PCT Days 43-47

Day 43

Miles: none

A full zero day in Kennedy Meadows! I spent most of the morning unpacking the box of food my dad sent, trying to cram it in my new bear canister (required for the next few hundred miles) and organizing my pack. 

I got new shoes, but I don't think my old Cascadias look so bad compared to the new ones. My pinky toes ripped holes in the fabric as my feet swelled, but they never caused me any discomfort. In fact, I haven't met anyone else in trail that has ZERO BLISTERS besides me. My feet are in perfect condition and I have no idea why!

I got my jacket back from Rocket Llama. THANK YOU ROCKET LLAMA! I owe you big time!

I also got a sweet note from my friend Kirsten. I love Theo chocolate; what a perfect gift!

Kennedy Meadows general store is surprisingly organized. With only a few employees, they manage to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for hikers every day. Hours from the nearest city, they restock the store once a week. They certainly know what hikers like though, big breakfast burritos in the morning, burgers for lunch, and huge portions of pizza for dinner. I spent the evening on the porch, talking to other hikers and watching new folks limp up the road looking for a spot to put down their pack.

Day 44

Miles 702-705

After a nero and a full zero day in Kennedy Meadows, I was getting a little antsy. The store is really convenient, but my tab was nearing $150 dollars and going up quickly. It's so tough not to buy just one more thing: beer, a burger, milk, chips, ice cream, soda, more chips. I knew that I had to leave Kennedy Meadows if I wanted to stay in my budget...

...then I got another beer and sat back down on the porch. This is supposed to be a vacation, right? I'm supposed to relax and spend all of my money on beer and food.

Right down the street from the general store is Tom's place. Tom has a backyard full of trailers, hammocks and chairs where hikers can camp and relax. For a donation you can even access his wi-fi. There's no cell phone reception in Kennedy Meadows and Tom's wi-fi is the only way hikers can checkin with their family after the last section of trail.

Miles and I decided to stay most of the day in Kennedy Meadows and hike out that evening. One of the employees at the general store offered to drive us to the alpaca farm down the street. The owner of the farm sells alpaca hats and socks and such. She took a big carload of us and even let us into the alpaca pens.

Apparently alpacas are pretty docile creatures and the owner of the farm let us hug some of the friendlier males. I bought an alpaca hat because my old hat  didn't cover enough of my head and one of the alpacas became pretty interested in my new hat. He smelled it and rubbed his gums against the hats purple-dyed fibers. The hat was actually made in Peru; the owner explained that the equipment is too expensive to weave alpaca fur locally.

First job in the new alpaca hat was to eat a double cheeseburger. The store only had one beef patty left, so they used one beef party and one turkey patty. I ordered a double burger with grilled onion, mustard, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce, guacamole, bacon, and cheese. The cook laughed at me, but happily complied. I told him that they should make it a special and call it, "The Glitter," but he just laughed.

After my massive burger, Miles and I said goodbye to Kennedy Meadows and hello to the Sierras. 

We camped at a huge campground only 3 miles from the general store.

Day 45

Miles 705-724 (plus 6 miles to and from town)

Everyone in Kennedy Meadows had been talking about the weather. The forecast was for a short storm in the area, but no one knew exactly how much snow would come or when it would start. I listened to everyone's predictions and no one thought it would be very bad. One after another, hikers continued to leave Kennedy Meadows for the next 2-12 day stretch (depending on what town you want to resupply in next) without much concern for the forecast. Many left without much snow gear including Wiki wiki, who I met in the Mojave. She only had sandals for 40 more miles until she picked up shoes from her boyfriend in Lone Pine.

I woke up having second thoughts about climbing from 6,500 feet to over 14,000 feet without snow gear of any kind. I have plenty of warm clothes, but I didn't think I'd need micro spikes or an ice ax. I also, accidentally, told my dad to send my hiking poles to Independence (over 85 trail miles ahead) instead of Kennedy Meadows. I know I've been in dry chapparal for the last 44 days, but this next 85 mile section includes a summit of Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States, and Forrester Pass, the highest point on the PCT. 

I decided to start my day by slack packing (traveling without a pack) back to Kennedy Meadows to order micro spikes and hiking poles to be sent to Lone Pine. Getting into Lone Pine requires a 1.7 mile side trail and a 22 mile hitch down the mountain to the valley floor. I wasn't originally planning on going into Lone Pine, but it would allow me to leave Kenedy Meadows, hike 40 or so miles and get my poles and micro spikes before Whitney.

It was nice to walk without a pack, but I realized half way to town that I hadn't brought food or water. Oops, guess I'll have to eat at the general store again!

Back on the trail, the day started out perfectly, brisk and sunny. The landscape was changing quickly and I was filled with excitement to be entering the Sierra Wilderness.

A few hours into our hike, the sky turned grey.

Snow started falling within ten miles of Kennedy Meadows. It started slowly, but within an hour there was over an inch on the ground.

We decided to continue forward, hoping the snow would slow down as the day wore on. The sky did eventually clear, but it left 3-5 inches of fresh snow in most places. Miles took the lead, clearing the path and getting himself covered in wet powder.

The trail quickly climbed from 6,500 to 10,500 feet over the next few miles. Miles and I were wet, cold, and exhausted from walking for hours in fresh snow, but the views were incredible.

Once we hit the top of a mountain it started snowing again and we decided that it was best to stop and dry ourselves off in our tents rather than decend the mountain in the dark. Miles and I set up our tents next to one another to make it easier to communicate without leaving our sleeping bags. It was a cold night with snow blowing under my rain fly and into my tent, but I managed to stay warm and comfortable. It sounds strange, but I found myself enjoying the new challenges that came with snow and freezing temperatures. People say that us thru-hikers are a different breed of people and I'm starting to believe it.

Day 46

Miles 724-726

Waking up to more flurries falling from the sky, Miles and I went back and forth on what we should do. We considered waiting out the snow in our tents or getting up and trying to decend the mountain to a lower elevation. Around 11am we heard other hikers walking by and decided that we should follow their lead and get off the mountain while we could.

I expected a long day of slogging through the snow until we stumbled upon Jolly and Kimchi camped only 2 miles from where we had started. They were camping with a few other hikers and had built a nice fire to get warm, dry off, and melt snow for water.

We decided to spend the day at the big camp and we all sat around the fire for the rest of the afternoon. We talked and watched the sky turn from clear to grey and back to clear again, over and over. It must have snowed four or five times that afternoon, adding another half inch to the slushy snow from the previous day.

Friends and fire definitely make snowstorms much more tolerable. A guy named Stampede built an awesome igloo, I ate a few days worth of snacks, and I even repaired a snowman that had been built the previous night by another hiker. Isn't she perty?

As the skies finally cleared for good, we continued to hang out around the fire before turning in early for the full day of hiking to come.

Day 47

Miles 726-745 (plus Mulkey Pass trail to Horseshoe Meadows)

This morning was clear, warm, and beautiful. Miles, Jolly, Kimchi and I got out of camp by six, hoping to make it 18 miles before lunch. Much of the new snow had already melted so, besides a few patches of ice, the trail was clear and easy to hike.

This picture is looking back at the mountain we camped on the previous two nights.

After making it the 18 miles to Mulkey Pass, we descended on a side trail to Horseshoe Meadows. On the way down we saw marmots and fish! Can you see the marmot in front of Kimchi in this picture?

Horseshoe Meadows was a totally new landscape for this trip. A slow, lazy river twisted through the valley and fish darted back and forth in it's clear waters. Marmots ran from rock to rock in the soft grass and I felt like I was in paradise. Finally, some real rugged mountains.

We didn't realize it at the time, but getting to Lone Pine from Horseshoe Meadows is a tough hitch. There is only one road, which starts at the Horseshoe Meadows campground and winds down the mountain for 22 miles. The four of us tried to get a ride from campers, telling them stories of our walk from Mexico and the snowstorm, but no one was willing to drive us into town. We sat by the road, wondering if we would get to town in time to pick up my new snow equipment from the post office before it closed for the holiday weekend. We sat for maybe ten minutes before a guy in a Subaru pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. What luck! The driver's name was Dave and he's the recently retired fire chief for San Luis Obispo. He told us about the area as we drove down the mountain and assured us that the recent snow wouldn't interfere with our hike or summit of Mount Whitney.

As we drove from 10,000 feet to the valley floor, we watched Mt Whitney from the car window. I can't believe that it's only 23 trail miles until I get to summit the highest mountain in the contiguous United States!

We arrived in Lone Pine still in view of Mount Whitney. 

The rest of the evening was spent drinking, soaking in the hot tub, and planning for the section to come. The motel was packed with bikers, some sort of Harley Davidson group, and one guy in particular took a liking to us. 

A Latvian named Urich got completely wasted and jumped into the hot tub with six of us hikers, hugging a hiker named Ninja Tank and trying to communicate in his really broken English. He kept giving us high fives and thumbs ups, but it got obnoxious as he got louder and more inebriated. I tried to make light of the situation and teach him English phrases like "YOLO", but he didn't have the attention span to follow me. One by one we all snuck out of the tub, hoping we could escape before he threw up in the water. Fun night.

This next section of the trail should take 4-5 days, ending in Independece. This should be an incredibly memorable section with Mount Whitney, Forrester Pass, and all the high elevations. I'm happy to be hiking with Jolly, Miles, and Kimchi and I can't wait to get back out on the trail.