Day 34 (Apr. 27): The Tejon Ranch Blues and other private property musings
Hunt clubs (just an hour from L.A.!) ~~ Aqueducts for the thirsty millions in L.A. ~~Wind turbines that feed the L.A. power grid… Welcome to the Non-Crest portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, where land use politics have consigned the PCT far from the crest of the Tehachapi Mountains, its logical placement, to the margins of the Mojave Desert.
This section of trail was the last to be completed, with protracted negotiations in the early 1990s between the officials responsible for the PCT and private landowners, most notably the enormous (and politically powerful) Tejon Ranch. The resulting trail represents what could be achieved politically at the time, and not what is logical for a national scenic trail designed to follow the crest of the mountains. Some day, 37 or 38 miles of the PCT will be relocated to that more logical place near the crest of