Some awesome Belgians on a road trip gave me a ride from the springs back to the trailhead at Walker Pass. The following morning I was fortunate enough to have a little trickle of rain and clouds in the sky for most of the day for a very exposed desert section.
Lots of joshua trees everywhere
I left the trail to obtain water at Willow Springs, which was fortunately flowing. As I was filling up my second water bottle from a dripping pipe, I noticed a large coiled-up snake a few inches from my hands! It had the markings of a diamond back rattler, but it wasn't rattling yet. I backed up and when I returned to the pipe to fill up more water it had disappeared.
These joshua trees looked especially Suess-like.
Nearing Kelso Valley Road
My 8 liters of water from Robin Bird Spring for the following 35 miles to Highway 58.
9/10: In the morning, I cooked and ate
an oatmeal breakfast in the pine grove where I had slept in my hammock.
I packed up and started walking. Only 60 seconds on the trail and I
heard some crashing and saw a bear running through the brush. This was
followed by a whole family of bears crashing around and climbing trees.
I had spent the entire night right next to a den of bears. The trail
that morning was covered in bear tracks and bear scat. A few more bears
ran away from me in manzanita and pine groves down the trail.
A small patch of old growth pines in between exposed and burned sections
Above Tehachapi
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