May 30th
We went to sleep with the wooshing sound of windmill blades. When we awoke everything was still and quiet.
The trail continued to follow miles of ridge top windmills. We had slept late, tired from the day before and had a hard time going, finding that rhythm. We were dragging some all day.
To make matters worse, small pains were popping up – the ankle was sore again, the small of the back was a bit “raw” where the pack rubs. Nothing serious, just nagging stuff. By days end we still managed to cover a bit over 22 miles, but they did not seem easy.
The ATV abuse is still evident, even if it is les frequent, not as widespread as before Tehachapi, but still disheartening.
Early in the day we met two southbound section hikers and traded water information. Later we leap frogged through the day with the horse people, as well as One Gallon and Fritz, and Tigger.
This section is considered to be the very southernmost reach of the Sierra and in general we are getting into better views, with more mountains. The skies started out very clear, but then wind blew a layer of smog in from LA. And we continued to share the trail with windmills and cows.
Late in the day, at one bend in the trail, I heard the distinctive snorting sounds of animals grazing. Assuming at first that it was another cows, I barely gave it a second look. But when I did, I noticed that these cows were all black, had really thick fur and were not interested in grass, they were grazing for grubs under old logs. Fortunately we were not too close. And being downwind and quiet, we could get a couple quick photos before the sound of the shutter some small spooked them. Mom and her cub ran away as fast as any bears I’ve ever seen run. They had a major case of the Fear of humans, a quality I like to see in bears.
We stopped for water a short while later at Robin Bird Springs. The horse people had dug out a very nice water hole for the stock, the main spring well above this came out of the ground through a pipe and tasted cool and sweet. Others soon arrived including captn mike, mouse, jamiewicked, sisu, and robert. The Carrot and I moved on a few miles and camped with Tigger near a branch of Cottonwood Creek.
