Day 41: escaping the vortex/Casa de Luna - Sawmill CG (mi 478-498)

 Mama Anderson gets characteristically frisky with us during the obligate pre-departure photo. 

Looking north at the trail alignment of the next few days: across the Mojave desert floor, then east and north into the high desert mountains. 



Dehiscent bark on manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.) and madrones (Arbutus menzeisii) is an adaptation to the fire regime of chaparral habitats. Our skin was doing the same thing, too, but for completely different reasons.

Somehow we made it out of Casa de Luna. No walk of shame for us! We woke early, packed up, and had light breakfast of Joe Anderson's pancakes. Two blisters on my feet appeared to be mildly infected, despite wicking them and repeatedly dousing with alcohol. The Wolfpack started hiking @ 9, and immediately encountered a warm climb. We encountered lots of hikers on trail, all of whom left Casa de Luna slightly before us. We took a 2 hour early lunch near a water cache with the wolfpack. After our lunch, we discovered that Aloha the Trail Angel was at the cache some 100 feet away,  if that,  with cold soda and chips. My blisters, though calm and well-dressed during the early part of the day, were hot & in action after lunch. I developed an odd, tight twinge in my left calf following lunch on 1500' climb, which initially I wrote off as dehydration and lack of electrolytes. After the climb, we toured west-northwest along a ridgeline through the windy chaparral. We made good time, and were able to see roughly what the next few days would bring: a dry, dry crossing of the Mojave floor, then an east-northeast jog uphill into the desert mountains and into Tehachapi/Mojave. As we continued, my calf and blister pain steadily increased, and I became more concerned that the calf malady was due to a muscle sprain rather than a simple cramp. I finally took painkillers and vitamins to hobble the last mile or so into camp at the Sawmill Campground, and my leg improved quickly. The wind howled through the semi-developed campground flat, and we had a brief dinner with the wolfpack before retiring for the night.