PCT Day 40
June 9, 2021
Mile: 444.3 454.4
Start: Acton, CA KOA campground
Finish: An empty grass lot next to some old shops and a parking lot
Shannon and I finally got back on the trail around 2pm after hanging out at the KOA campground until the heat died down a little bit. On the way back to drop off our rental car in the nearby city of Palmdale, a daredevil motorcyclist zoomed past everyone on the end of the sandy road. We just sighed about how crazy California drivers were. Unfortunately, a couple blocks later we saw his wrecked motorcycle wrapped around a telephone pole, him grabbing his knee and a couple of people already helping him. Looks like he had gone a little too crazy and crashed. Thank goodness the hospital was only a block away.
Back at the campground we met a guy from Alaska with some pretty bad shin splints who was getting off trail for his graduation in San Luis Obispo, a town closer to the coast a few hours away. We hung out for a few hours while Shannon worked on his business and then hiked on to the trail as the 100 degrees afternoon temperatures cooled off a little bit. We didn’t make it too far from the campground before we had to wait for a long cargo train. All day and night trains crossed the busy tracks behind the campground which made it really necessary to wear ear plugs all night while camping out in a tent.
Up in the hills we wound our way around some dramatic looking rock outcroppings and small caves in the Los Angeles County hills. We were really excited because today we’re going to hit up the legendary Vasquez Rocks. In the 1800’s, a bandito named Vasquez used to live up here since there was only one way in and one way out – it made it perfect for smuggling! Supposedly this outlaw guy named Vasquez was feared by the local men and loved by the local ladies who secretly thought he was handsome and dashing. Sounds like a western film!
Speaking of films, Vasquez Rocks State Park was apparently “the place” where lots of movies and TV shows have been filmed. Star Trek (basically every series and several movies), Blazing Saddles, The Flintstones, Rat Race, Galaxy Quest, Planet of the Apes, The Lone Ranger, Westworld, Battlestar Galactica, MacGyver…you name it! Up at the very dramatic Vasquez Rocks Shannon and I did the Vulcan salute, because we learned that like every single Star Trek series and several movies had been filmed here. A lot of productions had also been filmed here since it’s not too far from LA and the landscape is so dramatic. We kept asking ourselves, “Is this where insert movie here was filmed?”
Besides learning more about the film history in the canyons, we learned all about desert plants as we traipsed about the dry rocky formations that looked like they were from outer space. Under the darkening twilight skies and lengthening shadows, were able to hike fast through the rocks and scrubland. We briefly stopped at the biggest rock formation in the Vasquez Rocks State Park where some d-bag backed his car all the way up a bunch of the rocks because he thought it was cool and was taking up all the photo opportunities. We waited it out and the little man with the big car finally left. There was also a couple who was doing an engagement photoshoot on the rocks which was a really striking background. No wonder Hollywood had used this for so many movies!
We traipsed through the State Park for a while, getting spit out on a busy country highway and hiked on the road shoulder into the teeny tiny town of Agua Dulce. Our first stop was Maria Bonita’s Mexican restaurant where we set our packs down outside and waited for the waitress to come over. As in every town, there’s always that one local person who is very interesting that you meet. And this time around it was this local older guy who asked if he could sit down with us and unknowingly and wanting to be kind we said sure. He asked maybe 1 or 2 questions about us the whole time and then proceeded to talk about himself for over an hour about how great he was and how crazy his life had been. Blah, blah blah. This complete stranger actually was bold enough to help himself to our tortilla chips and salsa, and then took his dinner at our table, chowing down even though we hadn’t even ordered yet! It was really interesting.
Apparently this local character had been in the hunting competitions on horseback with dogs and used to own a pharmacy in town before retiring. One time an armed robber came into his shop trying to steal opiates, and magically the pharmacist ended up disarming the gunman and shot the gunman several times to defend himself. It was a very interesting story. And we just kind of were patient and ate our dinner, hoping he would leave soon.
In the meantime, 3 firefighters from Agua Dulce fire station sat down and began eating dinner next to us. Unfortunately they had worked with the guy who shot up their fire station last week. Of course, our hearts went out to them and we felt so terrible for what they’ve gone through. Apparently there was a big investigation going on into mental health accessibilities for tools and support for the local firefighters.
Of course, the guy who invited himself to dinner with us always seemed to have to make it about himself went out to these poor firefighters. It seemed like they were clearly grieving and wanted to be left alone. But of course, the guy we sat with had to tell the firefighters that his daughter went to high school years ago with the guy that got killed. One of the firefighters said that the guy had been a really good friend for 20 years and had been his mentor. But of course, the guy sitting at our table thought he had to “one-up” this grieving firefighter and was just completely clueless socially.
After the pharmacist left the table of firefighters, one of the firefighters seemed kind of upset and he walked away for a little bit to regroup. I felt really bad. The firefighters let a little kid pull the horn on their truck. Shannon and I thanked them for their service and for helping keep us safe by providing water for us and fighting fires in the backcountry.
After dinner, we wandered around the building looking for a water spigot that was talked about in the Guthook navigation app. Because of COVID one of the businesses that had offered hikers free water had shut down and so their water utilities were also shut down. We ended up right back at the front of the Mexican restaurant where one of the waiters told us where we could find the water. We filled up our water bladders and then as it got dark, we set up our tent in a gravel parking lot to the side of the abandoned retail shops. As we set up camp, little kids kept running around in the parking lot yelling about “…baby baby Yoda!” We laughed at how nutso they were.
A few locals waved to us in their abandoned yard and we dodged trash, glass shards and armies of ants to set up our tent. Other locals had told us that when it was high season of PCT hiking that maybe 15 or 20 hikers would set up their tents there each night. Tonight it was just us and it felt kind of weird and lonely. The road was still busy after dark but we slept okay and knew that we probably should be out of this place before sunrise to not attract attention to ourselves.
