When we decided to section hike, we still wanted to help our new trail family complete as many miles as they could. For this reason, there can be a lot of planning that goes into making sure people are where they need or want to be. The group that didn’t stay with us got a ride to Aqua Dulce, which is where we will start and walk south. Ravi doesn’t want to miss these miles either, so Caleb will drop him back at the resort to walk north.

Caleb and I wake at 330 and I go upstairs, after calling all three of them, to make sure they’re awake at 4am. We stop for a gas station coffee for Trailer Park and are dropped off at Vazquez Rocks Natural Area in the dark. According to the rest of the group, I will sprint through the first half of our morning, which considering I was planning to make it to the resort by 10 and got there at 815, is an accurate statement.

It’s still cool out and without a jacket on, I will need speed or elevation to keep me warm. This area used to be a neighborhood in the 1920s to 1960s, but with death in the family came ranch sales and separation. There are a few other trails out here, so I appreciate them being well-marked. I’m not used to being in front, so I wondered if the others had taken an alternate route.

As the sun lights up different parts of the rocks, their shapes start to emerge. Gert will see a dragon and catch up to me after the dark tunnel that runs under the Antelope Valley Freeway where I make an echo and he yodels in response. Rachel is in the lead when we pass Ravi going the other way. I know we can’t be but three miles away from the resort, and we’re all ok if Caleb chose to stay in the room and nap before picking us up.

Trailer Park finds a Toy Story balloon and looks like a kid out on a birthday hike. I’m so glad that anger and sadness seem to have less space out here as we’re not bombarded with the troubles of modern-day society, just gifted with the positive amenities it provides (like ice cream sandwiches!) We cross the railroad where just before it is a plaque noting the completion of the PCT in 1993.

Over the few mosquito creek crossings and Caleb is talking with Troll at the resort. How did he get here? Oh well, Gert grabs his resupply and we’re on our way to a second breakfast at Cowboy Tavern (hiker-friendly) in Aqua Dulce. Caleb says I averaged 2.8 mph. I was motivated to skip the desert heat. We drop Trailer Park and Rachel off at Serenity’s Oasis after visiting with Farmer John, earning a local sticker, and waiting for Ravi to arrive.

Rachel and Trailer Park have decided to night-hike the next section because they want to do the aqueduct, something Gert was looking forward to as well, but he has decided to wait in a hotel in Palmdale for his wife to fly in. We have chosen to spend the next few days in the woods somewhere and Rachel gives me a sachet of rose lemonade tea to try, since she hasn’t yet.

We drive north past layered rocks and burned Joshua trees and stop at Stine Cove to put our feet in Isabella Lake. The water is cold, and the wind is blowing; it feels great.  It will take over an hour to wind our way along 37 miles of Sierra Way. We stop at Holey Meadow first, and though the camp has no water, it is teeming with mosquitoes. We drive 2.5 more miles to Redwood Meadow, another dry and very dusty camp sans stinging bugs.

Caleb will pay for four nights while I visit the gift shop, they have stickers! Darin is in his eighth season of running this camp and his wife helps in the shop. Their dog, Sid Vicious, a Rottweiler-Chihuahua looking mix, keeps an eye on their site and ensures that other dogs know he’s there. We drive to California Hot Springs (population 50, meaning not much town, just farmers) just to burn gas and time and decide to turn around before dark. Dinner and bed shortly after (as is life on the trail).