I hiked south bound from Oak Creek (near Tehachapi) to Agua Dulce over Thanksgiving weekend. It was a 104 mile stretch. Pictures were taken with a Motorola Droid cell phone.

Day 1 (Nov. 24)
I drove up to Agua Dulce on Wednesday morning and got a ride up to the trail head. I got started at 3PM and hiked about 7 miles in a biting wind and spent a chilly night at 6,200 ft (the highest point on this hike).


Fog and wind turbines




Rolling fog

Day 2 (Nov. 25)
Woke up to 19 degrees and a stiff breeze. Not a nice morning. I got underway at 6:30. The plan for the trip had been to get a good start on Wednesday afternoon and then average 25 mi/day for the rest of the trip. In the 1st 90 minutes of Thanksgiving I covered 6 miles on a 1,500 ft downhill and I knew that having a 33 mile day and reaching a hot shower at Hiker Town was going to be quite doable considering the rest of the day would be downhill or on the flat of the Los Angeles Aquaduct. After I had gotten to lower elevation the wind subsided and it warmed some and it turned into a very pleasant day. It was not the most scenic section of trail I've hiked as most of the 2nd half was along the aquaduct. I reached Hiker Town at 7.


Sunrise over the Mohave


The Tehachapi Range


Sunset in the Mohave

Day 3 (Nov. 26)
Got an early start and quickly started climbing back into the mountains. The day was pleasant and clear with some great views of both sides of the mountains including glimpses of the Pacific. Ended up having a 30 mile day and had a nice, soft campsite under some pine trees.


Mohave desert and the Tehachapi Range


The Pacific Ocean (it's out there, I swear)




It was a big acorn year

Day 3 (Nov. 27)
The day started out clear but would deteriorate by the end. Covered 27 miles with several moderate climbs and descents through a lot of Chaparral.


Interesting water cache. There were lawn chairs, inflated palm trees, pink flamingos, beer, and this dude.


More chaparral

Day 4 (Nov. 28)
The last night on the trail was windy with snow showers. It was a short morning with 6 downhill miles to town and another 2 miles to the Anderson's and my car.
I owe a big thank you to Ed Anderson (Mendo Rider) and his wife Jereen for the ride to the trail head and breakfast when I finished.


My Z-pack Hexamid stood up well in the heavy winds and little bit of snow.


The legendary Billy Goat pulled up out of the blue and we had a nice chat. A great end to a fun weekend.

Edited by ckopp on 11/30/2010 00:06:18 MST.

NICE pictures and skeleton H2O Guy!

Great trail report! It looks like Chuck has lost some weight since I saw last him in May.

We had a record acorn year on the East coats as well.
Like hiking on ball bearings some times.

Hope to do that section soon.