June 3 - Hikertown

End: hikertown
Daily: 16.6
Total: 517.6

This section is one crazy place to stay after another.

This morning we woke up and then immediately went back to sleep. So we really didn't get started until about 9. After we packed up (and said hi to Solar Sam, who we saw a lot today) we hiked a few miles to a water source, which was a giant concrete tank on a hill. The lid came off but inside was a milky brown dank-smelling liquid too far down to reach. Since there was another water source in less than a mile we walked to that and found clean water that was easy to reach. It was a rainwater catchment tank. Yay!

The hiking today took forever it seemed. Same as yesterday. Parts of it were really pretty - through oak meadows with the ground covered in miner's lettuce. A lot of it was chaparral. At the end, we passed by a herd of about thirty cows, which all looked at us and then ran off up the hill.

I almost stepped on a couple snakes, but neither were rattlers. They still surprised me though.

Then we finally made it to Hikertown. Hikertown is a place by the side of the road that let's people stay and take showers and rent a room if they want for $10. We ended up just crashing on the floor. A lot of people did the same thing. This place is crazy. It's like a miniature wild west town. There's buildings with facades and old antiques and junk inside. The caretaker said the owners bought it as an investment and are there rarely. There are chickens and cats and dogs running around. And the landscape all around is flat. It's so weird and awesome.

Anyway it's late and we have to get up early to walk the LA aqueduct. It's going to be so boring. Oh well, it all gets better from there!