For the first time on the trip, we started the day out right. We walked a couple blocks down 62 to a store called Jelly Donut, and had donuts and coffee for breakfast.
We set out from Yucca Valley with a sandy, uphill road walk west on Pioneertown Road. This road walk was not so bad as yesterday’s, but maybe that’s just because we were now fueled by donuts and coffee.
Getting my left shoe on had required a bit of fiddling with the laces, but once on, it didn’t hurt very much.
Bill and Wonky, like they did for much of yesterday, kept lagging behind. Not tired, though – just chatting and laughing.
Pioneertown road, unsurprisingly, led us to Pioneertown, an “old West” town built to be used as a movie backdrop. When not filming, it’s a walkable tourist area, with shops in the old west building.
The man running the lamb-petting booth was very interested in PCT hikers, and offered to let us sleep on his farm down the road (we couldn’t, though, it was too near).
We stopped for lunch at a large restaurant called Payout and Harriet’s, next to Pioneertown, which was also themed after the old west. It seemed to specialize in obscure beers that were not very good – I had a brown ale that was best described as “forgettable”. But, the fried catfish sandwich was tasty, and they let us fill up our water bottles for the unknown water situation ahead.
The check came, and Bill thanked us for the adventure, and bought us all lunch.
The road ahead was paved, then dirt, then rough dirt. Joshua trees seemed to flourish here.
Hospitality, too, seemed to flourish. There wasn’t much traffic, but about 1 in 5 of the passing vehicles stopped to ask if we needed water. One even asked if we needed food. We found water caches every few miles. There were homemade signs carefully posted at intersections, explaining how to get back to the PCT on the network of dirt forest roads.
It was like the town had been eagerly awaiting a fire closure, so they could support some thru-hikers.
As our path wound its way to the hills, we got tired, and set up camp in a flat area near a water cache.
That was a fun post. Keep them coming!
WHOA! i just got an email about a concert in pioneertown in august haha http://www.crackersoul.com/store the camper van beethoven campout!
also, you are fearless! i’d be too afraid of snakes and scorpions to sleep without a netting haha.
awesome to hear about all the hospitality on the road, too bad we can’t get more of this in normal life. guess i’m living the wrong life!
Truth be told, I chickened out and pitched my tent. When the sun went down, it got cold fast, so I thought cowboy camping was a bad idea. As it turned out, it was still the coldest night so far.
The funny thing about the hospitality is that this isn’t the PCT at all, it’s just a route around the closure that someone on reddit found. Very few hikers actually used it, almost everyone took the bus.
Are you living the wrong life? Well you’re looking up Camper Van Beethoven concerts that are an 8 hour drive away, so i’d say DEFINITELY NOT.
Scott and I went hiking today and we were thinking of you when we were out on the trail! Loving all the pictures and updates and hope you, Elizabeth and all your new PCT friends are having a wonderful time!
Thanks for the well-wishes Richard!