Daily mileage: 31
Mile 503-532
Woke up in our lovely meadow just a little bit chilly only to discover that we had slept in a nice cold pocket and it was already heating up. So on we went.
A little bit of climbing and then a surprising amount of shade as we started the descent, eyeing the desert as the trail got closer and closer to the valley floor we have been eyeing for ages.
It was hot and even though we could see a road where we were going the trail took its sweet time getting there. Climbing and contouring every which way through some very exposed country. Thank you umbrella, you are my hero.
Finally our water stop got the afternoon was in sight, hiker town but man was that last mile tough.
Not sure the story behind hiker town, but they let us stay in a converted garage that's just for hikers with a freezer, kitchen, and couches. Heaven in 90 plus heat. We all passed out and eventually got hungry. Raided the freezer and made some amazing toast and then went back to killing time. We had decided that with the long waterless and exposed stretch ahead of us night hiking was the way to go. Basically the trail follows the LA aqueduct through the Mojave, literally having us walk on top and next to it for 20 some odd miles with zero shade and potentially no water.
We hung around, played with puppies and ate some more until 6 rolled around.
Heading out we got to enjoy the solar eclipse and a huge cool down in temperature compared, siesta wins again. And then it was aqueduct time.
We hiked for hours into the night, and it was fantastic. Fields of Joshua trees during sunset, easy flat trail on the aqueduct and then on a road next to the pipe once it went underground. Lots of singing and chatter to keep everyone awake. It's amazing the amount of bad 90's pop music 4 people can come up with at 11 at night. Our goal was to get as far as we could by midnight so when midnight finally rolled around we set up camp at the edge of the road and called it a night. So much fun, I highly recommend it.
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