Day 39-40: Agua Dulce

May 13-14; Mile 440-454

Day 39

I left camp before six; though it was only four miles to the trailhead, I was determined to stay out of the heat. I made excellent time, arriving almost two hours before my parents were due to pick me up, and so I joined Locomotive for the walk to the Acton KOA. They had a tiny store with snacks and drinks, and I wandered in a hungry daze, debating whether or not a pint of ice cream was a reasonable breakfast. I ended up buying a root beer, an ice cream bar, and a bag of Cheetos. Back in Seattle I rarely drank soda, but for some reason I craved it on the trail.

I ran into several people that I hadn’t seen since Wrightwood: Bounce, Galadriel, DD, and Adam. It was heartening to see so many familiar faces.

Soon after I met my parents at the trailhead for a resupply trip to Acton. We arrived before the post office had opened, and so I bought a few groceries before picking up my package. The day was still young, and so my parents and I had a lovely lunch at the 49er Diner. After we’d finished eating we asked about the signs out front (“Don’t tie your horse to the railing”), thinking they were relics of a bygone era. Nope: people actually rode their horses into town here. We were certainly a long way from Chicago.

My parents dropped me back at the trail, and I got to try out a variant of thru-hiking called slack packing. I left most of my gear and food with my parents, taking only the essentials I’d need for a day hike, and told them when I expected to reach Agua Dulce. Then I set off up the trail while they ferried another hiker to Acton.

I climbed steadily in the heat, passing grassy hillsides and hulking walls of rock. After paralleling the highway for a while, the trail led down to a dark tunnel beneath the road. The shade was a nice break from the midday sun, and on the other side was the edge of Vasquez Rocks State Park.

The trail passed through canyons of towering rock, each of them thrust up by the Andreas fault like bows of ships breaching the surf. There were wooden signs proclaiming the names of local flora, and the hillside was dotted with stalks of blooming yucca.

I reached the park faucet with half a liter of water left, my shirt and pants drenched in sweat. Nothing happened; the water wasn’t turned on. I half-heartedly checked under the Pepper Tree, having read that folks often found trail magic or water there. It was empty. Thankfully I’d planned my water to last me all the way to town, or else I’d have a miserable two miles ahead of me.

As I emerged from the park I ran into Locomotive and someone I hadn’t seen since day 5: Jaime! She was off trail for the moment to heal an injury, and she’d rented a car to give rides to hikers. But the best part was the cooler of drinks that she opened for me: ice-cold beverages lay glistening inside. I happily took a can of La Croix and sat on the side of the road chatting with the two of them.

A little while later my parents picked me up from in front of the hardware store in town, and we rode back to the house that they’d rented. I’d hiked 10 miles through the heat of the day, and I was ready for a shower.

Day 40

We spent the majority of the day relaxing away from the scorching heat. The forecast had said it was going to be in the 90s; what a perfect day to take a zero.

That evening we had a dinner reservation at a French restaurant called Le Chêne. This was no usual thru-hiker stop. Dinner included smoked salmon, pate, scallops, elk, venison… it was all exquisite and incredibly rich. I was absolutely stuffed, but somehow found room for dessert: a delicate pastry with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. It was a great way to celebrate everything at once: the trail, my parents’ birthdays, and getting to spend time together.