Day 54: Zero Day 1 Kennedy Meadows

Went to grumpy and the bears for oversized pancakes in a pickup truck with 20 other hikers stuffed in the back. After that checked out Yogi's outfitter. She sells gear out of her living room. She's hiked over 20,000 miles. She told me to ditch my water proof hiking boots that I just had shipped. I milled over buying those damn things for two weeks and now I have to say I just don't like how they feel. I'm sticking with trail runners for this first stretch.

Extremely safe pickup truck ride  

Healthy food  

I had a lot of anxiety this morning about the next section. Sometimes I get too much in my own head. Hearing about fatalities from other recent hikers in the eastern Sierra makes me a little nervous. The snow melt is massive and rapid, and is creating extremely dangerous river flows in some of the main areas we have to eventually cross. A woman died trying to climb Mt. Whitney a couple weeks ago.

We gathered all of our hiking cohorts together this morning on the porch to discuss a safety and hiking plan. We're teaming up. Mowgly facilitated ground rules and we came to agreements on what we will do. The main objective: no one hikes alone and no one is left behind. It made me feel a million times better. We decided to stick with a 6/10 departure date, which gives me an extra day of rest and beer drinking.

Mowgly has been a great friend on the trail and the only woman of color out of everyone I have seen or met on the PCT. 

I spent the rest of the day doing chores: laundry, shower, sorting through my new gear. Mowgly had a family member pick her up and take her to Lone Pine so she called jessica for me to let her know what our plan is and when we will be getting to Independence. Getting a hold of her or any of my family has been impossible. I had a couple unsuccessful attempts getting through to my folks on the pay phone. I wasted $5 on quarters trying to do it.

Kennedy Meadows is loaded with hikers. New ones coming in every day. Hundreds of packages being delivered. Lots of beer and cigarettes being consumed. All while folks rest before entering the next section. It's sort of like purgatory here. It's weird, and also unique. I've met a lot of people, most of them super nice and a little crazy. One more day of rest and it'll be my turn to hit the road.

Left to right: Righteous (Jesse), Beastie Boy (me), Happy Hour (Drew), Prometheus (Cameron).  

Day 53: 683-702

The plan was to get up and slow hike for 15 miles and stay outside of an anticipated crowd at Kennedy Meadows. Most of the morning was a downhill descent from 8,000 to 6,000. When I got to my first rest stop I realized that all the downhill creates a new problem: my left foot, specifically my left toe and its tendon. It's incredibly sore and hurts to take a proper step. When I finally made it to the South Fork of the Kern River I jumped in and took a swim, and iced my foot and knee. The swim was refreshing, and it gave me a chance to get some of the gunk and filth off of my clothes.

Unfortunately, there was no where cool to camp along the river. So I kept going, scrapping my original plans and going all the way to KM. As I walked about a mile up the river, after taking a 2 hour swim and rest break, I saw some dope sites. But I killed too much time in the day and felt like I needed to just press on. So I did.

it wasn't 700 miles for me but it was still a struggle  

The landscape is decidedly alpine. Massive granite peaks are all around us, and the desert environment is slowly slipping away into the newness of the Sierra. Green conifers and pine are everywhere. Dumping into the valley that gives way to KM is a massive meadow of sage brush. It smells delicious. The sky is clear and blue, and the sun is baking. It was 95 degrees when I walked into the general store parking lot.

A PCT blaze inidicating the trail. KM is just a mile away! 

When I arrived I got a sudden rush of emotions. I can't believe I actually made it this far. I mean, I've only logged 300 miles so far, but I honestly didn't expect to make it to the Sierra Nevada. And now I'm here. And now I'm like "oh fuck, I'm entering dangerous territory with few life lines if something goes wrong." I wanted to cry from happiness and from concern about what's ahead.

When I walked up I could immediately see dozens of hikers crowding the general store deck, drinking and eating, and general in a relaxed party atmosphere. Everyone clapped and cheered my arrival. They do this for every hiker that comes in.

All I want to do is call home but I can't. Absolutely no cell service and the wifi connectivity is hopeless.

Mowgly ran up to me with a beer and instructed me to put my pack down and relax. I followed suit. After seeing everyone and settling in a bit I checked to see if my packages that my brother mailed me arrived. All but one got here. 8 days of food in a heavy bear can, plus ice axe and crampons, plus new heavy waterproof hiking boots that to quite fit properly. I'm nervous about the weight of my pack. 20 miles north of here we will be at 11,000+ elevation. 40 miles from here we will be at Forester Pass, 13,500 ft. Yeah, I'm scared. Are these worries normal? Am I in over my head? I don't know. But I'm going to see how the next 100 miles go. My main concern is still the pain in my left foot.

Righteous force feeding us a group prayer to the hiking Gods  

After the sun went down everyone walked a half mile down the road to a trail angel's house - Tom. He opens up his yard to hikers and hosts an outdoor movie theater. We watched School of Rock, which is super corny. Tomorrow I need to grab some gear from the outfitter and figure out my food plan. The group is lobbying to leave June 9th instead of the 10th as originally planned. I guess I have to go with the flow.

bonfire at tom's place  

Day 52: 663-683

​I slept in a bit, got up and packed my things. I called jessica to wish her a good week, this will be the last time I can use my cell to contact her for a while. There is a payphone in Kennedy Meadows, but no cell service. I was on the trail by 7am and it was already pretty warm out. Looking at the elevation map, I knew today was just a shit ton of more climbing. I prefer to knock it out before it gets too hot.

After 5 hours and 12 miles I stopped to take a mid day siesta. I found a nice spot on top of the mountain amongst the conifers, rabbits, and gnats. They are horrendous, constantly trying to fly in my mouth or nose. I want to kill them all. From my lunch spot I only have 7 miles to the next planned camp for the night, so I'm excited to eat some food, nap, and get the last stretch taken care of for the day. It's incredibly silent up here. No wind. The occasional bird song, and the sound of my brain thumping to my heart rate. I love it up here. I wish I could share this with my friends back home. I miss them all dearly.

After about an hour of trying to hide in shade from the sun I packed up and continued to the next stop. Everyone was down at the creek to refill water and we headed to the final stop for the night. The last climb was hot and steep. It's just the beginning of the last mountain we have to hike before we get to kennedy Meadows tomorrow. More and more hikers from the RV park started showing up at our site so we all had dinner together, smoked cigarettes and weed, and talked about plans for kennedy Meadows. Zorro and The Viking (two massive dudes with massive packs) showed up too. I was hiking behind them for a little while last night.

We have a few more days before we have to ascend the Sierra and tomorrow the trail will walk along the kern river for a few miles. I heard it's a really nice spot to stop and swim/camp/whatever. We might just stay there tomorrow instead of rushing to KM. That will mean shorter miles and more time for relaxing on the river. It's a rare thing to have a chill day on the trail. There is so much pressure to crush miles. But I may forego that. The moon is almost full tonight so it's a beautiful evening in my tent writing this post.