We left Tehachapi with the promise of cooler weather, owing largely to a wind advisory for the next three days. Before we left, Brian said “Thank God for the wind advisory” which turned out to be a little preemptive. The upside of the wind advisory was indeed that it was not hot. The downsides of the wind advisory, however, included: getting constantly blown off the trail, expending a lot of extra energy trying not to get blown off trail, and getting really terrible sleep.
Right away out of town, we had a big climb up a totally exposed peak, with 50-60mph winds the whole way. This was a somewhat traumatic experience, but some scrawny trees near the top provided some shelter. Another feature of this section was that it had very little water, with long stretches between sources. So rather than camping in the more sheltered section, we pushed to the next water source, which was sadly much less sheltered and the wind blew our tents and the surrounding trees around loudly all night. Stoplight and I both slept horribly, so even though the next day was more sheltered and theoretically not that difficult, everything felt hard. Walking down a particularly mindless downhill, I thought I might literally fall asleep while hiking, I was so tired. Instead, I made it to the 600 mile mark, where a couple of hikers were taking a break and cheering for people as they arrived. I took the opportunity to take a break and talk to them. Their names were Sparky and Cat and it turned out that they had hiked the aqueduct with Andrew. They had been walking along the aqueduct when they saw a weird, creepy shed (I do not remember this particular shed, but the aqueduct vibes were generally creepy). Unbeknownst to them, Andrew was taking a break by the shed, headlamp off because the moon was so bright. As they nervously approached the shed, Andrew suddenly yelled “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE.” For some reason after this, they still agreed to hike together.

Day three (and thankfully the last day) of the wind advisory was probably my worst day on trail so far. There was a 15 mile stretch of exposed, windy, desert walking that all largely looked the same. The trail was made of beach sand and the wind was absolutely relentless. At times it felt impossible to move forward. After a particularly steep, sandy climb, I broke down and called Ben, crying, yelling about the sand and the wind and how I just wanted to get out of the desert and the desert wouldn’t let me leave. Predictably, the ranting helped somewhat and the trail even got somewhat more sheltered shortly after my breakdown. I got to the next water cache, where everyone was taking a long break and looking traumatized. Almost everyone else also admitted to crying or screaming at some point in the last few miles. That night, I woke up in the middle of the night to a miracle: it was quiet and the wind had actually stopped.

After that, it was like a spell had broken and I remembered that I didn’t actually hate hiking. It didn’t hurt that each mile brought us closer to the end of the desert, and it was starting to feel like we might actually get there. After the harrowing wind days, the last two full days in the desert were pretty quiet and uneventful.
Finally, around 10am on my 27th day on trail, after 700 miles, I arrived in Kennedy Meadows. Even though this is a tiny town that basically consists of two rival general stores, this is a huge milestone for hikers. It is generally considered to be the end of the desert and start of the Sierras. It is where hikers pick up bear canisters and warmer clothing for the high peaks ahead. Having taken a short day in, I plan on heading right back to trail, but everyone else is taking a zero day after arriving. Stoplight’s boyfriend is visiting for the weekend, so she’ll be about two days behind me. So I’ll be on my own again for a while. In a way, it feels like I am starting the trail all over again, heading into a new, unknown section and without anyone I know. It’s exciting, but also nerve wracking.

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