May 24

566-578

After checking out of our motel, and getting food for our 90 mile section, we take a bus back to the trail. We immediately climb 3,000 feet up into the Tehachapi mountains, laboring up the slope with our 90 miles worth of food and nearly a gallon of water each.

This section of the trail will routinely have 15+ mile water carries. It is a 17 miles to water, so we plan to make it the majority of the way this evening, camping dry, and the cruise to the first water sources- golden oaks spring- in the early AM while it is still cold out. As we crest the climb we encounter the strongest wind thus far on the trail.

It is hard to describe what walking with a full pack is like in wind like this. All you can hear is the rushing wind. It is a stimulus overload, like being next to a rushing train that never stops. It changes your breathing patterns. You are constantly shoved off trail. Your pee turns to mist when you go. Even when you try to aim away from yourself, the wind shifts and you inevitably are sprayed. The effort of every step, particularly while climbing, is compounded. It is annoying for me, at 200lbs. Amber, at 5 feet tall and barely over 100lbs, is miserable and overwhelmed.

At home wind like this would be a fun novelty- you can run around in it and then go inside when you have had enough. One must remember that we are out in this roaring wind without respite. Sleeping becomes difficult. Your senses become frayed. It is almost like Chinese water torture- a constant, uncontrollable stimulus that eventually drives you mad.

Regardless, we make progress, and eventually find a campsite in a small treed valley that provides us with a wind break.