PCT · Mile 535-567 · Tehachapi, Mojave Wind Farms, Wildfire Smoke & High Winds (No Talking No Music)

Pacific Crest Trail, Tehachapi Pass to Mojave Desert, Southern California. Day 39-40, Mile 534.9-566.5. Not a vlog. No talking, no music, no narration. Just visuals and sounds from the trail. Filmed June 13 to June 14, 2025. Posted June 14, 2026. One year to the day. -------- Chapters & Trail notes (on-screen timestamps): 00:00 - MILE 538, starting a night hike, avoiding the heat and wind. 03:09 - California flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum), I think. 03:18 - Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar). I think she’s so visible and aggressive, she’s trying to distract me away from the little chicks running uphill into a bush. 04:07 - Ultra marathon runners, in a rare moment where they're actually running (they normally walk uphill) 04:26 - Mile 544 06:02 - View back towards the San Gabriel Mountain range, and Mojave, and then a look at Gamble Spring Canyon. 08:37 - A Cal Fire Sikorsky helicopter. The hose dangling beneath is a snorkel, used to refill its internal tank by suctioning water from lakes or rivers while hovering. 09:02 - View of the thousands of turbines at the Alta-Oak Creek Mojave Project (aka the Mojave Wind Farm), Tehachapi Pass & Cameron Ridge Wind Farms. 10:53 - First look at fire smoke headed my way. 14:06 - Note the smoke cloud tendrils flowing from west to west over the Tehachapi mountains ahead. Scary but beautiful looking. 16:19 - deer 16:46 - Very epic windmill video. 17:05 - Probably my best footage of the fire smoke filled wind farm landscape. Both very pretty and very eerie. 17:39 - MILE 559 20:44 - Gomes' Bench Vista. https://maps.app.goo.gl/bPjdsgioH8mUZ... 21:13 - Look down on to Cameron Road and Highway 58. 21:36 - scary wooden bridge. 23:06 - Getting to Cameron Road. -------- Field-recorded trail audio. Edited for clarity. Headphones recommended. The full 2,655-mile series posts year-to-the-day through September 2026 (Well, hopefully, assuming I survive). #PacificCrestTrail #PCT #NoTalkingNoMusic #AmbientHiking #SoloHiking #ThruHike