Wednesday ——-

Mojave is a tiny town with not much to recommend it, but it does have a decent market and the Motel-6 is cheap. 

The gang are all taking a zero today and leaving early Thursday. Sadly, my new backpack won’t be in till Thursday afternoon so I’ll be half a day behind the pack. 😞

The 85 mile stretch from Tehachapi Pass to Walker Pass is one of the worst for water on the whole PCT; There are 17, 19, 29 and 13 mile sections with no water.  Since there are nine of us, Mother Goose came up with the plan where we are going to pay Jetta Blue’s son to deliver 15 gallon jugs of water to us where the trail passes a dirt road on Sunday. (The 29 mile section) We are excited about this as no one wants to carry 7-8 liters of water for that long a stretch! (18lbs!)

We all further lightened our loads by sending extra stuff ahead to the post office at Lake Isabella, which is a bus ride west of Walker Pass. 

A bit about my pack: The ZPacks Hauler is an outstanding ultralight packpack designed for Ultra-Light use. Meaning, the total carry weight needs to be 30 lbs with an absolute max of 40 lbs. 

Unfortunately, while my “Base Weight” started at 15lbs, I added cold weather gear and other crap and it crept up to 20lbs. Add the water and food requirements of the PCT and I fly past 40lbs.  Here is what I left Agua Dulce at:

• Base = 20
• 6 liters water = 13.2
• 6 days food = 12

So 45lbs, which exceeds the weight limit of the pack. 

I’m stating all this to possibly explain why the @#%-ing hip belt is ripping off again. I noticed it starting to rip at the Andersons and by Mojave it’s over an inch long. And I babied the pack over the last 80 miles!  The picture shows the progress of the rip. NO WAY was I going to the Sierras with a broken pack. 

So I ordered an Osprey Atmos pack from REI, which should arrive Thursday.  I guess I’m either just too hard on equipment, or I bought into the UL mantra too hard. Or both. 😣