Aqueduct And Wind Farms
I can’t easily explain why I liked hiking the aqueduct so much. I was basically hiking on a thick rusted pipe with rivets that pierced my sandals and gave me a somewhat painful foot massage, but I absolutely loved this section of the trail.
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| Aqueduct |
Maybe it was the change in scenery as the landscape now included groves of Joshua trees, maybe the underlying engineering challenge the aqueduct presented at the time of its construction, I just can’t say.
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| Sun Is Going Down… |
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| …Spectacularly |
The other hikers eventually got off the pipe and hiked the dirt road next to it, but I stayed on until it was converted to a closed concrete structure, resembling a road.
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| Too Late… |
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| Good Morning! |
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| View From My Tent |
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| One Of The Few Areas Without Turbines |
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| The Desert Floor I left Behind |
I camped at the bottom of a canyon with a little creek. The winds were so high that one of my tent cords broke around 3 am and I had to do some emergency repair.
The wind kept increasing the following day as I moved towards Tehachapi Pass. The pass is famous for its wind and it was now blowing stronger than I ever experienced, blowing a good 50 mph. I was stumbling like a drunk, laboring on and on to get to my destination.
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| A Small Selection Of Wind Turbines |
Meanwhile I was surrounded by more and more wind turbines. There were older models, brand new ones, small, medium, large units, most with three propellers, some with two. All kind of brands as well. It was as if the complete history of wind turbines was on display in one giant park. One local trail angel had told me that the area had around 800 turbines. They were on every hill, in every valley, before me, behind, left and right.
The sun started setting. The wind was as strong as ever. There was no high vegetation for protection, nor any landscape features to hide behind. Setting up the tent was out of the question. I had to cowboy camp. At least I wanted to camp in a spot with a great view. I found a large concrete slab where communication cables were buried just as it was getting really dark.
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| Good Night! |
The wind was so strong that it would have carried everything away, my sleeping bag, my mat, my (pretty empty) food bag, so I secured every item with a large rock. Even my cooking pot went flying when I didn’t pay attention and left it out. Still, I did not feel annoyed or frustrated. Quite the opposite. I was calm and happy. I managed to start my stove where the slap stepped down to the trail with the help of my backpack as additional shield. I cooked the last food I had and ate it in the middle of the mayhem.
The turbines started to simultaneously blink red in the dark. I brushed my teeth and climbed into my sleeping bag. It was pretty cold at that point, but once inside I got warm almost immediately, despite the blowing wind. I had positioned my backpack behind my head, so my face was somewhat shielded. I closed the mummy bag all the way, said good night to the blinking turbines and the stars overhead and went to sleep.
The wind kept blowing all night long, but I slept better than many other nights. I got up around 5:30 am, as I needed to cover five more miles to the highway with the bus to Tehachapi, my next supply point. It had gotten colder still, but my bag had kept me warm and cozy all night. The clouds raced across the sky, some were so low that I thought they would engulf me, but they stayed just above, obscuring the tops of the highest wind turbines.
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| Camp |
It was difficult to move against the wind, even though the trail went mainly downhill. Still, or perhaps because of that, it was an amazing experience. The roaring of the wind, the rhythmic thumping of the turbines and the hard physical exercise created an euphoric feeling that I carried with me all day.
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| First Sight Of The Highway |
Still, I was happy to have a bed in Tehachapi for the following night.
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