There was a loud train going by every now and then last night. However, I still slept great. I woke up around 9AM, felt amazing to get some real sleep after days of night hiking. Took another shower in the morning, don’t know when my next one will be. Chilled out until noon when I went to the post office. 

I shipped home my umbrella, I have only used it on the second, third and fourth day on the trail. I didn’t think it helped much and has been dead weight since then. The guy working there saved me some money by using two envelopes and putting one on each end and then taping the middle. Also shipped home my Sawyer, I lost the white ring on the bottom of it so water leaks all the time. I could call sawyer and get it replaced but I have no idea where to have it sent to since I don’t know where I’ll be. The new Sawyer was only twenty bucks on Amazon so not bad. 
After the PO, Junco and I took the 1:10 bus back to the trail. Got moving by 1:30 straight uphill. The climb wasn’t bad but man it was windy. Got to a water source about 17 miles in around 7:10. Quickly ate dinner and filled up water and left by 7:40. Walked for about an hour trying to find another camp spot. Saw one but a dude was cowboy camping there. Ended up finding a spot below some wind turbines and set up my tent there. Kind of windy and the turbines are loud but whatever. Looking forward to a full day of hiking tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll have to night hike anymore, weather hasn’t been bad. 

Like I said in the previous post, the Nero day has turned into a zero day, not complaining. Woke up at the airport at 6AM, felt good to “sleep in”. Sonic and I went to a local bakery and had breakfast there, no way was I eating a cliff bar. From there I went to the KMart and bought a Monster energy drink, since I’m not hiking I don’t have to worry about it dehydrating me. 

Sonic stayed in Tehachapi because she has a box at the PO. I went to the bus stop and got picked up at 9:30 to head to Mojave where my box was waiting for me at a Motel 6. The room only cost me $44.00 and it’s pretty nice. There was coin laundry, a pool, gas station next door, grocery store down the street and a couple restaurants. 
I picked up my new Altra Lone Peak 2.5s. I was really iffy about switching to trail runners after using high cut boots my whole life but these Lone Peaks have been amazing. They’re taking over the thru hiking scene. I have almost 600 miles on the first pair and could have pushed them more but I didn’t want to risk them blowing out and then having to wait a week to replace them. 
Once I got into my room, I jacked up the AC, went to the gas station and bought some junk food. Showered for about thirty minutes, this was my first shower where I could take as long as I wanted, I even bought my own soap. Did laundry after the shower and then went down the street to resupply. Spent about $70 which included lunch. I think I bought too much food since I can’t fit all of it in my bag, but my food is physically bigger because I’m trying to get in more calories so that’s probably why. It’s 135.7 miles to Kennedy Meadows so I bought about 5.5 days worth of food. I always estimate 25 mile days to give myself some cushion with food since I usually end up doing more. 
Spent the remainder of the day sitting in my room watching TV. Got to watch game two of the NBA finals, not a big basketball fan but I love watching the playoffs. After that I watched the new Fantastic 4 on HBO, the reviews were right, it sucked. Went to sleep around 11:30

Got a few hours of sleep and started moving a little before 5AM, wanted to beat the heat. There were two water sources in the first 13 miles, hit up both just to be safe. I left with roughly 6.5 liters after the second one because it was a potentially long stretch with no water

After a 4 mile climb, Sonic and I hit some sweet trail magic. There was about 20 gallons of clean water, fresh apples, oranges, bananas, some chairs and a trash can. Healthy food feels so nice. There was a sign that said there’s shade in .5 miles so we got there a little after noon, perfect timing. I took my fourth trail shit there. Kind of amazing that I’ve been on the PCT for 3 weeks now and have only had to poop four times outdoors. I seem to always be running into a bathroom everyday that I take advantage of.
Got moving a little after 3. After a couple hours we ran into some sweet trail magic from a guy named Coppertone. We got root beer floats and apple pie. He said he’s going to Walker Pass next so I might run into him again. There was also ice cold Gatorade at the road so that was amazing as well. Got moving at 7 and ended up going all the way to Highway 58. Was originally planning to stay a few miles from there but there was no camping. 
Got to Hwy 58 at 10 and met a women who offered Sonic and I a ride to Tehachapi. I needed to head to Mojave but there’s zero camping at the highway and hitching seems like it’d be tough. Got the ride to the Tehachapi airport where they let hikers camp for five bucks. Got in, are real quick, brushed my teeth and cowboy camped. It’s now 11:30, looking forward to the unexpected zero day tomorrow. But first I’ll have to find a way to Mojave. 

Woke up at 5 and started packing up. A few hikers passed by me during this time, looks like a lot of people are trying to avoid this heat wave this week. 
Did a quick 12 miles and got to Hikertown at 9:30. Hung out here for most of the day. Washed both my socks and got a ride to a store four miles down the street. The van was packed with hikers. The door didn’t really close so I had to tie a knot, kind of sketchy. At the store I bought a soda, Gatorade, ice cream cone and burger and fries. I need all the calories I can get. Left the store around 2 and headed back to Hikertown. Ended up being a bad idea. It’s like a damn oven outside. Over 100 degrees. So after less than an hour, Sonic, Junco and I decide to head back to the store and sit in the air conditioning again. Added in some more calories with an iced tea, burrito, ice cream sandwich and a coconut water. True Lies is playing on the TV, love that movie. 
As I listen in on other hikers, it seems like everyone is planning on night hiking this next section, which is notoriously hot and dry during the day. We’ll do the same. We fit 15 people into a van and headed back around 5:15. Filled up water, brushed my teeth and Junco, Sonic and I headed out at 6
The trail is very flat from Hikertown, but very exposed to the sun which is why most night hike it. Junco stopped early and Sonic and I went until 11 before we cowboy camped off the road/trail. It’s 11:25 now and I plan to wake up around 4:30 so I better get to sleep. Looks like another 100 degree day tomorrow 

A lot of loud cars last night, sucks being such a light sleeper. Got moving onto another detour in the morning. About six miles in there’s a general store where I filled up water and pigged out. Had a pint of B&J ice cream, bag or Fritos and a 28oz Gatorade, almost 2000 calories. I also heard about a big fire that broke out near Kennedy Meadows. It looks bad but I hope it doesn’t effect the hikers. Terrible timing since everyone is getting close to there
After the store, Sonic and I did another 6 miles of road walking and got to a shaded area. The bugs were really bad so we set up our tents. Ended up taking a long nap from around noonish to 4PM. Sleeping in the heat really drains your energy. Got moving at 4:30 and did 9 to a water tank. That 9 miles was loaded with bugs. Incredibly annoying. Lost count of how many flew into my nose and mouth. 
Did a quick 2 miles of night hiking after the water source and camped by a dirt road. I pitched my tent on the soft sand so it’s not very taut. The wall of the tent is inches from my face right now. I’m kind of still on the fence about getting a different tent. Maybe if I ever come across an outfitter on trail I might do it. 

Got about five hours of sleep. First priority is laundry so I put it in a bag and gave to the the guy doing it. The wait ended up being longer than expected. Took the time and just wandered around. This place is pretty popular. The toilets were almost filled to the rim. Laundry got done around 9:30 and I immediately packed up to leave. I left some money in the donation jar. I was surprised to see only a five dollar bill in there. That’s pretty lame, so many hikers come through that place and don’t even leave any money. Instead they spend it on beer and weed. If every hiker gave just $3-5 bucks, Hiker Heaven would be much better off because that money just goes straight back to future hikers. 

Went down the street to the grocery store, air conditioning felt so good. I ordered a sandwich, potato salad and some vegetables, felt great to have real food. The place was kind of expensive but I managed to only spent 37 bucks for a resupply to last me until Mojave. I bought a 28oz jar of PB and I’m going to use the jar (once it’s empty) to eat rehydrated meals. 
Made a dumb decision to get back on the trail at 11AM. Holy shit it’s hot out. I was probably only going 2MPH until I found a shade spot under some trees and took a long break. I’m definitely not going to be hiking mid day anymore. 
Decided to go the 15 miles to closure. Had to do some night hiking again. Finished at 10PM. I pitched my tent about 20 yards from the road so I hope cars aren’t driving by all night. Gonna wake up around 5 so I need to try and get whatever sleep I can. 

Wind kept me up. Got moving at 5:30. Should have kept moving down to the fire station where I could have camped and had water and a toilet, oh well. From there I booked it 17ish miles to a ranger station. Left there at 7 and ended up doing 21 by 12:40. That’s the most miles I’ve ever done by that time

At the ranger station they had water, snickers and cold sodas. I had $3.50 in quarters so it was the perfect chance to get rid of them. I found out there was ice cream about 8 miles from the station at a KOA campground so I shortened my break and left at 2. Man, it was fucking hot. There was a chopper that picked up another hiker, saw it from afar. I actually ran about a mile of this section, I wanted that ice cream. 
Made it to the KOA at 4:30. Pigged out on ice cream, chips, Oreos, iced tea and two 20oz Gatorades. Felt so good. They also had a bathroom with running water and soap so I brushed my teeth and washed my hands for a few minutes. The KOA was pretty packed and I didn’t feel like paying to camp so Sonic and I got back on the trail at 7pm
We decide to just push the 10 miles to Hiker Heaven. Finally doing some night hiking. It was so much cooler out. We got to go through this long dark tunnel which was pretty creepy at night. Got to Hiker Heaven around 10:30ish. Holy shit this place is packed. Tents everywhere. Found a place to cowboy camp and I waited in line for a shower. There was an unorganized list so I just jumped in after a person was done. Second shower of the trip
It’s now 12:12am. Probably shouldn’t be writing this because I’m tired as fuck. Oh yeah, I weighed myself, already down to 145 which was around the same weight I ended the AT at. I really need to start eating more. 

Couldn’t really sleep last night. A guy came around offering hotdogs and burgers but I was already in my tent and bag so I didn’t take him up on his offer. I was hungry though. There were probably dozens of hikers at the campground. 
Got up around 4:45 and started moving at 5:25. Got up to Mt Williamson and decided to take the side trail to the summit. Bad idea. The summit isn’t marked so when I got up there I saw a taller summit and headed for it along with Junco. Turns out I was actually on the summit and ended up wasting almost and hour up there
Took a small detour today and was back on trail. Took a break mid day to rest, eat and wait out the heat. Started hiking again at 2 and did another 14 or so. I’m camping on top of a bald right now. I was going to push further but it didn’t look like there would’ve better options. I heard it gets very windy up here. Hope my tent hold up, could be a long night. 



Surprisingly warm last night. Got moving around 5:45. Busted out about 14 to a campground where I topped off water and took a break

Got to climb Mt Baden-Powell. It was only about 3000ft gain in 4 miles but for some reason these slow gradual climbs really burn out my legs. Felt like they were on fire. I actually prefer the short and steep climbs of the AT, you got them over with much quicker 
Took a long break at the summit, a lot of people there. Got moving down the mountain when rain clouds came in followed by thunder. Turned out to be nothing. 
Got to Little Jimmy Campground at 5 where there’s the best water source I’ve seen on trail, forgot to take a picture of it though. My legs were shot and we weren’t sure on the weather so we decided to stay at the campground. A lot of people here. A lot of other thru hikers came in late. I probably should have kept hiking because I’m sitting in my tent right now at 8:08PM and it’s still bright out
The first chance I get tomorrow I’m going to buy and send some stuff to Mojave. My only issue now is getting there on the weekend when the PO is closed. I’ll either have to do high twenties or mid thirties. I don’t want to be forced to take a zero. 

Didn’t sleep well last night. Got moving by 6 and crushed out the 13ish miles to Cajon Pass by 10. Went to the Best Western to get my last mail drop. I had an ETA of 6/1 written on it so I’m ahead of schedule
Went to the McDs after that and feasted. Need to get the calories back in. Looks like another big water carry up and out if here. Around 30 miles. Cajon Pass was absolutely crowded on this day, Memorial Day weekend so I guess that’s to be expected 
Left a little after 2 with full bag of food and water. The climb out was really long. Today ended up being an unexpected long day, I was planning for a low twenty, not almost thirty. Ended up hiking until 7:30 which is my latest day so far  
We’re all cowboy camping at over 6000ft tonight. It’s gonna be cold. First time I’m wearing all my fleeting clothes. This is where a free standing tent would come in clutch.