We started the day off with some trail magic. We got a ride to the trail head from the head chef at The Rock Inn. He dropped us off along with Frank and we hit the trail.
We had a climb to start out the day. However, climbs usually mean great views.
This guy was fierce.
I was expecting to hit the desert today, but instead we were walking through oak forests most of the day.
We are trying to enjoy every minute of shade before the mojave.
More awesome views.
We also passed the 500 mile mark today!
Tailgate takes some nice shots.
We made it to camp and I set up camp while Tailgate went to go get water. It's pretty windy tonight but we are sheltered. Tomorrow we will head down to the hot desert and deal with the sparse water conditions.
This morning we slept in a bit (again) and had another helping of cinnamon and vanilla pancakes at the Anderson's before they gave us a ride back to the trailhead. We had already scheduled to resupply in Lake Hughes, only about 7 miles away, and to check out The Rock Inn there in town so we knew it would be an easy day.
We climbed up from San Francisquito road and met a fire crew on the way up. It felt good to pass them, but as we did, neither of us envied them for the hoses and other equipment they were hauling.
View to the South.
View to the North.
Before we knew it we were at Lake Hughes Road and hung a right for the two miles into town. But wouldn't you know it....a friend was waiting just a few feet from the trail to become number eleven so far.
About a mile or so out of town, Twist and I began to smell smoke. Soon after a woman drove past yelling out her window that there was a fire.....but gave us no other information and just kept driving. We decided to keep moving forward and soon came upon the site of the fire.
We checked into The Rock Inn and since Twist had been complaining that she had a bite hurting her on the hike in, we took the opportunity to check it out. Come to find out it is actually three bites, not just one and all are pretty swollen.
We think they are spider bites. We will have to monitor them and hope they get better.
SO, to dull the pain and itching of her bites we decided to head down to the bar, check out the band and do what hikers do. Eat!
The Rock Inn was truly a side trip we are happy we took. The people have been great and we would definitely recommend the short trek over to future hikers.
We slept in a little and woke up just in time for coffee and pancakes! These pancakes were awesome! They added a little cinnamon and vanilla for an extra kick of flavor.
We took the rest of the day to enjoy the beautiful weather and great company.
Remember those caterpillars that were hatching... They still are everywhere.
Hawaiian shirts are mandatory at Casa de Luna. Above you can see some of the boys making their way to the near by convenience store. Beer, ice cream, Gatorade, and chips were purchased in large quantities here.
Here you can see our spot in the manzanita forest. The forest seemed enchanted back there. It was code named "Narnia".
Now the highlight of Casa de Luna has been the wonderful people and great hospitality. However, taco salad comes in as a close second. We had taco salad twice, but never got a picture because we were so excited each time it was served.
There is a very specific technique to building your taco salad. Mrs. Anderson gave us the run down the first night. Taco salad consists of chips, beans, ground beef, rice, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, jalapeños, olives and cheese all layered on top of each other! Awesome!
Hopefully we will escape the vortex tomorrow morning. We have many more miles ahead and now understand all the whispers about how this place can suck a hiker in for days...
This morning we took off from the Saufley's with a solid day of hiking ahead in order to reach Casa de Luna (the Anderson's) for our visit there. We climbed for the first few miles through sagebrush and began to feel the heat. But as we climbed, the views only got better.
As we reached the top of our opening climb of the day we immediately dove into intermittent oak forest on the other side. There, we were greeted by the tenth Rattlesnake of our trip. It was a baby, but one that looked like it had just eaten so it was very very slow to move off the trail.
Along the way we have been seeing little caterpillar nests all over and today seemed to be the day they were ready to break out.
These little guys were all over today!
We have started to see the water sources spreading out as we get closer and closer to the Mojave. So needless to say we were extremely excited when we came upon this cache of soda (both adult and regular) and water! All stocked by the Andersons!
After leaving the Oasis cache we practically ran the last seven miles to San Francisquito road hopped up on Root Beer.
From the ridge just above the road looking back toward Green Valley, where the Andersons host hikers.
After getting to the road, we spent the next half hour or so hitching. Go figure the one car I didn't have my thumb out for is the one that stopped. After our ride dropped us off, we met up with Southern, Rubbs, Lucky Nalgene, Clay, Dream Laugher and Colonel who had all arrived earlier in the day.
Now, we've got our camp set up in the manzanita forest out back and are anxiously awaiting Taco Salad!
Today we enjoyed a zero day at the Saufley's. We had a few chores to do and a little relaxing to take care of too.
There are bikes to ride into town. You fly down to town. However, the ride back (usually full of pizza and beer) is not so speedy.
We enjoyed some chocolate covered bacon. Rubs was kind enough to share this delicacy.
There were some horses too.
The scene was pretty nice. I spent a fair amount of time Sewing. I think I sewed 3 pairs of pants, a few hiker tents, stuff sacks, and a huge tent that Mrs. Saufley needed patched.
Tailgate helped set up several huge tents in preparation for the herd that will be coming through in a few weeks.
Overall a great zero day! Tailgate, Oddball and I went to Mexican food for dinner.
Another crew of hikers trickled into the Saufley's today. We got to meet: Swiss Cheese, Bone Lady, Bucket, Ragin' Cajun, Bayou Bandit and a few others as well. One Ton, Coop and Alex (city slickers) showed up too!
We woke up this morning after a late night. The young lady at the front desk took Twist to the store a few miles down the road and bought beer for all of us hikers at the KOA. Another hiker showed up late, Clay. He had been craving ice cream, but the store had already closed. Fortunately for him, the people at the campground were very hiker friendly and opened up the store so he could get that ice cream he wanted.
Needless to say we were all moving a little slower that next morning after a case of beer. Not to mention the local raccoon that terrorized Dream Laugher all night. AND the roars from the nearby big cat preserve. But we were still out by a quarter after seven in the morning and heading up and over the mountain to Agua Dulce.
The trail for the day started out right on the Santa Clarita River.
As we climbed up from the campground, so did the sun.
We all hiked pretty close together through the morning, except for Clay who had gotten out of camp at least two hours before any of us.
As we reached the top of the first climb of the day (just after the video above was taken), we saw yet another young Rattle Snake.
We crested the second climb of the day and got a great view of mountains we hadn't seen yet.
As we reached the base of the next highway, we crossed under it through a tunnel and into the Vasquez Rocks State park.
See the moon?
DISCLAIMER: The video below contains ONE curse word.
Walking in and out of the rocks was jaw dropping. A few hikers got a little lost with all the possible side trails to take but eventually found their way through. After a leisurely 10.5 miles and a mile walk down a side road we arrived at Hiker Heaven! There is no shortage of hospitality here. We've had our laundry done, got a place to sleep (couples get a room) and bicycles to go in and out of town as we please. Thank you Saufleys!
A hiker that had to get off the trail in town donated a tent to the hiker box at the Saufleys. We set it up and it didn't last more than a couple hours before it was claimed in a coin toss between hikers.
Our room.
We will zero here tomorrow and do a quick resupply. Then it's on to the Andersons at Casa De Luna only 24 miles away.
