Algal bloom or Noro?

Day 34

Tehachapi to Golden Oak spring

16.6 miles

Hiked from 4pm to 10 pm

The morning was a bit hectic. The most recent news on trail causing chaos is there is a spring 16.8 miles out of town that may have algal bloom. There are conflicting resources saying what treatments can kill the bacteria to make it drinkable or not and whether there is actually algal bloom at the spring. Some hikers have gone out, not had enough water, and have returned to town. Others have decided to push through.

When in town there is always a vortex that happens of lots of info but everything is second, third, or fourth hand information. There is a lot of fear mongering about illness, water, and heat. Sometimes that makes it hard to make clear decisions and figure out which sources to trust. Kevin and I have had to work really hard to sort through the info available for this next section. We have decided to night hike and carry enough water to skip the potentially contaminated spring. Also all of the symptoms people have been saying are like

Norovirus which is super common for hikers to get. I have been surprised by how many hikers don’t know what Noro is. Maybe it was just talked about a lot more in the Smokey’s on the AT because that is where is usually broke out there.

All in all, we are trying to make wise decisions without sacrificing our hike either to illness or sacrificing our perception of the journey by skipping miles we could walk. It has also been helpful to talk with some solid other hikers at the hotel we were staying at. Some of those hikers are a family, two parents and three kids. We have crossed paths a few times with this family and love interacting with them. I didn’t catch their names yet but the dad and mom were discussing the water situation with us and it seemed to be affirming with the info we had.

We are comforted that we have a friend who will help us at Walker Pass and that we know we can hike during the night and not need as much water.

The actual hiking and getting out of town went better than I expected! Our friends had caught up with us so we could hang out in the AM and get coffee before sharing a ride out to the trailhead. It was super fun to see them and meet some other neat hikers too.

But let me paint a picture of what hanging out with hikers actually looks like. The hotel front desk woman did not like the group of 15 or so hikers standing by the front of the hotel so she angrily waved us away. We went around the side of the hotel and sat on the side walk outside of our friends’ rooms. About 15 backpacks lined the outside of rooms along the side walk. Hikers sat on the side walk squeezed into the shade until we moved into our friends’ room and sat on the floor or the bed and one stood shaving at the sink. It was very gracious of our friends to allow us to hang out in the cool air conditioning with water before we had to leave town!

As I put my pack on to leave, I discovered my pack was the heaviest it has been yet this trip. I had four days of food and seven liters of water. Come to find out later, Kevin had told me an extra day for food so I technically didn’t need that much. Oh well.

The miles went by faster than we expected except for the last 1.5 miles that dragged on in the windy darkness. We were really proud of ourselves at keeping up a good pace uphill with heavy packs. It is okay very windy in our campsite so we will see how the sleep is tonight.

Slackpacking

Day 33

-8 miles slackpacking – Willow Rd to Highway 58

-staying at a hotel In Tehachapi

Staying at a hotel that serves breakfast saves us having to go out and spend more money on food. After downing some food, we find a trail angel that is willing to drive us out to the trail so we can slack pack. Slackpacking is just a thruhiker’s version of day hiking but just leaving most of your gear in town. It was really nice to crush those eight miles in 2.5 hours with a light pack when it wasn’t so hot. We got to the parking lot before our friends and met a sweet couple who were crewing for their son and grandson’s long trail run. They were so kind to talk to and gave us fresh fruit and snacks. Then after their people had come through and gotten food and drinks to finish their run, the couple drove us into town with a couple of other hikers. They even gave us their phone number so we could call them when we need to go back out on trail tomorrow.

I love meeting all the people on the trail and the people supporting their loved ones on the trail too. They always have stories and tips and are familiar with an adventure lifestyle! Back at the hotel I spent some time talking with a woman who is crewing for her husband who is thruhiking. She meets him at trailheads and gives rides and brings food places. We have seen her at a few trailheads and love to catch up each time we see her and their puppy again. They live part of the year Colorado. She has told Kevin and I that she is really impressed with us hiking together as a couple and how we have to work things out together. I don’t really see it as any different than every day annoyances in life while in the front country. We always have to remember how we are on the same team and it is both of us together against whatever challenge we face.

Hiking into town

Day 32

9 miles

Water cache to willow rd-Tehachapi

I woke up thinking about getting a shower, laundry and cleaning my gear. I don’t usually crave showers when out on trail but the dust and grime of the desert is unprecedented. Knowing I had only nine miles to get to town set my mind to get moving this morning.

There are two roads that people often take into the town of Tehachapi, Willow road and Highway 58. The eight miles between the roads are dry and through a wind farm and totally exposed. Our plan is to go into town at Willow rd and then slack pack the eight miles to highway 58 tomorrow.

We arrived at the road and were excited to go to the Chinese food buffet. We were expecting to have to hitch or call an Uber into town. At the trailhead, a man was waiting to give rides to hikers! He said he had to drive to the dump this morning and the trailhead wasn’t too far away so he waited around for someone to show up! How kind of him! This is the second time this kind of ride has happened for us on the trail. He drove us into town and we found out this was the trail angel who keeps the water cache with the twinkle lights full at the top of the hill. After thanking him and giving him some gas money, we headed into the buffet and filled up!

Then we began our town chores. We got groceries and realized we are eating so much food already this early in the hike. We decided to stay in town for two nights. So after grocery shopping and walking the hottest mile to the hotel, we did laundry and showered. The group we have been hiking with had one goal for town: watch Top Gun. So tonight we sat in a cool dark room away from the sun while eating snacks and watching a movie. It was nice! So was sleeping in a cozy soft clean bed.