PCT Day 45 – David

Campsite at mile 634 to Walker Pass (mile 652 + a hitch into Lake Isabella)

I’m just starting to think that Onyx is going to be a hard town to hitch out of when a big man driving a big white pickup truck pulls into the now defunct gas station across the road. He thumbs silently in the direction of Lake Isabella – our intended destination for the evening. I nod silently to the man and he waves us over.

“You two PCT hikers?” He asks by way of an introduction. We are, and we’re trying to get into Lake Isabella after hitching first into the tiny community of Onyx to pick up our resupply box and then being called further afield by the siren song of showers and restaurant meals in the substantially bigger town of Lake Isabella. After some shuffling of dog beds off seats we’re rumbling westward into the afternoon sun.

Our driver’s name is David. He’s clad in a blue flannel button down tucked into brown work pants, a large gold and silver watch glints on his wrist, catching the sun as he pilots the truck – the attire of a man accustomed to manual labor. A union carpenter of 40 years who just retired from working in the film industry, a foreman on prime time family TV shows, Murphy Brown, The Big Bang Theory among others. And after he retired he and his wife bought a ranch up in Keyesville, a piece of property and a house for them and their dogs. But that was a while ago. His wife passed away five years ago, and now it’s just him and the dogs. But maybe not forever.

David tells us he’s heading out to Bakersfield to visit his new girlfriend. His response to my inquiry about online dating is similar to that of so many in his generation; “oh, I’m not sure that’s for me.” To which he adds “I think if you’re on the right path, you’ll connect with the people you’re supposed to. And that’s good because then your paths are similar, it’s how you’ll connect to each other. That’s why I keep myself active.”

Active means volunteering on a desert trail crew and with the local adubon society. He answers my questions about the differences between crows and ravens – ravens are bigger and with a hooked beak, while crows are smaller and with a straight beak. And about a striking yellow bird we’ve seen on the trail recently – a finch. Outside the window the south fork of the Kern river cuts a lazy path through the flat valley bottom. In this riparian zone, David informs us, they see some of the largest flocks of migrating turkey vulchers, enough to warrant a festival each fall. So fitting, a turkey vulcher festival in a small town in the Sierra foothills. I’d like to come back and see that one day.

After 20 minutes David drops us at a trailer park and campground on the edge of town. He climbs out of the truck with us and stands by as we unload our backpacks before shaking both of our hands. Then he gets back into his truck and drives away, out of our narrative and back into his own. Like all of us, he is the center of his own movie and we are but small characters.