Mile 535 to 550
"What is there to hunt out here? Lizards?" - Fire Ant
Today was a day of indigestion and crankiness - this is Fey speaking, of course. After six miles in the morning, we arrived at a stream, where we needed to filter water for the next two days into Tehachapi. We are in a water desert, entering 42 miles of no water on the trail. At the stream, we rested for a while, making coffee and a leisurely lunch while drying sleeping bags as hikers gathered by the water. When we finally had the energy to leave, we were greeted with a massive hill of sand. The hiking has become more and more desert-y. Not only is it uphill, it's also sandy and hard to get a foothold. The uphill was endless; every time you thought you were reaching the top, you would only realize you were nowhere close.
[Lizzy in the wind field, Morning Spear, more wind!, artsy shots!, pretty excited for that trail register, Dinner time in camp!]
I was plagued with some sort of exertion-induced indigestion, resulting in dry heaving and lots of Adam's patience. At the tippy top, we discovered trail magic, to which I responded "oh thank God," and understandably Adam rolled his eyes. There was a circle of chairs and lots of water bottles, along with a trail register book. We rested and chatted, when the trail angels responsible for the magic showed up with apples and told us stories of how this sand hill used to be the thickest forest in the desert section of the PCT until the fire struck eight years ago, taking their home with it. They told us we were at the highest point on the trail in the Tehachapi Mountains and asked us where we were from and why we were here. Eventually, we packed up for the final half mile to our campsite, a sandy area with flowers peaking through beneath a few surviving pines.
There we cooked dinner, and Cappy accidentally scalded burned macaroni in the bottom of Fire Ant's pot with some experimental cooking. She watched him consume the resulting dish and asked with curiosity: "Does that taste good? Or just... how it looks?"
