October 18

Distance: 6.4 miles | Ascent: 230′ | Descent: 2400′

Mile marker: 2089.3

Lunch: A – turkey sandwich (A+), A – reuben sandwich (A+)

Dinner: A&J – Chinese buffet (A+,A+)

---

We were up and out before dawn. We’ll never see last night’s campsite in the daylight, but it was nice in the dark anyway. The trail was super easy on the way down.

As the sun rose, the sky seemed to be on fire over the horizon.

We were blessed to see even more wind turbines in Tehachapi Pass.

Alex found a big tumbleweed and was quite pleased (even though they are non-native and one of the causes of the 1930’s Dust Bowl).

A group of fellow PCT hikers – all friends by now – all waited for the bus to come. (What’s a good group noun for hikers? A stench of hikers?) A stench of hikers all waiting for the bus to come. When it did, we piled on and probably shocked and confused those already on board.

The bus dropped us off in the middle of Tehachapi, just a block from the bakery. Since it was before the post office opened, we had to kill time somehow. Several went to the bakery. So did we.

After one of the best sandwiches we’ve had all trail, we went to the post office to collect our resupply and other mid-trail orders. To do so, we had to cross a highway and rail line – Tehachapi is a big train town.

Our shoes were nearly disintegrated by the time we got there. Alex’s had broken linings and tread worn as flat as a pancake, and Jason’s were literally ripping in two. Their replacements are intended to carry us all the way to the southern terminus! We replaced our shoes right there in the post office, partly because we were excited and partly because we didn’t want to carry their boxes the 30 minutes back to the main part of town.

We went back to the bakery, got some lunch, and watched the trains. Soon enough, we got into our hotel room to finally shower. We had a date planned at the Chinese buffet. We wanted to look and smell our best.

The Chinese buffet was everything we dreamed about and more. We nearly made ourselves sick, but the sweet and salty and savory food filled a void left in our hearts after the letdown at Ridgecrest. We ate to our stomachs’ content, then some. At the restaurant, we met up with some trail friends. We chatted about the upcoming desert and our timelines to finish. At the point, people are starting to plan their end-of-hike travel arrangements. Dates and deadlines actually matter a little now.

Waddling back to our hotel, we thought Tehachapi wasn’t so bad! Maybe we’ll stay another day.