Jack (Silver Fox) Turley's PCT hikes: Day 29 June 4, 2017

Daily mileage 12
Total mileage 524
Hiked from 6:15 PM to 10:00 PM

This day had a lot of twists and turns in it. Sorry this summary is rather lengthy.

So I woke up at my usual pre-dawn time and immediately realized that I had to wait about an hour before the hotel breakfast started. So I worked on this blog. You are welcome. Finally 6 am rolled around and I went down for breaky. Now Lancaster is not really on or near the PCT so they do not see many of us hikers. So the nice lady working the breakfast bar was a bit taken aback when I made two waffles (with lots of both syrup and whipped cream), a couple of bowls of fresh fruit with yogurt, then ordered the bacon, eggs and potatoes "entree" and say, are those Fruit Loops over there I spy? By the way, the orange juice dispenser is running a bit low too. Man, I was some sort of hungry.

So I arranged for a taxi to pick me up at noon to take me part way back to the trail head (past the freeway) and I would hitch the rest of the way. It would be $40 flat for that. I had time so I wandered off to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items there and what should I spy right at the corner? Starbucks. Hell yeah, a Flat White sounds good right now. And let's include one of those bacon breakfast sandwiches too.

So then I go back to the hotel lobby to wait for my cab. Noon comes and goes, no cab. By 12:30, I used the hotel phone (sometimes I think I am going to have to capitulate and get a cell) to call them, and they state that there was a mix-up and my cab was canceled but they will hustle a replacement over. So another 30 minutes goes past and, you guessed it, no cab. Now the idea of hitching the last piece to the trail is getting less appealing as the heat of the day increases. So, on my second (or third depending on if you count the original booking call) to my new friends at the cab company, I asked how about taking me all the way to the trail for the same fare due to the error(s) on their part. He said he would put me on hold and ask the boss. 30 seconds later I am listening to dial tone. Did he hang up deliberately? We will never know. In the meantime, two local ladies had heard the conversation while they were sitting in the lobby and asked me why I did not simply get an Uber car? I once again explained my lack of cell phone to them. So, one of them whips out her cell and books an Uber car to the trail for $28. Just as she finishes that, the most disgusting, dilapidated taxi pulls up to the curb. I went out and talked to the driver and asked him if he would honour the $40 ride all the way to the trail and he said it was $70. Long story short, he left pissed, I gave the nice lady $40 for the $28 Uber ride as a tip for her kindness and I got a ride with a lovely El Salvadorian gentleman in a newer Nissan.

So, back to Hikertown I got. Went to the local corner store and got a fabulous burger and salad and then waited out the afternoon heat with several other hikers. At about 6:15 I got rolling and immediately realized I could have left at least an hour earlier as there was a cool breeze and the hiking was ridiculously easy. The trail follows a couple of aqueducts in the Antelope Valley, so the grade and tread were super easy. There is a 3/4 moon out right now so I did not even have to use my headlamp. Now I am perched up on a concrete inspection box over the pipe (I will have to get up in the night to go pee because I can hear the water flowing under me) and all is well.