Tehachapi – Acton – Day 134 – Sun Nov 5th

Day 134 Sun Nov 5th
Water tank – Pylon just b4 Green Valley fire station
2152.8 – 2176.5
Approx. 3048 ft ascent 4993 ft descent
24.3 Miles

Smiles was the first to check the water supply lifting off the metal lid and revealing what looked like a reasonable quality water source with no floating lizards.
He joked that it could be called Gatorade!

We decided to double treat the water just in case they with some Aqua Mira tablets as well as our normal filtering systems.  Aqua Mira contains chlorine and gives the water a distinctive taste of bleach, but at least this means that hopefully we won’t get sick!
The clocks went back last night due to daylight saving time, which means although we got up at 07:30 it was actually 06:30 which was quite a nice surprise.

Hiking in the daylight we realised the amount of poodle dog bush that surrounded us and its pungent aroma filled the air. 

We hike past a fallen tree which has a nest of hundreds of bees busily buzzing around.  Needless to say we increase our pace.

We were also accompanied by lots of bobbing dancing black flys today that seemed to constantly circle around our heads.  Head nets were essential to keep them out of your eyes.

We have 47 miles to go before we reach Agua Dulce and 24 miles before Green Valley.  GV has a gas station that is a short hitch from trail where we can possibly grab a breakfast tomorrow morning, which would be ace! 

It looks like today we have much more downhill which is a welcome break.  We spend a lot of time walking around the contours of shaded mountains amongst trees. 

The early part of the afternoon involves hiking through a roller coaster of twisting sandy trail, dodging even more poodle dog bushes.  Smiles points out Hiker town in the distance.  It still seems so close yet we have covered a lot of miles, which is a little frustrating. 

So far all of us have managed to dodge the any contacts with the dreaded poodle dog bush as you can generally smell it, way before you can see it.  Whoever is leading is on poodle dog bush patrol informing the hiker behind them to thread carefully. 

Poodle dog flourishes in areas after there has been a fire.  It’s one of the first plants on the scene, helping stabilise the soil just like the Fireweed we saw back in Washington.  However, Firewood wasn’t poisonous like poodle dog!

Smiles has been doing an interesting experiment using a data book to help identify water sources and trail information.  It was written a few years back now and is what people used to rely on before the app Far Out was created.  One of the main disadvantages in using this is obviously it doesn’t have GPS so you can easily get lost.  But more importantly because Far Out is a little like social media it means hikers can comment on the status of a water supply.  Whether it is dry or still flowing or whether there is a dead animal or lizard floating in it. 

I like the idea of the data book, but it isn’t long before Smiles starts to lose confidence in its reliability + I think it is lucky he is hiking with us to help him ID when water etc is coming up and when it is scarce. 

It turned into another late night and once again we were hiking into the dark.  Although the fact we’ve lost an hour due to daylight saving times also didn’t help.

We get within a mile of the trailhead which leads down to Green valley. 

GV features a smokehouse and a gas station where we can get breakfast tomorrow.  Then from here it’s another 25 miles to Agua Dulce. 

Rather than hike down to the trailhead which is right next to a busy road, we opted to camp on a dirt road underneath a pylon. 

It wasn’t ideal as the ground was hard with lots of sharp angular pointy rocks and stones under foot.  So, we had to make sure our sleeping pads were adequately protected.

Smiles was once again sleeping cowboy.  So to ensure we didn’t get run over in our sleep in the middle of the night we created a fortress of rocks surrounding our tent and his cowboy spot. 

We covered the rocks with anything that we had that was reflective just in case anyone decided to drive up here late at night. 

We will be sleeping with 1 eye open tonight that’s for sure…