PCT 2023 - Day 46

The one with the emotional tap, nail polish and being followed.

📍 Location: ended up in Santa Clarita (miles from the PCT!).
💰 Money: Another $60 on fuel and $10 on a Subway.
🛌 Sleep: Slept well in the van last night. I love looking at the stars through the window. I need to keep a window open though as condensation was bad this morning.

THE STORY SO FAR..

🛌 Woke up to a leak in the van! Everything was wet. One of the water bottles had somehow sprung a leak and the carpet in the van was sopping wet (good job I’m sleeping on my air mat as I was dry as a bone!). I take my time and get everything out of the van and lay it out in the morning sunshine. I open all the doors and leave the van to dry which won’t take long. It’s already getting warm.

✌️ An emotional goodbye to four hikers as they head out into the Sierras. Quite a few people are taking up the challenge and I admire their decision. They all have their ice axes and bear canisters strapped to their packs. I wonder how the Codgers are getting on?

🍳 I order blueberry pancakes with bacon (I miss proper UK bacon!). It takes over 1.5hrs before I’m eating the pancakes but I’m in no hurry.

🙌 10.32am - OMG! A big surge of emotion wells inside of me as one person starts clapping and then a roar of applause. I see a bright yellow shirt and a long grey beard walk into the car park. It’s my good friend Disco. Closely followed by the man who knows his beer…. The wonderful Miles. I try filming but all I want to do is hug them both. I run down the drive and embrace them, high fives all the way. I’m so proud of these guys. They are both grinning from ear to ear and there is a tear in Discos eyes. I can see that this means a lot to him as well. Miles tells me that Bloom is not far behind. She should be here by lunchtime as he saw her this morning and she’s only 9 miles away.

👏 👏 11.42am - Here she is! It’s Bloom! This time I didn’t even try to record. I just leapt up from my chair and ran down the steps to greet my good friend Bloom. I know the elevation was tough on this last section and she would have gritted her teeth to get through it. Bloom is one strong lady with the determination of an ox and a heart of gold. She did it! 702 miles and she’s here at Kennedy Meadows. We embrace and I lead her to the table where everyone is sitting. I sit listening to their tales of the trail from the last few days. I’m so happy for them and I’m so glad that I’m here to see them in.

🖐️ 13.02 - After a sit down and a rest, I take Disco, Bloom and SilverFox (Brad) up to TCO (Triple Crown Outfitters). It’s next to Grumpy Bears Cafe and is about 2 miles Ip the road. I’ve been giving roses back and forth to here for the last few days. While Bloom and Disco are inside collecting bear canisters and looking for new shoes, Brad and Miles join some other hikers on the picnic table outside and have their nails painted. Yep! It’s hilarious as the very manly Brad (SilverFox) has one hand painted Silver and the other painted blue. As he poses for a photo he looks at me and says “I’ve not had my nails painted since the kids were small!”. Miles (who is 26 years old) has a blue colour on his. He laughs and says “what happens on trail, stays on trail!” Disco emerges from the store and sees the boxes of different coloured nail polish. He can’t resist and sits down to paint his nails with a mix of blue and yellow, to match his shirt! The only person not to paint their nails is Bloom.

1.35pm - Everyone masked their way over to Grumpys for something to eat. I’m still stuffed from the pancakes so I tell them I’ll join them in a bit and I sit in the car to update my blogs. I had no intention to continue writing but I’m glad I’m doing this now as these stories are also part of the journey. I’ve updated the last two days and as I get out the car Miles comes running over. “They are still eating inside. Have I got time to touch up my nails as this one is scratched” he said, holding up a finger. I smiled and said “no worries”, see you in a while. He runs back to TCO in search of the blue nail polish. 😂

🚗 3pm - It’s road trip time! After something to eat at Grumpy Bears we all make room for one more little hiker… Sketch! We now have me driving, Bloom, Disco, Brad (SilverFox) Miles & Sketch (yes, they all have seats and seatbelts!). Bakersfield… here we come!

❤️ 4pm - I’m enjoying this road trip. The chatter is non stop and we all sing along to Tainted Love in loud voices. We reminisce about the trail as we drive back through places we recognise such as Tehachapi and the wind turbine farms. For me, this is the perfect way to say goodbye to people I care about.

😘 6pm - We arrive in Bakersfield and I pull into the car park of The Best Western. Everyone is staying here so it makes life a bit easier. Im crap at goodbyes and I can feel my eyes welling as Disco gives me the biggest hug. I’ve walked with this crazy dude since day one and it’s hard to say goodbye. He is writing a daily blog so I’ll follow his journey onwards with enthusiasm. “You take care” I say with a lump in my throat. “See you on Facebook. And perhaps we can meet up when you are on a Camino next year!” He says with a smile. I can see he’s also a bit emotional. “That would be amazing” I reply.
Miles gives me a quick hug (he’s not an overly huggy person) so I’m privileged to receive one from him. Then Brad and Sketch do the same. Sketch is such a kind and gentle guy. A mere youngster who loves to sketch characters in his little book (hence his trail name). He’s sketched a little character in my photo book which is a nice keep sake for me.
I follow Bloom to her room. She is letting me have a quick shower and a coffee before I head back out on the road. Needless to say, Bloom has been a special walking partner on this trip and saying goodbye was tough. She’s from the UK and lives in London so we agree to meet up when she is home. As I walk away from the hotel, back to the car, I have a feeling of emptiness. Everyone else is planning the next stage of their journey and I’m now heading back towards the airport. I have a bit of a heavy heart.

🌙 My plan is to drive to the La aqueduct and meet hikers who are night hiking the section. A bit like Mr President did for us but without the pizza. It’s a good hours drive from Bakersfield, but that’s ok. I’m in no rush.

🛻 8.14pm - I’m going to be honest here, tonight I was a bit scared. As I drive out of Bakersfield (a very large town) I took the interstate 5 for over an hour. I stopped at a petrol station and grabbed a Subway and then carried on. As I got nearer to the Aqueduct where I had planned to do some night trail angeling, an old truck followed me for over 5 miles with his headlights shining in my eyes via my mirror. I slowed down to 45mph and he still didn’t overtake me. These roads are long and there were no restrictions so I’m not sure what he was playing at. He had plenty of opportunities to overtake but instead he stayed right up my rear end and it was very intimidating. Eventually, I pulled over into a lay-by and thankfully he just continued driving. I was spooked enough to think that doing trail magic, on country roads in the middle of nowhere at night was perhaps not my smartest move! So I kept driving. I drove by Hiker Town, where everyone was sleeping and no lights were on, so continued in to Lake Hughes. I smiled as I passed the Rock Inn which looked very busy and noisy! and had a row of shiny motorbikes outside. At this point I pulled over to have a think of what I’m going to do.

Knowing that the fire station is not that far, I decided that I would camp in my van there and I’ll do trail magic from the fire station tomorrow morning. I plugged it into Google and it was another 27 mins away. I’m now very tired and it’s dark but I trudge on.

🔥 9.25 pm - I’m at the Fire Station but there are no PCT hikers here and it looks like they have some sort of event going on in the station hall. I’m not sure what to do now. I park in a lay-by instead as there are cars in all the spots at the fire station. Each time a car zooms by my van shakes. I get out of the car to have a quick wee and I see a sign “no parking at any time”. Shit! What now?

🚗 I get back in the driving seat and switch the car on. I just keep driving but I’m now not feeling very confident about staying in my van. It’s gone 10pm and I can feel my eyes are getting scratchy, but I need to concentrate on these winding roads. I have no service on my phone so I have no idea where I’m going, but I keep driving. To keep me awake I lower the window and drink the hot chocolate they I purchased from Subway a few hours ago which is no longer hot.

💡 10.20 pm - I see lots of lights in the distance. It looks like a big town. At the first convenient place I pull over and check my phone. Yey! I have service.,Ok, I can now see where I am, Santa Clarita. I’ve pulled up outside a country club on a quiet road. In front of me is a family car with a caravan behind. There are also a few other cars here and it’s a lit up area. Do I look to see if there is a hotel in the area or shall I kip here for the night?

Thanks for listening to my rambles. Phase two of this journey is a whole other adventure!

Signing out.

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