Finishing up the desert section

The Santa Ana winds were out in full force over Thanksgiving weekend, so instead of subjecting myself and my tent to 65 mph winds, I decided to finish up the 22 miles I had left of the PCT desert section as a day hike. It felt extra luxurious to be able to make that decision instead of having to hike anyway.

Steve and I left our campsite at Castaic Lake before sunrise, dropped my car off at the Indian Canyon Trailhead about 1/2 hr away (a $5 Adventure Pass is required to park in the lot for the day), and drove his car to our starting point at the intersection of the PCT and Bouquet Canyon Road. I chose to go southbound since the elevation was easier in that direction, and my brain likes the idea of having hiked the whole trail southbound.

We began our hike around 7:30 in the morning, starting with an uphill climb to a grassy ridge.

The wind wasn’t too strong until we reached the top and hiked through a big burn area. It was more of a fun wind and less of a get blown off of a mountain to your death wind, so I was having a good time. I actually love semi-uncomfortable hiking conditions, they keep things interesting.

For lunch, we met up with my friend Lisa and her dog Katie at Vasquez Rocks, an area that’s been a filming location for a bunch of movies I’ve never seen. The road walk through Agua Dulce into Vasquez Rocks and the park itself were the only places we saw other groups of people the whole day.

We had about 9 miles to go after our lunch break. We finished out the last mile as the sun was setting and made it back to Steve’s car just before dark. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed those desert sunsets and moonrises.

22 miles in about 9 hours. Not too shabby for someone doesn’t get long day hikes in all that often anymore.

After what felt like an eternally long drive back to our campsite at Castaic Lake, Lisa had a hot, delicious meal of veggie corn dogs and homemade soup ready for us to devour. The winds had died down enough for us to have a bonfire, too. More luxury!

I’ve got one continuous 350 mile section to go (from Fish Lake, OR to Burney Falls, CA), then I’ll have hiked all of the PCT. I’m looking forward to crossing that OR/CA border someday soon…