I shuffled into Walker Pass this afternoon, after a 20-mile day, to the unexpected sound of coordinated applause. A large canopy had been erected at the edge of the otherwise desolate campground, with two dozen grinning faces peering out of the shade – and I was immediately offered my choice of iced beer or soda, to be followed later by a full-on dinner!

A couple of generous trail angels have been running this spot continuously for the last week, greeting each hiker who hits the end of Section F with the equivalent of a marathon aid station or racecar pit stop, scaled to PCT standards. Quite a nice surprise after the desert, though it was cool to get my first views of snow-capped Sierra peaks in the distance this morning. Weird to think I’ll be up in them next week.

I passed the 600 mile mark this afternoon on my way into the wonderfully cool, green Tehachapi mountains, full of pines and oaks – a nice respite from hot desert.

One of the highlights of my 20.7-mile day was spooking a deer: a real, live, actual specimen of wildlife! Yes, I see them every day at home in Oregon, but this was the first animal bigger than a rabbit I’d encountered on this whole trip so far. I also found cougar tracks on the trail today, and met two different hikers who’d seen bears recently, so maybe I’ll run across one of those, too.

After 12 consecutive 20+ mile days, Tehachapi sucked me into the vortex known as Best Western, so, instead of sleeping in my tent 20 miles up the trail tonight, I’m watching Valentine’s Day on TV and lounging on a crisp set of sheets while eating fresh strawberries.

It wasn’t a total loss; my mom helped me slackpack an eight-mile section through a wind farm this morning, which took about three hours, qualifying today as a “nero” (the hiker term for “nearly zero”). Then it was all about enjoying civilization; we even went to a movie! The only film showing in Tehachapi this afternoon was Kung Fu Panda 2, and the theater was jammed with little kids, but it was dark, cool, and full of popcorn – awesome. Tomorrow, back to the trail with fresh legs.

What a weird day. At about 9 am I stopped at Hikertown, the home of a guy named Bob who has converted his 3-car garage into a veritable PCT oasis, with separate bathroom and lounge areas, and who hosts several hundred hikers each year. He’s also built a small-scale Western town in his front yard, and occasionally ferries hikers to a nearby restaurant in his old Rolls Royce.

Tempting, but I wanted to get today’s miles in before the heat hit. Decades ago, owners of the massive Tejon Ranch refused to allow PCT builders to route the trail through their mountains, so this section takes a 22-mile detour straight through the edge of the Mojave desert, following a barren dirt road along the Los Angeles Aqueduct (ironically, the structure is mostly enclosed, with no access to water for the last 15 miles). This is a notoriously hot, flat, and desolate stretch; the average high on June 12, based on the last 30 years, is over 100 degrees; so I was lucky to cross today on a lovely 85-degree afternoon, with a breeze. And now, with this section out of the way, I can start praying for heat: I’ll hit the high Sierras in about a week!

I felt like a pawn advancing down a chess board today: just moving forward. The trail wound through homogeneous chaparral for 20.1 miles, mostly shadeless and dry, up and over a couple of thousand-foot ridges, gradually heading north.

But I stumbled over a family of baby Mountain Quail, flushed a Turkey Vulture off a dead skunk on the trail, and met two Israelis named Pepper and Mace who had just taken seven days off for no particular reason (guys, we still have a long way to go…), so I didn’t get too bored. And I was glad to hike under my reflective umbrella for most of the afternoon, perfect for these hot, sunny desert sections.

My mom is meeting me at trailheads and road crossings this week, which means I can carry a lighter pack and sleep in civilization more often. Last night we stayed at a motel in Palmdale, and tonight I was able to reach a KOA Campground via a stark, 25-mile stretch of burned-over trail charred by the disastrous Station Fire a couple summers ago.

Backpacking without carrying a fully-loaded pack, partly supported by outside help, is called “slackpacking,” and most long-distance hikers jump at any chance. It’s not often that someone volunteers to literally take weight off your back, and I’m grateful to my mom for the support this week. When we walked into the KOA oasis together this evening in pristine low-angled sunlight, after flushing a Great Horned Owl around the last bend (closely pursued by a Hooded Oriole), thinking of SPAM and chili for dinner, I really couldn’t have been much happier.

I began the day by climbing straight up Mount Baden-Powell, and was on the 9300-foot peak by 9:30. It was subfreezing up there, with two inches of solid ice on the windward side of all surfaces; the last half mile before the summit led over continuous frozen snowdrifts; and my tennis shoes didn’t give much traction on the ice, so I was happy enough to safely descend the west ridge after a chilly ten minutes on top.

The rest of the day was spent leapfrogging across highway two in dramatic mountain terrain. I was forced to take a five-mile detour around one section of trail closed to protect endangered Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs (what, do they think hikers are going to boot them into extinction?). Overall 24 miles, and some fantastic scenery today!

The McDonald’s along I-15 at Cajon Pass, east of L.A., is famous among PCT hikers because of its proximity to the trail, air conditioning, and delicious delights. After 15 dusty miles by noon, the golden arches were looking pretty enticing, and I went all-out in true hiker style.

The cool part was that the calorie counts are right on the quick-order menu, so you can plan for maximum energetic intake. I started with two crispy chicken burgers (2 x 600) and followed up with a Reese’s McFlurry (400), then an Oreo McFlurry (400), and finally a large chocolate shake (850), for a total of 2850 calories in one sitting! Good fuel for a solid 26-mile day today, but it’s hard to keep up with an insatiable appetite; by dinner I was glad to have also thrown a 12-inch Subway sandwich into my food bag – yum.

I’ve caught up to a small group of hikers, so it’s been a few days since I spent any time alone – a nice change. Today I walked with Brian and a young couple named Toby and Natalie for a pleasant 22 miles, gently descending from the San Bernardino Mountains back into desert foothills, past mile 300.

Near the end of the day we hit Deep Creek, the most flowing water I’ve yet encountered. Unfortunately, severe storms damaged the trail in this section last December, closing the trail, and apparently a guy died recently after falling over a cliff in the off-limits section. So, instead of following the creek for the next 15 miles, we’re taking the official detour on roads and ATV tracks, and camping tonight on a dusty roadside pullout, next to a barbed wire fence.

This morning I calculated it would be possible to reach Big Bear City, my next resupply point, via a 28-mile hike to Highway 18 and a subsequent 4.5-mile hitchhike into town. All right – civilization!

I caught up to another hiker named Brian in late morning, but not before taking in a bizarre sight. Right beside the trail, around mile 248, were a series of reinforced cages with serious predators inside: a lion, Bengal tiger, and two grizzly bears. And I thought we didn’t have to worry about bears until the Sierras, in another 500 miles! Turned out they were trained for the movies.

Brian and I kept up a good pace despite an unexpected cache of soda, bananas, and cookies in coolers by the trail, left for PCT hikers. After hiking 28 miles, we hitched into town with a kindly plumbing contractor, ate an enormous dinner, and checked into a hostel after a very long day.

After another rough morning breaking camp in extreme wind high on Fuller Ridge, this time with a cold mist thrown in, I fled down the trail in search of warmer climes. And down it went – 15 miles of continuous switchbacks dropped 6,000 feet, all the way to San Gorgonio Pass and the lowest point on the California section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Easy walking except for a thick, brushy, burned-over area, where apparently my umbrella got ripped off my pack without me realizing it – bummer.

In the afternoon I crossed four-lane Interstate 10 and found three coolers underneath the overpass with ice, drinks, and fresh fruit for PCT hikers. Then it was on up into the San Gorgonio Mountains, past a couple miles of scenic windmills, to my camp in a little canyon. Altogether 24.3 miles today, my longest yet!

I started the morning in desert chaparral at 4900′ and ended near snowdrifts at 8250′. Add in an extra couple thousand feet up and down, including a bonus two miles down a spur trail to get water, and I ended up hiking 25.7 miles with about five thousand feet of elevation gain today – yikes!

Even if the trail was steep in places, the scenery surpassed anything I’ve seen so far. After 150 miles through the desert, I was psyched to climb up into the San Jacinto Wilderness with its shaded slopes of pine and fir stands, and cliffs so sheer the trail had to be blasted out of solid rock in some sections. As evening approached, I wound up a dramatic ridgeline, leapfrogging with a couple other hikers, looking down on Palm Springs as if from an airplane. Very cool.