Right after our April hikes I started to wonder about the next leg north from Highway 58. The temperatures we experienced then, combined with repeated entries in the guidebook about heat, were cause for concern. Very sporadic water sources for the next 35 miles of trail added to the mix. So, after that last trip, hoping for cooler weather, I suggested a three-day backpack to Jawbone Canyon Road over Memorial weekend (instead of waiting for our June trip).
It worked. To say the least we got cooler weather.
We drove to Tehachapi Saturday, intending to start hiking in the late afternoon. Our plan was to start late, leaving enough time to climb the long switchbacks from Highway 58 while avoiding the afternoon heat and direct sunshine. We stuck with "the plan" even though temperatures were predicted to be 15 to 20 degrees lower than average for Tehachapi in May. By the way, the prediction also included the phrase “windy.”
We started hiking from the Cameron Road overpass at 3:30 in the afternoon. The trail parallels the highway for the first mile, so, as we hiked we saw Vicki drive east on Highway 58, heading for her sister's house near L.A. for the weekend:
We hiked downwind at first, so what was blowing only felt like a strong breeze. After the first mile, the trail diverged slightly north and started uphill. Soon the uphill got significant. Then the switchbacks started:
After a few long switchbacks, the wind changed from a strong breeze to serious gusts. More uphill followed, which the guidebook describes as: “a long, tight series of switchbacks that on the map resemble a recorded earthquake on a seismograph.”
But these switchbacks are only tough. So far, neither the uphill nor the heat are problems; instead it is the wind that almost stops us. The wind was significant when we started. We feel it more and more as we move up. The higher we get, the more exposed we become. Finally it's really, really blowing, even affecting our balance:
Eventually we top out on a ridge, more than halfway through our hike. Here the wind becomes outrageous, like nothing I've EVER experienced. We're getting knocked off balance and fighting to walk where the trail goes into the wind. Then Katie gets decked by the wind; literally she's knocked to the ground. She gets up and hikes on. Then Tricia gets knocked over. When they're not getting knocked over the girls are struggling to hike, being blown off the trail and fighting to make progress:
Here's Katie fighting to get back on the trail after repeatedly getting blown off balance and forced downwind:
We get some relief where the trail passes behind summits. But this also highlights the portions where we're exposed to the wind's full fury. Katie in particular is fighting; with a full-size backpack, she's as big as a sail, but weighs nothing. At one point I try to help her keep in balance by grabbing her pack. But the slight change in my balance does me in; Katie is knocked over anyway, and I go down too, right onto her. This is crazy.
After nearly a mile of literally fighting to hike we see forested parts of the ridge ahead only a few hundred more yards. Surely the trees will provide some shelter? But the wind seems to sense our hope; it increases again. I have no idea what to do. Each girl is knocked down again and then again. What can we do? I press them and encourage: the trees are ahead, keep fighting (no more pictures, the situation was getting too far out of control for them).
Finally, we reach a copse of snarled, bent junipers (bent with the wind). And there's a tent! And a hiker. And relief, a strong wind is all that makes it through a 100 foot distance of trees. It howls above us, but we can breath. The girls collapse at the base of a trunk. Our fellow PCT hiker is "blown away" too. Wow.
After regrouping we decide that ahead must be similar groups of trees. We talk with our new friend for a while, but it's getting late and we press on, more sheltered now. After another half a mile we find a similar, downwind flat spot and set up the tent. Cooking outside is out of the question, but our new, three person tent has plenty of room:
And that's it for day one. If I never, ever have to hike in wind like that again, it won't be too long.
Next up, day two and a lesson about weather reports. We all rely on them, but can we?
