First day in the Sierras!

Day 43

Sherman Pass Road (Kennedy Meadows) to mile 721.8

19.8 miles

Our first day in the Sierras! We spent most of the day climbing up into elevation. We are camping at 9774 feet tonight so I’m sure it will get a bit chillier than last night.

We began our day with packing our bags with bear cans for the first time this trip. The things are huge and add over two pounds to our pack with just the empty can. But it is super important to use them given how many people come through this section. It is also a protection for the bears and animals to remain in their natural habitat as well.

It felt good to be back on trail again after taking two days off to rest. Last night I had gotten pretty antsy to be back and tried to convince Kevin to hike out then but it was good we went to bed early then headed out today.

My feet have had a fraction of the blister pain they did have and I have been able to treat the ones that are still a problem. Kevin’s foot has been better too and we stopped a few times to rest it.

We are in sync with hiking friends again since we had taken two zeros. It was fun to hike with them, hangout at water stops and eat dinner together. Since we did less miles today just getting into the mountains it was fun to have other people as entertainment too!

My book has also been enthralling as we hike and quite the distraction from the uphill. I’m listening to “Us against you” by Fredrick Backman. Maybe I’ll try and listen to all his books this summer like I did with Brene Brown and Malcolm Gladwell’s books on the AT.

The sounds and smells of the mountains seem familiar even if we haven’t been exactly to this area. I love the ponderosa pine smell and seeing the little Juncos, Barn Swallows, and Mountain Bluebirds!

Double zero

Day 42

Second zero day

Kennedy Meadows

Because of Kevin’s foot and my blisters we had decided to take two zeros here. Sleeping in til 8 am felt so great this morning. We have tried to make this double zero not super expensive so we are eating from our resupply box and some cheap meals at TCO and I scored some good stuff from the hiker box too. Hiker boxes have been gold so far, lots of stuff other hikers don’t want that have been super great for me!

It has been really fun to be here for two days and see almost everyone that we have met on the trail that was behind us. We have seen a few groups that started with us but had taken longer breaks in towns and such and now they have caught up. We are starting again tomorrow with one group that we have really enjoyed hiking with.

It has been awesome hearing how everyone is doing and learning more about people’s backgrounds. I talked with one woman from Switzerland today for awhile. She is a social worker and was telling me about what that is like in her practice and we were comparing notes to what counseling and social work was like here.

Then I talked with a marine botanist who studied frogs and whales. I learned so much about whales in the North Atlantic Ocean and what she has been working on with her team of protecting the whales and helping to change legislation and fishing practices to not harm the whales. It was so neat to hear how these measures are working and things are getting better. I think I don’t always get to hear about these types of hopeful situations. Also I love whales and loved learning about her work.

Then we spent some time repairing our gear. I sewed our gaiters again and put some patches on Kevin’s. Then we patched our tent. I don’t think our tent will last for this thruhike which is disappointing. It has gone over 3,100 miles so it isn’t like it is just breaking on day one but tents are so expensive so we were hoping it would make it. The DCF fabric is weather worn.

Tomorrow we set out into the Sierras! I am very excited to be up in the mountains again! We have done some hiking around this section and we have been in mountains a lot so I’m not too nervous about that aspect but there is always the cautious thought in the back of my head that the mountains can whop your hinny in a matter of seconds and be life threatening. Mother Nature doesn’t give a crap about your experience and knowledge but always has the upper hand. I like to call this cautious part of me a healthy respect for the mountains because there is also the bold and strong part of me that still like to go out and climb these suckers.

Zero Day

Day 41-June 18

Kennedy Meadows General Store

Zero day

Today is our second zero day on the trail. Zero miles hiked. The general store allows camping in their back forest for free. Showers and laundry are four dollars each so I just wash my clothes in the shower since we just did actual laundry in Ridgecrest. We work to get our errands done. Showers, laundry, getting a bear can, sorting food, buying enough to get to Lone Pine.

The atmosphere of Kennedy Meadows is interesting. The three businesses that operate here don’t always seem to get along and various things are needed from each spot so it can be tricky to navigate the shops that are a couple miles apart. There is a shuttle but yesterday they decided to not run since a hiker had brought in outside beer to an unlicensed area at a business. This could of course cost the business their liquor license and it was an international hiker who had no idea but wasn’t the first person to do this so everything blew up. So we just did our best to respect each business well and not take advantage.

We camped at the general store and did showers there but rented the bear cans and did resupply at Triple Crown Outfitters then got lunch at Grumpy’s and took their shuttle back to the general store. TCO has the best deal for renting a bear can. There is a deposit and charge but at North Kennedy Meadows we can drop off the can and never have to pay to ship or buy the awkward things which would cost more than the $50 to rent. Plus where we live you don’t need a hard sided bear can so there was no reason for us to buy the bigger size when we have the smaller ones.

The rest day felt great. It was fun to sit on the porch and eat meals with fellow hikers and meet some new faces that had been hiking with others we knew.

Kevin also had an appointment with the physical therapist who has been treating hikers. His foot started hurting him a couple days ago and it has been concerning. She didn’t think it was broken which is a plus and gave him some things to do to help. It is awesome the resources becoming available to thru hikers which really helps the hiker become more manageable and successful.

End of an era

Day 40-June 17

Fox Mill Spring to Kennedy Meadows South

18.9 miles

It felt like the end of an era. The end of the desert section of the PCT. Instead of crossing state lines like the AT, we are celebrating finishing geographical and ecological sections. When Kevin and I first talked about thruhiking a trail, I said I didn’t want to do the PCT because I am scared of snakes and the desert section would be too much. So we did the AT. Then I began wishing to do the PCT. Now here we are, through the section that I dreaded and I’m okay! Stronger for it actually!

The desert in many places was beautiful! The flowers were still blooming, water in some places still flowing, and the sunsets absolutely gorgeous. The way that animals and plants survive and thrive in the desert is so neat. I’m just happy I could adapt to survive through it too!

In this section, I learned to listen to my body about water and hydration. I learned to look for the small details like little plants or animals-because they can all poke or sting you. But this was a good reminder to appreciate every part of an ecosystem, not just the big parts. And this is a practice I want to continue in the Sierras where it is easy to just look at the mountains as beautiful, but every part holds its importance there as well.

Kennedy meadows is a tiny little population on the edge of the Sierra that boosts of a three main establishments which cater to hikers. We are camping at the General store which is walking distance from the trail. We walked down the road and into the gravel parking lot where the whole porch of hikers erupted into applause. It is a tradition of the spot to clap every hiker into the shop! Everyone is so happy to be done with one major section and also looking ahead to the next. We said hello to a few hikers we knew and then some friends arrived throughout the afternoon as we sat and drank cold drinks and ate French fries! What a life!

Siestas and rest

Day 39-June 16

Joshua Tree spring to campsite at mile 683

19 miles

Kevin hadn’t slept well last night so was loathe to get up. All our neighbors had left earlier, which I was fine with. Sometimes other hikers can give dirty looks if you come into camp late and disturb them regardless of how quiet you are trying to be. But no one likes their sleep disrupted.

At the first water source of the day, we met a bunch of hikers that we hadn’t gotten their names yet. It was fun to meet a new group of people. One of them told me about a vegan (dairy free) type of Nutella and I need to find some.

After the water, we continued up our 2000 foot climb of the morning. It was getting hot but the frequent trees made it bearable. Siesta at the top felt magical! I think we should continue with siestas even in other sections, even just short siestas. They make the miles in the day feel better since you do like 12 miles, then a long break, then 12 more. But we will see how our hiking flow changes in the Sierras!

I was thinking how earlier in the trail I had listened to this podcast about food, rest, and culture. They were discussing how many people talk about how our food as a culture has changed from being homemade to more packaged food and all that that entails. But the dietitian in the podcast also pointed out the cultural shift at the time of the food shift as well. Instead of being able to go home for dinner, workers now get praised for working through lunch and not taking one. Thus, having a very sedentary day. Generations are not living in the same household as much anymore so family meals aren’t always made and enjoyed. In many places two incomes are needed to thrive so there isn’t someone there to always make the meals. This is compared to other cultures that have a designated afternoon time where shops are closed for the workers to return home to eat and rest. All of this to say, taking a rest or break in the day sometimes feels like I should still be being productive and hiking but I am trying to push back against that cultural shift and still have that needed rest in the day and will have to figure out what that looks like back home too.

Waffles

Day 38-June 15

Walker pass to Joshua Tree Spring

12 miles

Sleeping in a bed with a soft pillow felt blissful last night! Physically resting our sore feet and aching muscles. Emotionally getting recharged from seeing old friends! We had a restful morning with sleeping in, breakfast with friends, and grocery shopping. Our friends let us take their car to Grocery Outlet. I love Grocery Outlet, not quite as much as I love Aldi but close. We were able to get just the couple of things we needed and then I bought some ice cream and waffles for lunch. So delicious.

We also learned a few interesting things about this area. The aviation naval base where part of Top Gun Maverick was filmed is near Ridgecrest. And from town we could see the ridge of some hills that are in Death Valley. No wonder it is so hot here! When we were leaving town it was 100 degrees and at the trailhead it was 91.

We headed back out to the trail at 4pm. The heat was still intense but parts of the trail became more shaded as the trail wound around the mountain to the Eastern slopes. Our friend runs this section of the trail often so he had given us a play by play of our afternoon. A mile and a half of sand, six switch backs, up to the ridge, rocky trail between rock outcroppings! Along the way we stopped for dinner and then tried to hustle to camp so we didn’t get in too late. There were so many people camping at the spring. It was hard to find a campsite on level ground but we made do. A lot of people have been skipping the section we just did from Highway 58 to Walker pass so the trail seems more crowded now. I am hoping Kennedy Meadows isn’t too crazy with dirty hikers. We are all dirty but when we gather-that is when I get cautious of germ spreading.

Either way, we are excited to get to Kennedy Meadows and finish up the desert section of the PCT! Kevin has been saying goodbye to the cacti that we see along the way! (even though we know other places will be deserty and high desert later in)

Walker Pass

Day 37-June 14

21.4 miles

Bird Spring Pass to Walker Pass

The alarm rang too early this morning following a late night. Yesterday we went 26.4 miles and my body is tired from the miles. But today we have to do 21 miles to Walker pass but then we get picked up by a college friend to visit with them and we are very excited for that! So we push ourselves up the three mile climb right after the water cache. The 21 miles is all without water so our packs are heavy carrying what we need. Yesterday I didn’t do well managing my water intact and arrived at camp with a bunch of extra water which I should have drank so now I am trying to stay in top of it.

Our miles go faster than we thought we were going to do but the afternoon gets hot so we try to take a break every hour to cool down. After an exposed section along a dirt road, we get back into the trees and what a treat the shade is. We make it to the pass 45 minutes earlier than we thought we would. A guy there gives us some cool drinks. He had just dropped off a friend to the trail and had some drinks to give others. It was so nice after a hot exhausting day!

Then our friend Fabien arrived and it was so great to see a familiar face and hang out with a friend! We got to meet his wife, Charity, and son whom we hadn’t gotten to meet before. I know I have said this before but one of the best parts of distance hiking is stopping to see friends along the way! We love connecting with people even if we haven’t talked in years or just knew for a short time! We are staying in town tonight with them after showering and doing laundry!

Marathon day

Day 36- June 13

Campsite to Bird Spring Pass

26.4 miles

We started hiking around 6am. We have a few miles to cover today. Part way into our morning, Kevin realized he had miscounted the date when planning this section so we are actually getting to Walker Pass a day earlier than expected. Not a problem but I am carrying extra food. I think I’ll have to accept I will probably always have extra food now because I get essentials like protein powder sent to me in every box to last for a long while between many towns. Usually we like to roll into town with little food.

The beautiful shade trees lining the trail turn into tall pines and continue for a few miles. We go to an off trail spring that is gushing clear cold water! Even so, we are double treating our water since people in front of us have gotten sick. So I filtered the water then treated it with iodine. After a few more miles, the tall pines give way to short bushes. We descend to the desert again and the sun is intense. Our next water source is a giant cache of probably 45 – 5 gallon water containers. We load up for the next 15 miles to where we are camping near the next water cache. One trail angel manages both these caches and I am so grateful. Without these caches it would be probably 40 or 50 miles without water. Siesta includes an exercise in contortion to rest in the shade of some Joshua trees. Joshua trees are narrow and curved.

After siesta, we head out into the sun that still feels hot. There is no shade and the wind begins to pick up. For a few miles of the trail it is sandy like walking at the beach. Not the night kind of beach sand where the waves lap on your feet and cool you down. But the gross kind where you are dragging a heavy bag with the sand burning your feet while trying to get back to the car after being sunburned.

We did see the full moon rise while the sun was setting and it was beautiful! Once we made it around the other side of the mountain the wind calmed down too. When we rolled into the water cache most people were already settled in for the night. We had to walk around for awhile to find a flat campsite. I was super annoyed that the first two places we found, people had peed in them and hadn’t gone farther away from camp. Our spot was tucked between a wire fence and a tree, very slanted but we weren’t getting pummeled by the wind so we can actually sleep.

Shade for my sunburned soul

Day 35- June 12

Golden Oak Spring to sheltered campsite

21.2 miles plus 2 miles off trail to get water

We did not sleep much last night. We picked our campsite without realizing it was just over the ridge from a bunch of windmills. Usually a sign of there being a lot of wind. First of all, we got to bed late then it was so windy I think I slept maybe two hours.

We had to still get going early in the morning so we could have time to do our miles and siesta because of the heat. We skipped getting water from the Golden Oak Spring since some people thought maybe it would have algal bloom in it. I thought it looked just like the troughs in the San Gabriel’s but I’m not a biologist to know for sure. This was the big discussion in town and a lot of people skipped this section of 85 miles because of the heat advisory, rumors of the water, and wind advisory.

So by 10am we had finished up the 26 mile water carry that had begun last night when we left from town. The spring was off trail down hill a mile. Super annoying but nice to have a solid water source. The water at Miller spring was clear and cold.

Then we siestaed under the trees at the trail junction and slept for a couple of hours. I awoke from my nap with more physical energy to finish our last 11 miles, but lacked motivation. I did not want to start out in the heat. After we had gone about a half mile or exposed to the sun climbing we entered a forest of live oaks and turkey oaks. This forest continued for the rest of the day. What a huge relief to be in the shade while hiking and now in our campsite too. It was a balm for my sunburned soul.

Forgot to mention that we passed the 600 mile marker! Woohoo! Just 100 miles of the desert left!

Algal bloom or Noro?

Day 34

Tehachapi to Golden Oak spring

16.6 miles

Hiked from 4pm to 10 pm

The morning was a bit hectic. The most recent news on trail causing chaos is there is a spring 16.8 miles out of town that may have algal bloom. There are conflicting resources saying what treatments can kill the bacteria to make it drinkable or not and whether there is actually algal bloom at the spring. Some hikers have gone out, not had enough water, and have returned to town. Others have decided to push through.

When in town there is always a vortex that happens of lots of info but everything is second, third, or fourth hand information. There is a lot of fear mongering about illness, water, and heat. Sometimes that makes it hard to make clear decisions and figure out which sources to trust. Kevin and I have had to work really hard to sort through the info available for this next section. We have decided to night hike and carry enough water to skip the potentially contaminated spring. Also all of the symptoms people have been saying are like

Norovirus which is super common for hikers to get. I have been surprised by how many hikers don’t know what Noro is. Maybe it was just talked about a lot more in the Smokey’s on the AT because that is where is usually broke out there.

All in all, we are trying to make wise decisions without sacrificing our hike either to illness or sacrificing our perception of the journey by skipping miles we could walk. It has also been helpful to talk with some solid other hikers at the hotel we were staying at. Some of those hikers are a family, two parents and three kids. We have crossed paths a few times with this family and love interacting with them. I didn’t catch their names yet but the dad and mom were discussing the water situation with us and it seemed to be affirming with the info we had.

We are comforted that we have a friend who will help us at Walker Pass and that we know we can hike during the night and not need as much water.

The actual hiking and getting out of town went better than I expected! Our friends had caught up with us so we could hang out in the AM and get coffee before sharing a ride out to the trailhead. It was super fun to see them and meet some other neat hikers too.

But let me paint a picture of what hanging out with hikers actually looks like. The hotel front desk woman did not like the group of 15 or so hikers standing by the front of the hotel so she angrily waved us away. We went around the side of the hotel and sat on the side walk outside of our friends’ rooms. About 15 backpacks lined the outside of rooms along the side walk. Hikers sat on the side walk squeezed into the shade until we moved into our friends’ room and sat on the floor or the bed and one stood shaving at the sink. It was very gracious of our friends to allow us to hang out in the cool air conditioning with water before we had to leave town!

As I put my pack on to leave, I discovered my pack was the heaviest it has been yet this trip. I had four days of food and seven liters of water. Come to find out later, Kevin had told me an extra day for food so I technically didn’t need that much. Oh well.

The miles went by faster than we expected except for the last 1.5 miles that dragged on in the windy darkness. We were really proud of ourselves at keeping up a good pace uphill with heavy packs. It is okay very windy in our campsite so we will see how the sleep is tonight.