Good thing we rigged the tarp last night–it RAINED! It wasn’t a deluge, but I am so glad we weren’t out in it, “rigging by headlamp.”  Bill said that when he got up during the night, he noticed that the wind had stopped, but the poor tarp was a bit discombobulated because it wasn’t staked down and the rocks we’d used to hold down the guy lines had shifted.  So he moved all the rocks back to where they belonged, and the tarp was all nice and tight again.  After that he went back to bed, and THEN it started to rain!  It was a nice gentle rain, not a downpour, but once it stopped, the wind came back with a vengeance.  (Unknown to us, the trail angel Rosander family in Tehachapi were having heavy-duty gullywasher downpours at their house, and they were really worried about how we were surviving it.  I guess their side of the mountains got more rain than we did!)

 The wind was pretty bad when we got up a bit after 5 am to begin the 1,600 foot climb out of the canyon and up to the summit.   It was 38 degrees, the wind  felt like ice, and there was fresh snow on all the mountaintops around us.  The PCT follows many LONG switchbacks as it makes a 1,600 foot climb up the sandy mountainsides, and hooray!  Somebody had really fixed up the trail itself and put up lots of PCT signposts to guide us through the maze of motocross trails.  We were never “lost” this time, as we were in 2005.

When we were high enough up, we were walking through the snow-dusted area, and that’s all it was–about a half inch of fluffy snow on the ground, and melting fast.  We were walking IN the cloud for awhile, then the cloud lifted and we could see back toward Antelope Valley, adorned with a pretty rainbow.

But sadly, there had been a forest fire, so instead of green trees and grass high in the Tehachapis, we were walking through blackened, skeleton forests.  One tree had a worried note on it, titled, “Have You Seen Billy Goat?”  It was dated in April.   I added a note saying, “He’s fine–we saw him in Big Bear in May”.

Finally we got back to green forest, green grass and wildflowers.  At our midmorning Snickers break, we found a sunpatch out of the wind, and almost fell asleep, we were so tired!  I was glad Bill was able to eat his Snickers.  He did manage to choke down breakfast earlier on, but said he still feels sick.

Eventually the PCT took us to the “windfarm side of the hill.”  I knew we were in for it, windwise, but what we didn’t know was that today there was a wind ADVISORY for up to GALE force.   No kidding!   It was hard to walk straight.  We both were staggering around like drunken sailors as the gusts hit us.  And it was a cold wind–I was wearing all my layers, and my gloves, trying to stay warm.   After the second set of windmills, the PCT was closed, due to what looked like more windmill construction.  Instead of a trail, we had to bushwhack downhill, following little bright pink ribbons tied to bushes.  The detour was full of weeds and chaparral; it wound in and out of gullies and over hillsides.  Bill charged out far ahead, and I did not see him again for some time as I picked my way carefully along.  I was very glad it was a COLD windy day–hopefully that meant all the rattlesnakes had stayed in their holes.  I would hate to have tackled that detour on a warm afternoon with all the snakes out running around!

Finally it was nearing noon when I reached the proper PCT again.  What a relief!  I was so tired from the long climb this morning on sandy trail tread (Bill got way ahead of me there, too–I have a hard time going uphill in sand.  I can go up a rocky trail just fine!) plus battling the wind.  I limped along the PCT to the “picnic area” near the road, and signed the trail register before I went looking for Bill.  No Bill.  Now I was worried.  Where could he be?  Finally he arrived, and it turned out that when he got down to the PCT again, he decided to lie down off the trail to wait for me, and must have half fallen asleep, because I walked right by him and he didn’t know it.  I didn’t see him either, because he was hidden off the trail.  When I didn’t show up, he got worried and went part way back up the trail looking for ME!   Oh dear!  I guess we need walkietalkies or something! 

By this time, it was past noon, and even though I was very hungry, I was also very tired, and the wind was just awful.  I finally figured out what to do about it.  I leaned my pack against the lee side of a picnic bench, then sat down with my back against the pack.  That way, I was protected from the wind a bit, and could eat some lunch.  I scarfted up a bagel and peanut butter, but Bill ate only one bite and said he was too nauseous for any more.   Now I was really worried about him.

At 1:00, we headed out into what turned out to be a more than 3 hour battle with unbelievable winds.  Every single step I took, I had to brace myself to avoid being knocked over, and even then many times I was blown right off the trail.  When it got really bad,  all I could do was stop, brace both legs and trek poles and try to stay upright.   It was as if the wind were an invisible, cold, roaring river that was literally trying to knock us down and snatch our trek poles right out of our hands.

At around 3 pm, we found a large juniper bush/tree and got on its lee side for a badly needed rest. Leaning comfortably against our packs, and out of the wind, we discovered that it actually was a very nice, warm day!  Wow!  Stepping out from behind the bush into the gale again was quite a shock, but it’s one of those things where you can either choose to be miserable, or choose to laugh.  We chose to laugh.  As the unbelievable gusts pushed and pulled at us, we were yelling, “Wheeee!  That was a good one!”  and sort of pretending we were on a carnival ride.  So we pushed on and finally found ourselves at the top of the many switchbacks that lead down to the railroad tracks and Hwy. 58.  The switchbacks were such that we were alternately either walking right straight into the wind, or with the wind at our backs.  I was glad, because with a wind like that behind you (at least some of the time), it helps you hike!

Before  5 pm, we’d made it to the bottom of the canyon, and the wind was absolutely horrendous.  We walked along the road to the railroad crossing, and had to wait while TWO trains went by.  I steadied myself by leaning against a signpost near the crossing, and had fun watching all the different kinds of RR cars as they went squeaking and rumbling past.   Very cool!   Some more roadwalking took us to the Highway 58 overpass,where we planned to connect with trail angel Christy Rosander.   We were early, and Bill wanted to leave an “unbroken footprint trail”, so we walked across the overpass to where the PCT tread resumed on the other side, before walking back over to where we were meeting Christy.  On the overpass, the wind was so awful that several times I could not walk against it at all, but could only brace both trek poles, lean into it and try not to fall over.

There was a signpost on the shoulder of the offramp.  I was worried about Bill, so I told him to sit down with his back to the wind, leaning on the post, while I sat down directly to windward of him, with my pack in front of me like a shield.  I hunkered down behind it, with just my eyes sticking over the top, because the wind was actually painful.  The whole signpost was vibrating and shaking.

Finally Christy arrived–actually a bit earlier than planned, because she was worried about us. Even getting our packs into her car was a battle with the wind.   And bless her foresight–she had a thermos of hot chocolate for us–what a treat after fighting cold wind for hours!  But Bill turned down the hot chocolate, which surprised her.  I drank lots, though, as we drove along, and told her Bill was not feeling well.  Once we got to her house, we both took VERY welcome showers, then Bill ate a cracker, drank some Emergen-C and went straight to bed.

Meanwhile, Christy and I tried to figure out what was wrong.  Bill has no fever, no diarrhea, no sore throat.  He just feels nauseous and tired.  Could it be just plain exhaustion?  We were not sure.  But I felt fine, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the Rosander family before calling it a day myself.  The Rosander’s house is up on a hill with a beautiful view, and it was nice to be clean, out of the wind, and very comfortable.  If only we can figure out what is wrong with Bill!  I prayed for wisdom before falling asleep.

Walk to Lórien: Yuledays camping near stream