38 days – 560 miles – Irene Ground's Travels

After the Aquaduct I only had 7 miles to small water source. Well…. 7 miles took me about 5 hours.. so hot I felt like a cactus crawling in the desert!

Was planning to chill under a bush till 6pm then evening hike next 9 miles. That didn’t happen! A threatening storm made me throw my tent up, that storm turned into a major hail storm with ice falling the size of half a golf ball. I decided to call it a night and stay put. I wish I had got water from canyon stream before the rain.

When you are thirsty you will drink anything

Hiking out was hot! 5 mile climb straight up, thank goodness for my umbrella. At the top a trail angel had set up umbrella and cold water, truely thankful to these awesome people.

A fellow kiwi from Invercargill, Charm and his sister Chloe

10 miles to exit point and a town called Tehachapi. Another freak storm hit on my desent, hail, rain, lighting and thunder rolled all around us for 3 hours. It was scary on the ridge so 4 of us practically ran the 10 miles to town.
2 nights in town, sorting my next move. I bought a train ticket to Ashland, about 1000 miles up the trail. I know I can’t do the Sierra’s at current snow depths of 3 meters. I’m not prepared gear or skill wise to tackle this. So heading north to walk SOBO (southbound), still snow in Oregon but not as deep and may melt more. Happy that I have made a decision but a little nervous as I feel like day one again. Also, the familiar faces will all be gone and I will be alone again. This is a very unusual year on the PCT, hikers are delaying, heading home, flipping (like me) or going to Vegas to waste a week or 2. My Visa only allows me a certain time so I have to keep going.