April 15 - A Taxing Day

It's appropriate that today, Tax Day, sucked the energy out with an 18 mile "road walk" in rain, wind, and then heat. (After I wrote this I found out that it wasn't really Tax Day since Friday was a holiday - but, hey, how can one keep track on the PCT? I'm not even sure what holiday it could have been, let alone what day of the week!)

Hatchet got us off to a good start with "OMG, has anyone checked outside. It looks like Kansas in a tornado!" And sure enough, the wind was howling and the sky was black with very threatening clouds if one looked up or west. To the east the clouds tapered off and blue sky could be seen. Two hearty individuals decided to take off anyway at about 6:15. By 6:45 there seemed to be no change and radar showed no storm system so the Fullers and I started out. The boys decided to stay longer, maybe until tomorrow. 

Our path was north and then east along the LA Aqueduct so we were hopeful we would be out of the drizzle before long. Less than five miles later our wishes came true but it was still windy and cold. 

The PCT follows the LA Aqueduct as it traverses the desert into the mountains near Tehachapi. Sometimes the aqueduct is open and other times it's a pipe above or below ground. 

Along the way we stopped at a clump of Joshua Trees that held a water cache Betsy helped place the week before on her visit to Palmdale and Acton. We cooked lunch there and resupplied our water bottles. 

It wasn't until we were nearing mile 530, 20% finished with the trip to Canada, that it started to really warm up. And it really warmed up! At least for a few miles we lost jackets and gloves and started to sweat. 

Our destination loomed in the distance- a water cache near mile 535 under the windmills. We were glad to get into camp relatively early as our feet and legs hurt from the hard surface of the "trail."

My spot was under a lean-to that held another most welcome water cache. Yes, there IS a tent in that picture; actually there are two.

Pickup, one of the guys that came into HikerTown late yesterday showed up before dinner. He thought the others were probably going to zero to avoid the weather. I'm sure they'll catch up later!