15.1 miles
From Willow Springs Rd (558.2, elev 4101)
To trail camp (mile 572.9, elev 6055)
Climb 3845
Descend 1882

Wind Farm

Today’s hike looked like a 24 mile water carry. Ugh! I got out of camp by 6:30 this morning, hoping to cover a lot of miles before it gets too hot.

The first several miles are through another wind farm. But this one has too many windmills for me to count. There was an interpretive sign near the wind farm entrance talking about the efficiency of the windmills. One fact I found interesting is that the transmission lines to L.A. operate at 500,000V. It makes me wonder what the effect of connecting a lamp to it would be – a very bright light for the instant that the lamp vaporizes?

Nice hiker bridge. Buy is it needed only 100ft from a car bridge on a dirt road with almost no traffic?

Later, curious about objective numbers on windmill noise, I used an app on my phone to measure the loudness when the primary source of noise was traffic on Rt 58 about a mile away (with about 33 vehicles per minute on it). That was in the 50-58dB range. The measurements I previously made in the wind farm itself were in the 40-49dB range (I recorded the 6 second video below as an example).

Crossing 58

Route 58 crosses Tehachapi Pass between the towns of Mojave and Tehachapi. When my daughter was planning to hike the PCT and has a summer job in New Mexico, we drive this section of Rt. 58 and I remember noting the PCT crossing it.

Rt 58 was also the second of the two roads to Tehachapi that some sources considered the end of the desert.

For both of these reasons, crossing it held some significance for me.

Finally able to see Rt 58

Approaching the bridge over Rt 58

Getting Away from 58

While crossing Rt 58 felt significant, I felt like I couldn’t get away from it afterwards. First the trail went right next to the highway for a mile or so. Then it began a long unshaded climb where the highway was always in sight, so it didn’t feel like I was making progress.

So, I took my lunch break under a large Joshua tree (after clearing the ground of all the spiky leaves it had dropped) and took advantage of having cell service by chatting with friends.

Joshua tree where I had lunch

Note: I guessed there would be a water cache at the Rt 58 crossing (so easy to transport water there), but didn’t want to rely on it. So when there was a cache, once again I had carried several pounds of water I didn’t really have to.

On the climb away from 58, I also realized that I really stood no chance of making it to Walker Pass (mile 652) on the day a friend was coming to meet me. My friend’s work schedule didn’t allow for much flexibility at this point, so I started frantically looking for alternative places to meet. With only one paved road between here and Walker Pass, there wasn’t much choice. I just had to get the location to my friend. “Mile 617” isn’t comprehensible to most non-hikers. And since the info in the FarOut app that hikers use is largely crowd-sourced, roads may be referenced in it using different names than in regular making apps and road signs. So I also knew I had to get and communicate the location while I still had cell service.

Cooling Off

With the meeting location changed, there was less pressure on me. Also, as the weather cooled, some energy returned to my legs and motivation to my spirit. I continued a few more miles to the first nicely sheltered campsite I saw. It was nestled in a grove of trees just below the top of the ridge.

Campsite

Sunset from near my campsite