Day 32
June 21, 2000

Squatter's Paradise: San Francisquito Canyon Rd. to Fairmont Reservoir

The picturesque Rockhouse Inn
in Lake Hughes. You can be
assured of a great breakfast,
and (unfortunately on this day)
an episode of Sally Jesse
Raphael-which will make you
glad you are out on the trail
despite the heat.

Oh, yeah, and they let me fill all
the water bottles behind the bar.
(Yes, of course with water...)

Fairmont Reservoir from
from the ridge above.
170th St. is that line
you see striking out
across the desert.

Today we hit the trail early and did 8 miles by 7:30. We had reached a point in the trail where we were going to depart from the PCT and take an alternate route that follows the old PCT before it was rerouted. I believe the trail had to be changed due to private property considerations and also because there is a long waterless stretch running right through the Mojave. The new trail did not seem to improve matters much, as it is riddled with the same problems as the old and the Forest Service had a long and heated battle with the owners of the Tejon Ranch over an easement to allow the trail to pass through. Needless to say, the Forest Service was unsuccessful in getting the easement they wanted and now the trail winds all over the place in that area. Scott and I decided to take the old PCT route. This also shaves off about 21 miles and will allow us to get a little further on the trail.

Donna Saufley provided us with written instructions and a map of our route and we felt reasonably confident that we would be successful.

After that 8-mile stretch, we left the trail and headed into Lake Hughes, (which is both a town and a lake) and had a great breakfast at the Rockhouse Inn. The locals were all very nice. While we were eating, we ran into a trail angel who has a restaurant along the part of the trail we are skipping. He leaves a cooler along side the trail with cold drinks for hikers and allows them to sleep in a greenhouse behind the restaurant that has couches and a pool table. It sounded like a neat place and he was really nice but we stuck with our plan.

The morning was especially hot and humid. The waitress at the restaurant told us that it was humid because clouds were going to move in and there might be thunderstorms in the Tehachapis and this area might even get some rain. That would really be a piece of luck-rain while crossing the Mojave.

After breakfast, we headed over the hill to the edge of the Mojave Desert. The plan was to camp until dusk and then head out across the desert-a little over 20 miles- and walk during the night to avoid the heat.

Trespassing is now forbidden through part of the old PCT route. We faced a choice of crossing private property or property jointly managed by L.A. County and Dept. of Water Resources where trespassing is forbidden because the area contains a reservoir for the L.A. aqueduct. We chose the government lands as they would probably be less likely to shoot us or sic dogs on us. (They also would most likely be to busy on the computer ordering stuff online or playing solitaire to spot us sneaking through the area.)

We crawled through the barbed wire fence, found a piece of shade in a bed of foxtails, and lay down waiting for dusk. I was restless and unable to nap and lay there thinking about the coming desert crossing.

Back Outta here Next