Today was the day of windmills yet again. Walked through hundreds of them over miles, in what is supposed to be one of the largest wind farms in the world. Apparently the wind coming from the Pacific speeds up coming through Tehachapi Pass and that's great for generating power, that too close to the large consuming center of LA. See I read the info kiosk 😎
Of course, this also meant continuous wind through the day and continuing on right now in the evening and night. Hence, chose this campsite nestled in the trees for my tent today.
Else the tent would be blown off in no time!
An interesting side story:
As I was walking this morning, I heard a beep-beep and was not sure if it was from one of my devices, maybe indicating that battery was running low. So, I quickly took off my backpack and checked. Nothing there. It was just an external noise from the windmills, perhaps. A little while later I stopped for breakfast. I usually have breakfast 2-3 hours after I start as I am not really hungry in the morning and I want to get some fast miles in before it becomes hot. Breakfast is usually instant oatmeal and some dried fruit bar or muffin etc. As I was eating, a couple of hikers passed by and we exchanged hellos. Post-breakfast, about 15 mins later, I noticed that I didn't have my sunglasses. I immediately figured I would dropped them when I took off my backpack to check reg the beep-beep noise. Darn!!! Not the end of the world, but I would have to wait another 3-4 days before I could buy a pair in the next town. A few miles later, closer to lunchtime, I saw a few hikers sitting on a wooden bench (don't ask me why there is one on the trail). I stopped by them and was offered trail magic by 4 fellow thru-hikers who had just come out of Tehachapi town and decided to distribute some magic.
Got this as well as a small box of Pringles from Oracle 🙂. A cold light beer in the heat of the day was definitely refreshing.
There were 2 other hikers who were partaking of the magic and I realized these were the hikers - Shawn &:Emma -:who had passed me earlier. Figuring on an off-chance, I asked if they had seen my sunglasses. And lo & behold, they had and picked it up too, and they gave it to me 😀. What wonderful luck!
Shawn & Emma! Emma is a UK citizen and once she got the PCT permit last November, she wanted to get the US visa. But the consulate in London had appointments only in August 2022. So, they looked around and found that the Munich consulate had appointments 4 weeks away and they quickly went there and got the visa. One week later, Germany shut down all travel from UK due to Omicron. Whew...just in time! So, it is not just in India that people face visa issues 😬. Talking to Shawn, I found it that he had bicycled from Manali to Leh and all the way to the Indian border. That's a freaking long way! He did he went through Khardungla pass too and I told him that I had run on that pass. What a coincidence! They were an interesting couple and I am glad I could spend some time on the trail with them.
Lauren, an ex-firefighter, who now volunteers on the trail crew to maintain the trail in good condition.
This is a trail register kept at a few different points along the trail. A good way to keep track of who has passed the point and also would be if use in case of emergency.
Do you see the sheep and the train? 😀
A stray sheep on the side of the road in the middle of California desert!
Data:
The data from my watch is now good quality data (post-Wrightwood). It includes any side trips I might have made for water collection, lunch breaks, missed the trail etc.
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