SLEPT IN!!! Being around seven miles from Hikertown, the last of the three trail angels in this stretch, I was able to sleep in and take my time eating and packing up. Hikes down the rest of the ridge to the flatlands of the Mojave and roadwalked on a dirt road for a mile to Hikertown.
Now Hikertown is a hostel in the middle of nowhere with miniature buildings recreating the western desert feel. The owner of the hostel, Richard was out for a few days so a injured hiker/caretaker was maintaining the place. I arrived a day or two after a larger group came through and pretty much trashed/disrespected the place so the caretaker was a bit salty, understandable though. I was able to get a monstrous cold cut sandwich delivered from the convenience store nine miles away and promptly relaxed the rest of the day. The high for the day was suppose to be in the 90's so nighthiking the Mojave/aqueduct was the plan.
I left Hikertown around six the wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping so I was happy. Leading up to this point lots of people were saying things like, "Oh man the Mojave/aqueduct walk is going to be brutal, it's the hottest section of the while PCT." so I mentally was geared up for some windy, sand blowing in my face type miserableness for the whole stretch. It was far from that, I spent the whole evening until around 11 pm walking on a relatively flat dirt road. One of my favorite things on the trail is when people inject fear into the unknown; sure the walk would have sucked in 90 degree weather but the wind in this area super deflects heat. It was enjoyable during night and near impossible to get lost. The goal was to hike 17 miles to a water source and bridge which would have led to hiking till one or two in the morning and that sure as hell didn't happen. After 11 or 12 miles found a nice campspot and called it a night.
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