The Mojave and Tehachapi

I

Well after hearing about how hot crossing the Mojave can be and all the drama associated with it our journey which took about 13 hours and was not uncomfortable. There was a breeze all day. We walked through a wind turbine farm for 6 hours which was both eerie, peaceful and loud.There was the sound of the wind; there was the sound of the wind going through the propellers of the turbines which sounded like planes flying overhead; there was the mesmerizing rotation of the propellers which made Dirty Girl dizzier than she already is...she felt like she was being sucked into outer space (she might have been for a brief period). The peacefulness probably came from thinking that using the wind to generate power is a good, green kind of thing. I know nothing about wind turbines except they provide a lot of employment for Rope Access and the climbers associated with that company. I know so little about anything especially chem trails and wind farms.

     We camped at a stream (Tylerhorse Creek) which supplied us with water. We were so grateful despite the abundance of cow shit everywhere. What was more troublesome was the amount of people who stay here (PCT hikers) who seem to have forgotten the rules about camping near water. We are supposed to camp 100 feet from water. That did not happen. People were literally camped one foot away from the stream. It's easy to see how places get trashed. Do animals defecate where they sleep? Humans do. In fact as I blog this Topo is on a shit finding mission. She can smell it but she can't see it and she is in her tent. DG and TC also smell shit but that's  because DG has indigestion from shoving too much junk into her mouth too quickly (garlic rosemary almonds and pistachios with Trader Joe's Cowboy Bark mix. Very bad combo). Tidy Camper will suffering for awhile. Dirty Girl is mainly laughing hysterically. Smelly farts just make her lose control.

     Onward with our story. We left this morning at 6:15 and walked through incredible blooming meadows. We were on hillsides that were covered with tiny starburst flowers that were white in the center and purple on the outside. They made the hill shimmer wth brightness almost like what happens when you walk over really white snow. You have to squint your eyes a bit. The fragrance was perfect, way better than any manufactured smell. Sweet and light. Purple, white, yellow, and of  course that brilliant California poppy orange. The yellows had two shades of yellow. Gifts and more gifts. Our senses were fully alive. Perfect colors and perfect arrangements. From a distance an entire hill looked purple or yellow or white. All of the trees in this area had been burned. Black standing skeletons amongst little glories of creation.

     Once again we were beside the wind turbines but this time we weren't walking through them but behind them. We saw 5 black horses (wild?) standing beside a turbine. Two were eating what the ground offered, one was sitting down and 2 were curious about us hikers. They stared at us as we stared at them. As I type this I am looking at two propellers slowly turning in the wind. We are below them and they sound like a distant highway and there is a not so distant highway.  We are camped under an oak tree in a wind farm next to Tejachapi Willow Spring road. This is quite a setting and there are many sounds of industry. Nature squeezed between roads, turbines, and other man made structures. We are grateful for our campsite eventhough there is hidden buried shit everywhere.

Wind turbines from our tent. 

Our campsite. 

Topo's tent from our supine position. Avoiding the heat. It' only 80, not bad!