Day 47 – 22 miles/676
My pad deflated again in the night, but it was a slow leak. Seems it’s only a matter of time until inflatable pads quit holding air, and that day comes sooner than you might think with daily use around pokey pine needles and sharp pebbles… Luckily we have some foam pads we use for sit pads, which help keep my boney hips from getting too sore on the cold, hard ground while sleeping. We tried to get up at 5am, but we snoozed for an hour, so back at it around our usual time around 7:50. We hiked around Jenkins and Owen’s peaks. Owen’s peak showed off its craggy white granite ridgeline, hinting that the Sierra Nevada are not far.
The trail dropped down to exposed desert again and it was getting hot. Scant on shade, we pushed over the next saddle to get higher and into trees for lunch. Hungrily searching for a place to sit, we ate on an awkward slope right next to the trail, the only spot with decent shade. We stopped for water 2 miles later, a little sooner than we might have liked. It was a small stream with a handful of hikers in line waiting to fill up. Thankfully, there was a nice shady spot to filter and siesta till 4pm, thanks in part to our clogged filter.
Podcast/music/audio book time for last climb of the day, 2,000 feet up. The low sun provided more shade amongst the intermittent trees, and the temperature cooled of as we got higher allowing us to move efficiently uphill. When we crested the ridge, we entered unhealthy fir forest. There was lots of blowdown, large old trees that gave in to their final gust not long ago.
We skirted and climbed around these downed logs for a while before we were rejoined by pinyon and ponderosa for the final few miles. To the west, some killer spires made for an eye catching sunset. We made it to camp around 7:10pm, tired but satisfied with our progress.
Day 48 – 22 miles/698
We got an early start, for real, moving on trail at 7:15am. It was a warm morning, perhaps near the warm point of the inversion where we camped at 6,800 feet. The air was very calm and quiet. We descended down the north side of the ridge where we found some cool air gently pouring down the shady valleys. We cruised down hill for 5 miles, then started uphill to water 2 miles later.
It’s an interesting time to be thru hiking, in the 21st century. We saw comments on our navigation app (Far Out) that an upcoming section had no shade. I checked the satellite view for forest and we decided to stop just 2 miles later for an early lunch under the shade of a big western juniper. A modern miracle, if you ask me. The trail continued the gentle climb up in an exposed old burn scar. The monotony called for us to put music/audio books in.
It was hot and sunny, reminding us that we weren’t out of the desert yet. At the top of the climb, we got our first view of the Sierras. A real mountain range reaching into the alpine. Some snow fields were visible, but it certainly looked like sparse coverage for mid-May. We knew it was a low snow year, which will make travel easy in the Sierras, but it does not bode well for fire season later this summer…
We dropped down to the south fork of the Kern river, a lovely valley with pinyons and large lumpy boulders that reminded us of giant molars. Across the valley lie Domeland Wilderness, a puzzling collection of granite domes. We cruised quickly 4.5 more miles on flat terrain to the river, finishing the hike at 5:20pm. Our early start paid off and we had plenty of sunlight to enjoy the water, only our second swimming spot so far on the PCT.
We were burning up and had been looking forward to jumping in the river all day. The water, a few tens of miles from its headwaters in the mountains, was surprisingly pleasant. Cool, but not frigid. We sat in the mellow current for several minutes. Now the warmth of the sun felt good rather than roasting. We set up camp on the sandy river bank under a big pine tree. We got water from this plentiful source and made dinner as the sun dipped below the steep ridge across the water. No one else came to this wonderful spot. We were surprised, but happy to have the solitude.
Day 49 – 4 miles/702
No alarms and a hot breakfast got our day off to a good start. With only 4 miles to Kennedy Meadows, we made sure to take the morning slowly. We eventually packed up and hiked on, crossing the 700 mile mark, with the Sierra Nevada foothills rising around us.
We got to Kennedy Meadows after a short road walk off the trail. We were greeted by hikers clapping and cheering at the Kennedy Meadows General Store! It was momentous, a major milestone, where most folks agree you have completed the desert section of the PCT. Indeed we felt the excitement as we entered “town.” Kennedy Meadows is more of a dispersed cabin community. The General Store and Grumpy Bear’s Retreat are the only places to lounge around as a hiker. We hung out for a little bit at the General Store, sipped on a cold beer, and joined the crowd in phone screen time on the free WiFi. I pondered why we all feel the need to be so “connected.” Our bear canisters and ice axes were at Grumpy’s, 2.7 miles away. Not terribly far, but town miles feel way harder than trail miles for some reason I can’t quite put words to. We walked part way, thumbs up whenever a rare car passed. Another hiker, Beetle, was driving and stopped for us. We threw our packs in the back of her truck and made it to Grumpy Bear’s Retreat. There we found many familiar faces! It was great to bump fists and share some laughs with many of the hikers we had met so far.
I got a double veggie burger, bacon, egg, avocado, and fries of course. Maggie got a chickpea salad sandwich, but couldn’t resist taking a bite of my burger, being careful to avoid the bacon. Behind me, I heard something hit the window and fall to the ground. I thought it was a big moth, but a few minutes later we noticed a hummingbird in the bar. It couldn’t figure out how to get back outside. I later caught the bird as it was bumping up against a high window like a trapped fly. It felt almost weightless in my hand. I took the bird outside and it flew away.
We set up our tent at the free dirt patch campground behind Grumpy’s where we found our Austrian friends, Lime and Stardust. We then checked out the outfitter next door, an entire gear store crammed into a shipping container. We got a replacement filter (thank goodness), new shorts for Maggie, and some snacks. Back at Grumpy’s, we picked up our bear boxes, ice axes, and microspikes. Not stoked on speding tons of money there, we grabbed beer to go and made dinner at camp. Maggie and I sat and talked with the Austrians into the evening.
Another hiker strolled over to talk with us. His name was Strider, and he was a German laser physicist. I got him talking about his work on electron microscopes and tiny surgical laser tubes that cauterize while they cut. As the sun disappeared behind us, we were greeted by a lunar eclipse moonrise. It was a wild day.
Day 50 – 0 miles/702
I crawled out of the tent, the sun already high and blazing. We were hankering for breakfast at Grumpy’s. “Good morning!” Lime-A-Rita said, “Would you like some hops for breakfast?” They had some leftover Budweisers that needed to be “disposed of” before setting off the next day. Can’t say no to free beer when you’re unemployed and homeless. We sat and talked in the shade of a lone pinyon. With the beer properly polished off, we stumbled back to Grumpy’s. Maggie got a burrito, I got the Hiker breakfast – eggs, hash browns, sausage, and a 14 inch pancake. Supposedly they offer all you can eat pancakes, but I think one pancake is all you can eat, physically. Bloated from buds and breakfast, we sat despondently on the patio, scrolling through our phones, searching for more dopamine on the internet. Feeling like we ought to do something, we finally took a shower. It’s worth noting that other than food, drinks, and WiFi, everything else is free at Grumpy’s. The free shower was outdoors in a corrugated aluminum stall. There was a drain, but it seemed like half the water trickled into the desert beyond. Hmm.. It was at least hot with a tankless propane water heater giving us sweet relief from a weeks worth of dirt and grease. Afterwards, we did “laundry,” sloshing a few of our dirty clothes in ziploc bags with a dash of rose scented Dr. Bronner’s we picked up in a hiker box. Back at the bar, I worked on the blog. We had a couple beers with the Austrians. One of the guys from the Wolf Pack, Johnny Sunshine, rolled in. We were surprised to see him since they took several zero days in Los Angeles. Apparently he hiked 29 miles that day to get to Kennedy Meadows, leaving the rest of the pack in the dust. We ambled back to the campground for an economically sound dinner at the tent. We got to bed early, our ride back to the PCT would be at 7am the next day.
Distance Over Time 