Week 5 on the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Hayley Babbitt

Above: The PCT near Lake Hughes, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Day 32:

10 miles. Although we didn’t need to do a lower mileage day again, we couldn’t pass up stay the night at the Sawmill Campground. We are still carrying so much food. To sum up the day: poodle dog bush. Lots of it.

Above: Poodle Dog Bush in California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Besides climbing all ten miles today and seeing a copious amount of the dreaded poodle dog bush (a highly poisonous plant), the day ended up pretty good. Right before getting to the Sawmill Campground, we saw our old friend Wyatt, aka "Ghost", that we camped with back at Lake Morena (mile 20-ish). That was pretty neat. He is a tough young man and a very experienced hiker, seeing how he is a mountain guide in the Sierras, so I found it inspirational to see how far NOBO (north bound) he's made it; in such good time, too.

Not long after we caught up with Ghost for a snack, we ended up finding our nice break spot for the day (that we ended up camping at). The Sawmill Campground was nice, rustic, and spacious. It was peaceful. While it was just Luke and I for a while, other people started to trickle in. After a few other backpackers showed up in the later part of the afternoon, trucks of people entered the campground. We all were wondering, of course, who these people are and how they got their trucks out this far into the middle of nowhere.

Above: A random group of us crazy thru-hikers at the Sawmill Campground, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Surely enough, these people called themselves "Tree People". They were mostly a bunch of younger (20s-30s) hispanic people, and were very nice. The tree people told us that they go out and plant trees, record ecological data, and other things related to the environment. Now they can add "feed a bunch of hungry hikers in the wilderness" to their job, since they made a ton of campfire-cooked meals and shared it all happily with us. They also threw in some beers.

Above: My camp set-up for the night at the Sawmill Campground, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

In the end, we aren't making nearly as many miles as I would like, but the nice night socializing with other backpackers and the tree people made today's shortness worth it. Thank you so much, tree people!

Day 33:

20.3 miles. Today was crazy from start to finish, to say the least. Today is going into my book of crazy travel stories that are almost hard to believe, so buckle up.

We started hiking around 6:30am just absolutely crushing miles all the way to Lake Hughes Rd., about 13 miles before noon. Good thing too, because it was HOT as hell today, being over 90 degrees. Luckily we were able to cruise along just fast enough to beat the heat and got down to the road. There was a nice water cache and also an interesting property with horses less than a quarter of a mile down the road, which caught our eye right away. Since we saw cars parked across the street from the property, and a canopy set up with nice shade, we wandered down to see if we could hitch a ride into the town of Lake Hughes. Maybe this tent is a trail magic set-up for hikers, I wondered.

It turned out those people weren’t hikers or trail angels, but people who were watching a horse show at the property across the street. The woman at the entrance of the driveway to the property thought we were her expected guests, so she waved us down to the canopy and off we went. When she realized we were PCT hikers, and not her planned guests, she offered us shade and a seat at the horse show anyway, along with ice cold water bottles. We were very surprised by our sudden mid day horse show, and it was conveniently timed with our lunch break.

After snapping some photos of the horses with my camera, I immediately noticed that none of the guests look like stereotypical horse people, which I found kind of odd. But hey, not everyone is like their stereotype. Instead, these people looked more like nerdy artists. These guests were drawing while the horse show was going on, or taking photos on indie cameras. I asked the lady what was going on and, to my surprise, we were at a “wrap party” for these people’s Emmy that they just won. I mean it makes sense, we are close to Los Angeles.

Above: One of the horses from the horse show/Emmy Award party near Lake Hughes, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Luke and I just laughed and looked at each other like “wait, where the hell are we right now?!”. So, after traversing through the wilderness of the Mojave desert for the last week, having seen only a few dirty hikers for days, we are now at an Emmy award party at some Hollywood person's horse ranch in the middle of the desert. It’s crazy how every day is so different out here. After enjoying the show for a little while, we decided to keep moving. We thanked the Emmy winners for their cool horse show and refreshments, and headed back to the road.

A utility worker (on the job in his work truck) picked us up after seeing me with my thumb out on the side of the road. He saved us from a blistering, three mile road walk uphill into town. When we got into town, we bee-lined to The Inn (the only restaurant) for burgers. There, we met these two nice, female PCT hikers who were interested in exchanging trail info with us. Once we had our meal together, they started telling us their plan to stay at an Ostrich Ranch tonight. We were confused, but they enticed us with talk of bathrooms, camping for $10, running water, power, and ostriches. So we decided to ditch our idea of 20 something miles and go with these random girls to this ostrich ranch.

Above: Luke and I enjoying a beer and some food in Lake Hughes, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

When we got there, there were literally dozens of ostriches just in the middle of the green desert and our camping spot was right next to them. It was a nice place, but such an interesting spot to be; a specific one. You had to be there for it. After I took some photos of the ostriches, Luke and I decided we just wanted to push on and get to our 20 mile goal to the Fire Department (also free camping and lots of water). So instead of making the last 7 mile climb up another hill, I decided to make my first “skip” call and just hitch a ride to the fire department. It was 95 degrees, high noon, and we needed to get to Agua Dulce before this heat wave got any worse.

Above: A few of the resident ostriches in the Southern California desert, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

So, from the Emmy party to the ostrich farm, and now to this (mostly abandoned) fire department in the middle of the desert with no cell phone service, today has been a whirlwind to say the least. To add the cherry on top, we ended up running into Ghost's girlfriend at the Green Valley Fire Station. We told her that we had just run into her boyfriend, Ghost, and asked why they aren't together. Her answer was that they are different levels of hikers (despite them both being strong hikers), and Ghost had plans to break an FKT (fastest known time) in a later section. Thus they were hiking their own hike. Well, props to them. I like the inspiration out here.

Now we are getting ready for a real 24-25 mile hike tomorrow to Agua Dulce, which will be a burning hot day to get through once again; especially with these high miles and couple of climbs to get there. Having said this, it’s 8:30pm and I need to get some sleep since we are waking up at 4am tomorrow to beat some of the heat. Goodnight from a tired, yet confused, yet also excited about this random life, Jet.

Day 34:

15.1 miles. We climbed (almost) all day today. It was hotter than hell. So hot, that we ended up having to take a midday siesta next to an already sleeping dirty hiker man since it was the only shaded spot before our final climb. Another dirt backpacker man showed up after us and also decided to crash there. So, beside the brutal hike, the most note-worthy event of today was our group nap in our tiny patch of shade.

Above: Fighting for the shady patch on the PCT, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

The two young men were nice, though. One of them is from Las Vegas, Nevada, where it gets extremely hot. He told us that even though he was used to the intense heat, he has to be on "siesta schedule" (sleeping during the day and hiking through the night) in this section. So if that says anything about how hot it is out here...

Day 35:

Above: The official "Serenity's Oasis" sign at Farmer John's property in Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

9 miles. We did a “Nero” this morning to Agua Dulce - finally. Going on 11 days without a shower, I was eager to get to this “Oasis” of sorts we had heard about for the last week. Allegedly there’s a man named “Farmer John” that lives in Agua Dulce right off of the trail, and you can camp on his property, get a shower, use a bathroom, and do laundry (with a real washer and dryer) all at his place. We’ve heard such great things about Farmer John’s place, and also the Mexican restaurant in town ($15 pitchers of margaritas).

Above: A view of the PCT on the way to Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

After dreaming of Agua Dulce for what seemed like forever, we raced down into town off of the mountain and into the hot valley. Farmer John’s Oasis awaits us. Being heat-stricken and desperate to just get the 9 miles over with, we didn’t turn onto the right road which took us off trail almost a mile. What idiots we are. We then decided to try to hitch for almost a half an hour, until a white truck pulled over without my thumb even being out. And guess who it was: Farmer John himself.

The 60-something-year-old desert man told us to hop into the back of his truck and he’d take us right back to the Oasis of his. It was God sent, and we were so stoked to arrive. To make things even better, I immediately spotted our good friend from Lake Morena, Julian, and Laguna, our friend Pinecone, and I yelled out for him right when I saw him. He was ecstatic to see us, too. We also saw “Uncle”, a man we met at Laguna as well, who had been hiking with Pinecone almost since then.

Above: My trail friend, Pinecone, and I enjoying our hotdogs at Farmer John's Oasis, Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Right when we got out of the truck bed, hikers started up the grill and made burgers and hotdogs for lunch (courtesy of Farmer John’s son). Today was some of the best trail magic ever. Farmer John also has a resupply shed with all the trail food you could imagine, which is very nice since the town doesn’t have much food, I guess. I took a shower and did laundry right away, which was very much needed. I could crunch the salt trails on my shirt from the last couple of weeks I was so filthy. I had gone 11 days without a shower, my new record. I felt so much better after getting clean, and was excited for dinner and margaritas at the Mexican restaurant.

Above: Me, after having my first shower in 11 days at Farmer John's Oasis, Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

When it hit 4:30, Luke, Pinecone, Uncle, and I headed for the Mexican restaurant, “Maria Bonita”. The plates we had were huge and we ordered two pitchers of margaritas for the four of us. It was so nice talking to Pinecone and Uncle for hours there, and we learned a lot about Uncle’s world travel and hikes (Camino de Santiago, travels to Chile and Latin America, etc.). Pinecone, as usual, was a blast to see again. He is one of my favorite hikers I've met so far and I wish I could hike more with him.

Above (Left to Right): Luke, Uncle, and Pinecone posing for the camera at Maria Bonita in Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

After our great time at Maria Bonita, Luke and I headed back sleepily to camp. When we got to the porch, Farmer John was there and we chatted it up with him for a while on the porch. Tomorrow, I’m going to fly my drone for him so he can get a cool video of the Oasis for his website. I’m looking forward to our chill day at Farmer John’s tomorrow. I love it here.

Above: My impressively large dinner at Maria Bonita Mexican restaurant in Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

One last anecdote to note: Farmer John has lived here in Agua Dulce, California his whole life. He told us about how he was very close to his grandmother, and that the abandoned house behind his was actually dragged over across the street by his grandfather so she could live in it there. It was very interesting to hear about his upbringing his whole life here in Agua Dulce, it’s hard to imagine growing up in this barren desert. He’s worked hard his whole life in this heat, and it shows. But he’s a great guy, and I’m excited for tomorrow. Goodnight from a happy Jet.

Day 36:

Zero day at Farmer John’s Serenity Oasis. I tried to sleep in today but it was hot enough to drive me out of my tent by 6:30am. Ironically, it turned into a cloudy morning rather quickly, but it was still hot in the shade. We took it easy this morning and I got a lot of work on my blog done. I uploaded my week two blog post (finally), which got me feeling somewhat accomplished for the day.

We then met up with Uncle in town along with Pinecone. When we got to town, we were met with a very frantically exhausted Uncle, who was anxious about his shoes arriving in the mail today and not having much storage on his phone for his daily vlogs. Luke and I went across the street to the Cowboy Tavern for breakfast, which was “literally amazing” as Pinecone would say. I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on sourdough with a side of hash browns, which filled me up for the better part of the day.

After the good food and time together we went back to Farmer John’s to be lazy all day, until we had to say goodbye to Uncle and Pinecone. After Uncle got his new shoes, which he was very relieved and ecstatic about (I’ve never seen him look so happy, holding his new shoes), they were eager to head back on trail. I took some drone footage of them leaving the property, and then started my drone project of filming Farmer John’s property.

In the evening, Luke and I headed back to the Cowboy Tavern for dinner, where I had an amazing chicken sandwich and chocolate cake for dessert. Us splurging in town; who would've guessed? Now we are back to trail life bright and early tomorrow, so I’ve gotta hit the hay now. Goodnight.

Day 37:

Above: PCT running through Vazquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

10.5 miles. Today was the hottest day of our trip so far; or it felt like it, at least. It was over 90 degrees today, and almost none of the hike was shaded (a little bit in the morning at Vasquez Rocks, though). Although Vasquez Rocks, which I learned is a popular place for Hollywood movies to be filmed (i.e.: Star Trek) was beautiful, it was a short lived beauty. By 10am I was feeling the wrath of the sun and the heat had gotten to me.

I started to feel a bit dizzy at first and then I started to feel sick. It was a weird kind of sick, though, a feeling I’ve never felt before. My body felt strong but my mind felt weak, which is usually the other way around for me on a hot climb. We climbed most of the day through tall fox tails (which annoyingly tore at my socks) on the sides of exposed, frying hills. In result, I had downed almost 4 liters of water in the morning alone. Even though I made sure to stay hydrated, which was probably why I ended up alright, the heat took a toll on me and I ended up throwing up from over-heating.

The good part is that shortly after I had gotten sick we had a 2 mile or so descent into the KOA we planned to stop at. After coming around the top ridge and seeing the huge swimming pool at the campground, I quickly led us right down there and felt loads better. There was also wind on the way down, which we haven't gotten all day so that was nice.

Above: The pool at the KOA in Acton, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

Once we got to the KOA, I bought an ice cream sandwich (the Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie kind) and ice cold water bottle. It felt great to finally be in the shade with some ice cream and a cold water after hiking in the blazing heat with no shade or water for over 10 miles. We then set up our tents and bee-lined for the swimming pool. There were a handful of other PCT hikers lounging at the pool, so it was like a mini hiker pool party.

This was the least family friendly KOA I’ve ever been to to be honest. There was even a resident alcoholic that harassed one of the female hikers in our group, so we had to tell the campground management... But what do you expect? We are close to Los Angeles, after all.

After relaxing in the cool, buggy pool with a couple of new backpacker friends, we decided we would go check out the 49ers Saloon in town. The only problem was that we needed a ride there. Luke and I asked the front desk worker at the campground how we could hitch a ride into town, and that is when we found out about Jimmy, RV resident at the campground and part-time hitch-hiker Uber. So we jogged over to Jimm'y RV and he agreed to take us for gas money. 49ers, here we come!

The 49ers Saloon had a completely different vibe than the KOA we were staying at. At this point in the trail, hikers usually opt to either stay at the KOA or the saloon. While there were under 10 of us PCT hikers at the campground, there were at least three to four times of hikers at the 49ers. It was like we just walked into a hiker bar party!

Although the social vibe seemed fun, I could see that it wouldn't take much for something to go wrong here. The saloon had a tiny plot of land behind it for the backpackers. I didn't get too good of a look at the area, but from what I could see it was absolutely crowded. Tents were staked centimeters from each other like a hiker trash can of sardines. All of the 30-40 backpackers I saw at the saloon happened to be in the younger, rowdy crowd, and many people were drunk already (it was maybe 5 o'clock in the afternoon). I'm not judging at all, just not really my speed. I'm totally fine having the quiet pool at the KOA to ourselves.

Above: A burger and parmesan fries at the 49ers Saloon in Acton, California, USA. 2023 by Hayley Babbitt.

While enjoying my burger and parmesan fries, we saw our old friend, "Giddy", sitting across the saloon from us with a man that was way older than her. She was basically in his lap! Again, no judgement here, Giddy, it was just surprising to me. For some reason, I was feeling worried for her and constantly looking at her across the room. After a while, the man that was sitting with her kept looking back and locking eyes with me, almost like he was worried I was watching. I'm not sure why I had a bad feeling about that guy, I just did.

After Luke and I finished our meals, I told Luke that I had to go over to Giddy to say hi and check in on her date. When I went over to Giddy, she looked happy (and drunkenly) as she could be. She wasn't plastered or anything, just definitely buzzed, so I don't think she was in any danger. I introduced myself to the man at her table and we all chatted for a few minutes. It was nice to catch up after not being in the same hiker bubble for a while. Seeing that Giddy is an adult I put my worries to rest and we said goodbye. Nice seeing you, Giddy!

When we got back to the KOA for the night we saw a couple of familiar faces, our friends Pepper and Kevin from our siesta back at the White Water Preserve. They were pitching their tents right by ours so we hung out at the picnic table for a bit. It's nice to see familiar faces. The couple is in their early thirties and are fun to talk with. Pepper is very outgoing and funny while her partner, Kevin, is very chill and easy to like. Hopefully we can hang out for a bit in the morning. Goodnight!