After leaving Acton, we soon came to the town of Agua Dolce, where we had breakfast. The town is sprawling and we walked through it for a hour or more. That afternoon it rained hard for hours and we were soaked.
Then we found some amazing trail magic, just as the rain stopped.
We hiked 31 miles that day to get to a trail angel’s house, hoping to dry off. We got to the main road into town just as it was getting dark and we attempted to hitch a ride with out head lamps on. Just as I thought it was not going to happen, a truck pulled over and picked us up. He knew where the Anderson’s lived and drove us directly there.
As he pulled away, we approached the front door and saw the sign that said they were at kick off and wouldn’t be back for four days!! Someone was watching TV in the living room but wouldn’t answer our knocking. It was 9 pm, we were all tired, and didn’t know where to sleep. We walked half a mile to the gas station, but the attendant was unhelpful. Finally, we asked a customer if he could drive us back to the ranger station, which was next to the trail. He was nice enough to do that and we all went to sleep emotionally exhausted.
But a good night’s sleep fixes most things and the next day we were back on the trail. Or rather the road, because there was another trail closure due to fire. We walked 20 miles along several roads to get to Hiker Town, a privately owned place that is hiker friendly, for a price.
At Hiker Town, Merkel and I left Horizon, who was waiting for a package. The two of us met up with two other guys and hiked along the aqueduct and through several wind farms.
Two days out of Hiker Town, we made it to Tehachapi by getting a ride into town from a trail angel. There was a great German bakery that had a chalkboard wall for hikers to leave a message. We wrote a limerick.
