Tehachapi to Cajon Pass

The decision

Emergency meeting in Idyllwild: ten or more hikers are sitting around in a restaurant discussing what to do next. It is the beginning of April and the San Jacinto snow report says: do not attempt without ice axe, crampons and serious mountaineering experience. None of us has any of this. So what to do? Just walk aroma it up black mountain road? But the rumours about mission creek… Skip to Big Bear? To more snow? But it is said to be better there… Some of us ended up doing that.

I decided to join three other hikers, I camped with in the first storm. They would become my tramily for the next days. We ended up flipping to Tehachapi to go South from there. That way we would get to do the Mojave section very early and then be at a lower elevation for at least a week. After that it would be higher up but the storms didn’t hit that region as bad as San Jacinto. If everything worked we would also end up back in Idyllwild without having missed a section and only have to flip one more time from a town where we already knew how to.

The Flip

We chilled in Idyllwild for a few more days until a trail angel gave us a ride to Tehachapi where we did our resupply and stayed in an Hotel before we started the next day.

It felt a little bit weird to go the other direction now and the landscape was very different since we skipped 400 miles. But we felt good about being on trail again and our decision. On the first day there was still some snow laying around from the last storm. It was very windy, this seems to be a thing around Tehachapi, maybe that’s why the windfarm is there. The nights were quite cold and more than once I woke up with ice on my tent.

From the hills around Tehachapi we walked down into the desert. It was nice to do this section that early with enough water and even flowers around but it was already getting quite hot in the afternoon. We did half a day in the flat desert and decided to start early the next day to walk the LA aqueduct in the morning. Although it was hot and sunny I had goosebumps and was freezing all day especially during the brakes. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe something else but it seemed that I catched a cold. By the time we arrived in Hikertown around noon I could only set up my tent and sleep for the rest of the day.

All of us were struggling with the heat and there was a long uphill coming up the next day so the others wanted to start very early. But I could feel that my body needed rest so we decided that they would start without me and I take my time. The plan was that I would eventually catch up, since they were only a few hours or half a day ahead. As it turned out they moved faster than me and unfortunately I was never able to meet them again (so far).

Alone again

So that is how I ended up hiking solo again  and this section was kind of empty. With all the storms and the snow on San Jacinto many people ended up skipping somewhere or waiting and no one was here at this time. There was another group going the same direction that I met a few times at camp and I met maybe five people a day going the other direction. Besides that, it was only me and the trail.

But, besides curing from the cold I had, hiking by felt kind of normal already and I was getting into my rhythm. The trail had it’s own kind of beauty going up and down through hills of forest and post-burn zone. All the time I knew the next storm was about to come by the weekend, but this time I wanted it to be different and be in town then.

The last storm and Meeting old friends

The upcoming storm motivated me to do my first twenty-mile-day to get to Green Valley. All day I saw dark clouds coming up and I ended up camping by the firestation. Luckily the storm was late so I went into town the next day. While I sat in a restaurant trying to figure out something to stay for the night, a couple came up to me and offered me to stay at their place. Of course I took that opportunity being thankful that I had a place to wait out the storm. This is exactly the kind of hospitality I hoped to find on this trail! They were Acta very nice and I enjoyed their company a lot. They even had me for two nights since the storm lasted longer. When I left they gave me a ride to trail and hiked a few miles with me until I finally had to say goodbye. What awesome people, true trailangels!

Because it was a short stretch I had only snacks for the day and walked all the way to Agua Dulce which is 23 miles and arrived there late after sunset. By that time I could only set up my stuff and cowboy camp. I woke up with a sleeping bag completely soaked from condensation, hurting feet and of course hungry. After the sleeping bag dried I went for breakfast in the town and hiked to the campground near Acton. This turned out to be a short but very beautiful section with scenic rock formations and even a mini canyon in Vasquez Rocks.

In these days I met a lot of the people who ended up skipping to Big Bear and went Nobo from there. A few of them had formed a tramily in the meantime and we met at said campground near Acton. We had so much to tell each other and it was so nice that we even stayed two nights. They had adventurous stories about the storm on the Highway two and lots of snow and it was a fun time hanging out with other hikers again.

The hardest section

After this unplanned zero I started into the longest stretch of the trail yet, which was supposed to be six days to Wrightwood. It ended up being the hardest one so far.This had several reasons:

After Acton came a long climb and I was walking uphill half a day with a heavy backpack and a lot of water since the only water source was halfway into the climb. Also after meeting the others I was feeling lonelier than ever. Every day I crossed paths with other hikers and it felt like everyone was developing a cool tramily, while I left mine and was on my own now.

After a few days I was stuck in a circle of sleeping in and then hiking late into the evening to do my miles. Not only was this mentally exhausting, but it also meant that everyone was already asleep when I arrived at a campsite and was gone by the time I woke up. Not to say that this did not really help with the loneliness. But I was moving towards Mt. Baden-Powell and was surprised by the variety in landscape I encountered on the way. Everyday I met people who already did it and by their stories I could tell how the conditions got better everyday. The day before the summit I encountered my first real snow and couldn’t barely find a tent spot at the campground.

The next day I summited Mt. Baden-Powell. It was not the highest or most technical Mountain I ever did but in a way it was the most difficult and all the time I was prepared to turn around if it would get to dangerous. Luckily it didn’t come to that but I had a lot of snow to the point where I was postholing knee-deep. Because I also started late that day it was already slushy and I was able to glissade most of the way down. But the view was well worth it and I had fun climbing this mountain. By the time I reached the bottom at Vincent Gap my feet had been wet for most of the day so I just camped in front of the pit toilet there. It wasn’t the first time I did this and it has always worked well. All the snow was feeding a small stream so I even had water there.

The next day was easier just walking down with not to much of water since I camped at a cache. All the time I was dreaming about what was to come the day after: the famous Cajon Pass McDonalds. After what turned into eight days of hiking because I packed to much food and a challenging summit I was rewarded with calories, hiker community and talking to my family again. For now I was happy. But there were many more adventures to come.

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See you on trail!