Hikertown, CA.

Natalie arrived on Sunday June 20, 2004 at Hikertown, CA. as previously arranged to pick us up. Hikertown is the property owned by Richard Skaggs. It is 516 trail miles from the Mexican Border, on California Highway 138 about 24 miles West of Lancaster, CA. Truly an Oasis in the desert. Richard inherited the PCT hikers about 3 years ago when he bought the property from the former owner who hosted PCT travelers. Pat and I were the only hikers at Hikertown on the 19th and Richard just happened to be there the day we were. We had a great evening with Richard grilling and chatting. It seems Richard is a producer and director among other things related to the film and movie industry. Richard, as the story goes, bought Hikertown when he was looking for a place to store his car collection and miscellaneous production stuff. It seems that storing his two Rolls Royce’s, Ferrari, numerous 4X4’s, dune buggies, pickup trucks, connix containers of movie props, etc in the Palos Verde area where he has his main home is too expensive, so he purchased this property. He said he was quite shocked that first spring day when about 20 hikers showed up at his place looking for water and a place to stay. Now that he has figured out what is going on, he has been expanding the facilities for hikers and has several improvements in the works. He has a fairly new KIA sedan that hikers can use to pick up supplies and equipment etc as needed. There are horses there, a bunk house for hikers to sleep, nice green grass in the yard to sleep and relax on, food supplies, water, gas grills, stove, refrigerator, a new bathroom and shower, etc. All and all, he has made many improvements to the property for the hikers. As a side note, Richard is on one of Arnold the “Govenator’s” committees that has something to do with air and water quality in that part of the state (Antelope Valley). We found the time that we spent with Richard most enjoyable. It was also an added treat to meet his wife Roberta the following day as they both were heading to Sacramento, CA for a committee meeting with Arnold’s staff. The pictures below were taken at Hikertown. Row 1, pictures 1 and 2 are of the bunkhouse, in picture 5, Natalie looks pretty good behind the wheel of Richard's Ferrari. The pictures in Row 2 are of the house and surrounding area. Click on any of the thumbnail pictures to see an expanded view. Use your browsers "Back Button" to return to the thumbnails or click back again to return to the text.