PCT 30 – Lake Isabella

Daily Miles: 21
Total Miles: 652

An even earlier morning today in an attempt to beat the heat. We got up at 4:00 and were on the trail by 4:50am. The day started with a big climb which was quite pleasant in the early morning hours. We were able to get to the top before the sun hit us, so we just enjoyed the cool hiking.

It was a pretty quiet morning on the trail. We only saw one other hiker in the first few hours. And only four other hikers throughout the day on the trail. Sometimes we are surprised at how many hikers we see and sometimes we are surprised to see so few hikers. It is just strange how we seem to be in and out of bubbles of hikers.

The trail was quite nice in the morning, walking through the shade of pine forests. Around 10:00, the landscape changed and we were more exposed to the sun and heat. The day was really hot, but we didn’t want to take a long break, because we wanted to be able to get into town as soon as possible.

We finally managed to get to the road around 2:30pm. We were pretty tired, but we were excited to encounter the trail angel, Coppertone, again. We got ice cream floats from Coppertone and chatted with the other hikers enjoying the trail magic.

We didn’t linger for too long, but instead stuck out our thumbs for a hitch to Lake Isabella, which is about 30 minutes away from the trail. We were lucky to get a lift after trying for just 15 minutes. The driver was 81 years old, hard of hearing, and a VERY fast driver. We both made sure to buckle up and were grateful when we arrived safely in Lake Isabella.

We got a motel room in town at the same place where our friends MountainMan, Proton, CrossCountry, and Gazelle were staying. Since we had last seen XC and Gazelle, XC had hiked through the night to get to town, while Gazelle had gotten picked up on the trail by a local trail angel and delivered to town. When we arrived, Gazelle had gone into a local hospital to get checked out since she has been feeling sick. They basically just rehydrated her and told her to rest for a few days. It was good to see her feeling better.

After eating dinner and chatting for awhile with our friends, we were beat and ready for bed. We are excited for a full night of sleep without any alarms to wake up to.