Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Final Leg 7 Tehachapi to Walker Pass and Bakersfield

It was sad that this was to be my last section before heading back home. I didn't get my ultimate bit of trail majic of getting an email from work saying that they had found coverage for me and I could stay hiking all summer long with my new friends on this beautiful trail. There was a lot of pressure to quit work, but that didn't feel like the right thing to do.

We got a ride back to the trail and the next section was about 8-9 miles between a couple of roads so we dropped off our full packs and got to slack-pack this section. How wonderful it felt to not have our packs on!!! It was still through the wind farm in Tehachapi and we seriously lucked out that there was minimal wind!! The rest of the day was a bit slower as Free Range's foot was very sore so we took more rest and found a great lunch spot under an oasis of Joshua trees.



The next day, Free Range's foot was ++++sore and she needed to take it slow. As I wanted to finish this section with some rest afterwards, I hiked slowly with her that morning as it was to be our last time together for this hike. It made me very sad to leave her at the next water source. We had become good friends and made a great hiking team - except that she was raring to go early than me in the morning:). Craig and I hiked the rest of the section together. That night I had my first campfire on the trail. It had been very dry and windy at some places, and most of the time we were tired as we hiked until after dinner a lot of days so no time for a fire when I was tired after long hiking days.



My cold was well under way by now and we had lots of time to finish this section so we didn't go too hard. I was very sad at times during that last couple of days as I was loving hiking this beautiful trail with all these new, wonderful people that were like trail family. An Australian gal ahead of us was counting the kilometer markers as it was higher numbers and marked the 1000km point. I did do just shy of 1/4 of the whole trail.



We got to Walker Pass a couple of days later. We could finally see the Sierra Mountains. The terrain changes here from desert to more lush and higher mountains. There was 600% amount of snow there and the next section was to take quite a while to get over the high passes. Since I had to leave, it was a good place to finish. Of course, more trail majic shade and food at Walker Pass. Got to end on a high note:)







The next day we hitched and bussed to Bakersfield to have 3 relaxing days before I flew home. We had about a mile to walk from the bus station to the hotel area when a man drove by and stopped for us. Turns out he did the trail in "77 and was a speaker at the Kick Off!! I didn't hear him as it was the day I hiked the first 20 miles. He offered for us to stay with his family for the time we were here!! The trail majic never ends. He was also going to head back to Walker Pass that weekend to help out so Craig could get a ride back then. It was such a great surprise and they let us use their spare vehicle as well. Not a lot to do in Bakersfield, but it was warm and sunny and just great to relax there. There are a lot of settlers from the Basque area of Spain there and the Hacker's took us out for a traditional Basque meal which was a great experience. So many great things and positive people surrounded me that it was very, very hard to leave, but I did. I was very sad on my travel day home, but at least when I landed I was relieved to notice that I live in a beautiful spot. I'm still trying to get coverage to go back and join my friends for more hiking this summer if possible, even for a couple of weeks. Craig is still hiking the whole thing as he needs to get this out of his system. He's done the whole thing in sections, but for some reason needs to do it from start to finish. Who am I to question the craziness of it all? Guess we'll see what's in store for me next.