6/18/2023
Section: Milepost 444.3 to 463.9
Distance: 20.91 Miles
Moving Time: 09:01 hrs
Elevation Gain: 4,132 ft
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I woke at 2:30 this morning to the sound of rustling at the base of a tree 5 feet from our tent against which Amanda’s backpack was leaned. Silhouetted against the grainy light of a street lamp in the KOA, I saw a masked bandit tugging on a bag of Whisps which Amanda had strategically located in her easy access pouch for the next day’s adventure. I quickly reached over to the opposite side of the tent for a headlamp and flicked it on to reveal the inquisitive eyes of the raccoon staring back at me. He started coming towards me to which i said “No, go away trash panda!” That stopped him in his tracks and more name calling sent him on his way. From there on out, sleep was hard to come by. I should note here that Amanda and I are typically very conscious of our food storage and keep everything in the smell proof bags we brought, if not a bear canister where they are required. We had, on this occasion, tried to prep our bags for the next day by putting a few snacks in the easy-to -access side pouches of our bags. For context, an entire Carnitas buffet had been left out on two picnic tables across the road from our site - no idea why the raccoon wasn’t occupied by that alone for the entire night instead of our stuff, but whatever, he never came back so must have found some easier items to make off with.
After some tumultuous sleep which, in addition to the raccoon, included some bogens ripping through the campground on dirt bikes around midnight, we woke at 4:30 to get an early jump on the day. The idea was to get to Maria Bonita’s Mexican Restaurant at 11 for opening. We had pocket pies for breakfast and were out around a quarter to 6, catching Phillipp to say goodbye before leaving. He and some of the others were going to do laundry and then head across the hills to Agua Dulce a few hours after us.
We left the campground and then crossed the Santa Clara River before making our way up into the hills beyond. The trail crisscrossed through BLM land and the Angeles National Forest as we climbed into the range between Soledad Canyon and Agua Dulce. A couple of hours climbing brought us to the crest of the ridge before we began descending. In the distance we caught our first glimpses of Vasquez Rocks, the site of many famous movie scenes. The trail cut due north before heading west in parallel with I-14, eventually sinking below the berm on which the highway sat. The trail again turned north and directed us through an 8 foot drainage tunnel under the highway and on the other side, we were in Vasquez Rocks State Park.
We serpentined through Vasquez Rocks for about an hour taking in the beautiful rock formations caused by the San Andreas fault. Eventually we reached a horse parking trailhead and Amanda made a beeline for the restroom where she was cut-off by an older lady who was part of a larger group already in the parking lot. I sat and enjoyed some Dill Pickle sunflower seeds - David’s this time instead of Spits, much better - while watching my wife’s frustration mount waiting for the bathroom. When she finally came back we sat and snacked for a while and, suddenly, saw an animal we had been looking for this entire time. True to its namesake we saw it running on a small road next to our picnic table - a tall lanky bird with a little mohawk. The roadrunner didn’t stick around but I do think I heard a little “meep, meep” as it took off in a cloud of dust. “I hope we get to tell Sean we saw one,” Amanda said as we smiled at each other.
We made our way out of Vasquez Rocks and walked the Agua Dulce Canyon Road for a while until it delivered us to the front of Maria Bonita’s Mexican Restaurant. We were there about 15 minutes after opening but were still the first in attendance. As we put our things down I nearly put Amanda’s eye out with my trekking poles. You see, Amanda is incredibly conscious about trekking pole tip safety - fanatical could be another word to describe her feeling on the topic. I can’t tell you how many times I have been chided on this trip about keeping my pole tips down or not letting them “swing about.” Anyway, it finally came full circle today when I swung them towards her on accident just as she was bending down to get something out of her backpacks and “almost took her eye out.” Anyways, I told her I would write this down as having happened for posterity so there it is.
We were shown inside and given some chips and salsa which we started working on immediately. More chips came as the friendly waiter realized we weren’t messing around. Amanda ordered a burrito and I ordered Enchiladas Suez as well as a Mezcal Margarita which the waiter gave me a good natured hard time about. More chips were also brought. We stayed for two hours, catching up on blogs and stravas and just general communications. We each got a spare margarita on the house which put Amanda on the far side of tipsy. We paid and thanked the host profusely after filling our water bags for the second half stretch.
Outside I ran across to the hardware store. I had broken my fork and we also needed wipes, neither of which were to be found. As I came out of the store, I saw Phillipp and the gang headed up to a trail angel’s house affectionately referred to as “The Oasis.” Down the road, coming up the other way were the Ride Brides, sans Tit Punch (Jye) and Sugar ‘Mama (Ness). I talked to them for a while and found out they were taking a zero day in Agua to resupply like Phillipp. I recommended Maria Bonita’s Mexican Restaurant before heading across the road back to Amanda.
We decided to visit the Oasis as we had heard that Farmer John, who ran the place, stocked a small resupply. We walked about a mile down the road before navigating a maze of fences and warning signs to get into the little compound. We found Phillipp, Charlie, Jason and Lorena as well as a few others already inside and they told me where to find the famous Farmer John. A kindly bald man came out and opened his resupply shack where I found two packs of “Dude Wipes” and paid for them. Amanda and I briefly considered sticking around with our little familiar bubble but, we do as the curve (which is what i refer to my daily mileage calculation as) commands. Plus, it is likely that most of this crew will catch up to us in the near future so we headed out.
Heading out was easier said than done. The day was in the mid-80s, we were facing another 10 miles and 2000 feet of elevation gain and, maybe most daunting of all, Amanda had eaten a massive burrito and put down 2 margaritas, which is 2 more than she can really have and still expect to function normally. That all being said, we headed off into the heat of the day, navigating city streets for about 2 miles before leaving Agua Dulce and climbing a forest service road. The trail eventually split from the road and began the aggravatingly slow climbing we are so familiar with now. It was incredibly slow going but a few hours brought us up through the dry, scrubby hills of Angeles National forest to the crest of Sierra Pelona where we dumped down the other side. Half a mile from camp we came across a spring where I traded the tent with Amand for her water bladder. I filled water while she went on to set up camp. After listening to “Time” by Pink Floyed about 5 times I had filled 8 liters of water and rejoined Amanda. Two others shared our camp, Collin from France and Akira from Japan who had been at Maria Bonita’s Mexican Restaurant with us earlier that day. Dinner was cheese and salami wrapped in Hatch Chili soft taco shells. Before bed i did my typical yoga and then retired to the tent. We are back under an approach path for LAX so, yay for more plane noises and hopefully less trash bandits!
