of gallivanters. Along with the people I've been hiking and camping with, there's also a much larger group that we run into at each town stop, and hang out with there. Probably around 10 or 15 people who are part of the random hiker trash that we invade towns with.

Each town stop we've been seeing more and more hikers. We started around 2 weeks early, but we've been taking our time. So everyone else who has started later than us is starting to catch up. The trail still doesn't really feel crowded at all though. Camping alone on the trail is pretty easy if you want to, and you can find lots of people to share hotels with in towns. It feels like a good number of people, and even

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