Day 28: Night hike among giants

Day 28 – 5/19/16

Hikertown 517.59 to Tylerhorse Canyon 541.55

Total miles: 23.96

The plan today was to do the the LA aqueduct hike at night since it’s flat and there is zero shade. We hung out in the garage room all day except for taking a trip to the convenience store for lunch. We pile into the crappy Astro van which has no middle seat row. Mommy is sitting on the floor next to the door. We turn left to get on the road when the door flies open and Mommy let’s out a hysterical scream. We pullover and tie the door back to the handle. Mommy is laughing but her eyes are watering. Definitely had her life flash before her eyes that’s for sure.

We get to the store without any more incidents. I order another burger and we sit in this room next door and watch Forbidden Planet. A movie from the 50s that stars a non white haired Leslie Nielsen.  We watch for about 45 minutes until the van comes back to pick us up. We get back to the garage room around 12 and vegetate. I sleep in a recliner for a few hours.

Around 5:30 we all start fussing about getting ready for the night hike.  At 6:45 we leave the garage and head for the trail. The trail for the next 15 or so miles is very flat and follows along of is on top of the aqueduct.

Ducky,  Captain, Tea Time, Mommy, Daniel, 5 Star, and I walk along the dirt road heading to the aqueduct.  Eventually we get there and it looks like a concrete canal before flowing into a large pipe that is half buried. I kept joking we should have gotten tubes so we could float across the desert.

The trail runs along side the aqueduct for quite a ways.  We of course all get up and walk on the aqueduct for awhile.

It has a lot of rivets  every 10 feet so the novelty wears off fast. Daniel stays up on the aqueduct while the rest of us hike on the wide dirt road.  By this time the sun is starting to set behind the mountains and giving some good shots.

5 Star find an animal back bone and chases Mommy with it. She did not like it.

As we hiked on the aqueduct disappeared under concrete. There was a concrete walk way and a dirt road side by side.  Every so often a square concrete platform would be on the concrete road way. I’m guessing the water ran under this.

A couple times we saw headlamps in the distance. As we got closer we would start howling like wolves, grunting, and moan “brains.”

We came across a creepy cluster of 20ish RVs. Definitely had a The Hills Have Eyes feel to it.  We started talking about scary movies and Tea Time asked which we would prefer to standing in the road: a man in a hockey mask holding an axe or a little Chinese girl. He said the little girl would be worse since little girls don’t belong on roads in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. I guess dudes in masks with axes do belong?

After we pass creepville Mommy says she hears a truck. We stop to listen but hear nothing. I ask how creepy it would be to see a beat up old truck with KC lights and county music playing drive up.  Seconds later we see headlights and a truck approach. Oh crap. We step off way to the side and a truck passes with a cage in the bed of the truck. A large dog starts barking at us as it passes. What the heck… It’s the middle of the night,  what is this guy doing out here?  He passes us and immediately turns left up done unmarked barely noticiable side road. Creep factor: 11

 

The hiking continues and we start to spread out.  Daniel and Tea Time pull ahead while the rest falls behind.  I walk by myself listening to music for a couple hours.  Eventually we hit a spigot water source 17 miles in. We all take a break and eat food by head lamp.  Captain’s feet hurt so he is staying and Daniel had already done 17 miles before starting the night hike just to catch us so he did 34 miles today.

We have another 6 more miles to Tylerhorse Canyon where there is water, tent sites, and supposed to be shade we can hide under during the day. At 1am we set off for the last 6 miles. And they were 6 tiring miles.  By this time we were walking through a wind farm. The giant windmills blinking their red lights while the blades swung around casting shadows from the bright moon.

The wind was now a cross wind and was blowing us all over the trail. My legs were dead tired, I was tired and cold, and the wind was throwing me all around the trail. The trail also started it’s 2,000 foot climb into the mountains at this point too. What a way to end an otherwise easy night hike.

The last mile was extremely windy and uphill. The wind would change directions constantly and it was probably the windiest I’ve experienced yet.  I could do the Michael Jackson lean.  We slowly make our way up the mountain hoping the tent site is somewhat protected from the hurricane going on.

We reach the top and the trail starts to decend into a canyon. The moon is low at this point and we have to use out head lamps to see. We drop down and come across a small stream.  We immediately claim spots and sent up our tents.  The ground is hard as a rock and we are all pounding our stakes in with rocks for 20 minutes.  I climb into my tent and get my pad and bag situated befor I open my food bag and have a bar. Its around 3:30 am, I eat it quickly because I’m about to fall asleep. I instantly pass out. This is the first night I’ve written the following day. Tomorrow or I guess today is another night hike. 17 miles to a road into Tehachapi and then an 8 mile hitch or 8 mile road walk. We are going to hang out there for awhile till its a reasonable time in the morning before trying to hitch or road walk into town. Best Western is calling my name.  I told 5 Star about how I freeze grapes and then eat them so I’m excited for the freezer in our room.  I highly recommend frozen grapes. They don’t actually solidify. It’s more like they start to freeze but never do. Very refreshing on a hot day.