After what definitely seemed like a very quick sleep, we awoke to our alarms going off at 3AM. The moon had set around 2AM so it was even darker than when we went to bed and hard to get up (also we’d only slept for four hours so that also made it tough). We packed up quickly and were off by about 330. I haven’t done a ton of night hiking because I don’t really like it (usually I feel like I’d be missing views) so this was different for me. But definitely worth it if it meant avoiding the heat of the day. We had about 9 miles until the water source that marked the end of the aqueduct and then another 6.6 miles after that until a creek where we planned to rest for most of the day.
It was fun walking in the dark on the pretty flat road and aqueduct. Without moonlight it was occasionally difficult to see the best part of the road to walk on (areas where cars have driven are best as the sand is more packed down) but it was quite pleasant and peaceful. It was also funny to pass other hikers in the dark-kind of crazy that we are all out hiking at such an odd hour.
There was one section where a dirt road intersected the road we were walking on. We weren’t sure which way the PCT went so we got out our phones. There were a couple hikers sleeping on the ground at the intersection and our debating which way to go must have woken them up because one of them said “it’s over the bridge” from his sleeping bag. We said thanks and started out in that direction but immediately noticed that it looked incorrect according to our GPS. We went the exact opposite way which turned out to be correct and chuckled to ourselves imagining how many people that guy must’ve gave incorrect directions to.
As the sun rose, we approached a big wind farm that we’d be walking through for a portion of the day. It was amazing to see the huge wind turbines all around and mesmerizing to watch them. We finally reached the water source, which was a faucet drawing from the aqueduct we’d been been walking on top of all night/morning, around 6 or 7. We briefly stopped and also saw Yote and Two Point Toe’s tent set up (they opted to night hike the entire thing, from 9pm-4am or so).
We then set off for another 6.6 miles to the next water and our siesta destination. I was feeling good to start out, but this next section was all uphill which ended up being fairly taxing. We continued walking amongst wind turbines and even saw what we think was a wild horse standing in the shade of one of the giant turbines! My sense of time was off, as I’d gotten probably three hours of sleep and had walked 27+ miles since my last full nights rest. I listened to music to power me up the hill and despite really struggling up the last uphill part, I finally made it around 9am. Wolf Bird kindly waited for me and he was glad to arrive as well, as his shins were starting to hurt him.
We descended toward the creek and found a bunch of hikers hanging out, many crouched in the shade of small plants and bushes. Wolf Bird went on a reconnaissance mission to find us some shade and came back to show me the spot. He was being weirdly quiet and sketchy about it I guess so other hikers wouldn’t come and steal the shade. He led me to a big tree by the creek where about 4-5 tents were already set up in the shade. Everyone must have been napping so we whispered as we set up our tent in an area that Wolf Bird predicted would get more and more shaded as the day went on. We set up our tent and blew up our pads and I was so excited to get some sleep after all the walking and weird waking hours. Wolf Bird went and waited for Tofu back at the trail so he could show her our shaded area. She eventually came over and set up her tent as well.
I finally laid down and put in my earplugs. Not five minutes later more hikers came over to the shade talking loudly despite it being quite clear everyone was in their tents trying to sleep. The two guys threw down their packs and walked around right next to our tent loudly discussing where they should set up. I was surprised they were being so loud because our tent fly was off so they could clearly see me laying down in the tent trying to sleep. In my grumpy state I did the classic loud sigh and when that didn’t work did some evil glares at them through the tent but they still continued to speak loudly at what seemed to me louder than conversational tone. I could still hear them loud and clear through my earplugs. Then four more hikers came along and also were talking (thankfully a little less loudly) but that was it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep with all that commotion around me even with how tired I was.
I took out my earplugs and decided to cook some food. Wolf Bird and I then watched Moonlight on his phone for a while. I was excited to finally see it as we never saw it when it was in theatres. About 15 minutes into the movie more hikers showed up and sat practically on top of our tent. They were sitting less than six inches from us and then proceeded to talk pretty much nonstop for the next hour. It was hard to concentrate on the movie with their voices in the background so close, made even worse by them being like “dude!!” and talking about smoking weed and superficial topics while the movie was really emotional and serious. If you can’t tell I had my grumpy pants on and I guess am just an old grandma now so I was unreasonably annoyed at everyone.
Finally everyone’s conversations seemed to die down and all the loud talkers decided they wanted to nap so at long last it was quiet! We paused the movie and tried to nap. I drifted in and out of sleep and Wolf Bird passed out. Eventually I woke up to the sounds of repetitive laughter. But not just any repetitive laughter. This girl was talking to other hikers in the creek right by our tent and through my earplugs I would hear her go, “blah blah blah [muffled conversation]” followed by a sing-songy laugh that pierced through by earplugs and was the most fake-sounding series of “ha’s” I’ve ever heard. It was ridiculous because I couldn’t hear anyone else’s muffled voices but hers and she also seemed to be the only one laughing. She must’ve done this series of talking for 10 seconds/forced laugh for 5 seconds at least 20 times in a row! Wolf Bird was also woken up by it and we just gave each other a knowing look as it was happening but also had to stifle our laughter because it was so ridiculous. Of course because we are immature and can’t let things go, we’ve repeated and mocked the fake laugh every hour since.
So ended our nap. We finished watching the movie–I really liked it but found it really heart wrenching and sad. Wolf Bird liked it too but was disappointed at the abrupt ending and “felt the whole story was easily anticipated”. What an elitist. Haha, kidding about the elitist part (at least slightly), but I made him give me a hug after because I was feeling emotions.
At this point it was probably 3pm and we’d be resting since 9am. There must’ve been at least 30 hikers under the tree with us. We knew maybe about a third of them. I am still adjusting to the big hordes of people so I was battling my inner judgements and frustrations a lot of the time. This is what I will call a character building experience.
Finally around 6pm we decided the day had probably cooled off enough to make hiking bearable. We planned to walk about four more miles to a Tentsite where we’d spend the night. We were really pretty spent so we didn’t want to go very far. The four miles passed quickly and we descended way down into the canyon where the tentsites were. Even though it was 745 or so and almost sunset, no one was camped there yet. We all felt good and I think also felt like everyone else must’ve pushed on so we decided to keep going as well. The next Tentsite was another four miles ahead and all uphill. It looked like it would be a steep climb but we all were telling ourselves how glad we would be tomorrow morning to have it out of the way already.
The climb was incredibly windy. There must’ve been 50mph gusts! It was hard walking straight into the wind at timea, especially because the sand beneath our feet was pretty soft and felt like we were walking on a soft beach. It was really beautiful though, with the sky turning a light pink and purple illuminating the desert floor below. We hiked up up up and it grew darker but the moon, which was just over halfway to full, provided enough light that we didn’t need our headlamps. I was growing really tired and felt like the hill was neverending. Wind makes me feel uneasy and leads me to walk very quickly as a result so I pushed through my fatigue and continued to fight my way uphill against the wind.
Our app said there was only space for two tents at this area so we were a little nervous there may not be space for all the hikers aiming for this area. The app is often wrong in its edit images so we we weren’t sure. The two loud guys from earlier in the day were screaming at the top of their lungs about 0.3 miles before the campsite. When we caught up to them they were screaming about how they kept mistaking sticks for rattlesnakes. I think they may have been on something. Lucky for us, their freak out delayed their progress and like the opportunistic evil person I am, I sped past them to attempt to steal whatever tentsites remained up ahead.
It turned out we didn’t need to worry about space-there were plenty of flat areas for tents left. It was dark at this point and a pretty late hike for us, around 9pm. Wolf Bird and I set up our tent in the wind and Tofu opted to cowboy camp next to us. We cooked dinner and chatted and were in bed around 10pm excited for town tomorrow and glad to have gotten the big climb out of the way tonight.