Kennedy Meadows to VVR part 1

Our night at Kennedy Meadows was spent at Tom's place. Tom is a trail angel with land just a mile off the PCT. He set up about 20 old camping trailers on his property that hikers can spend the night in and take a day off from setting up a tent. One of the trailers is the internet cafe I wrote my last blog in. His place is just across the street from the general store where we picked up our resupply and other mail.

For breakfast we had quite the Kennedy Meadow experience eating at Irlan's. We jammed 15 hikers into Tom's open top SUV and drove a few miles down the road.  Irlan's is not quite a restaurant and not quite your grandmas house. We all took seats in our booths in the living room and soon enough a short old lady walked out from the back. After we are settled she looks at the first hungry hiker and says "go". There is no menu and everything is $8. Ordering felt a little like when I was in India. I knew what I ordered, but I wasn't sure what I was going to get. Sure as nothing met health codes, my stack of pancakes with sausage and a side of hash browns showed up as ordered.

Instead of heading out of Kennedy Meadows at mid afternoon Tiffany and I waited until the evening as we heard there were additional packages that might be arriving. I was sorry to find out that I missed a package of Mom's brownies and some cookies from Aunt Jeannie.

That night Tiffany and i made it a couple of miles out and had a wonderful sandy spot by a creek with Juice and Spoons. For our evening entertainment we had the splash of beaver tails which must have lived in a den just across the creek.

Our stretch from Kennedy Meadows to VVR was primarily defined by the peaks and passes that we had to plan our days around. The first three days of hiking were primarily climbing into the Sierras. Every day we could see the peaks on the horizon getting closer. Our fourth night out we camped at Upper Crabtree Meadows setting ourselves up for Mt. Whitney.

Mt Whitney
Mt. Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. We left camp at 5:30am to make sure we would get to the top without worry of afternoon weather. We were coming back to the same camp and it felt great to be hiking with light packs only carrying enough water and food for one day. It is amazing how the trail has been built. It is almost 2 feet wide all the way to the top. Looking up from the valley below I would never have guessed how we were going to get to the top. There were not too many people climbing the peak from our side, but there were a lot of tourists making their way up the side of the mountain from the Whitney East Portal. We found, like many of the other thru hikers, that we had much less trouble with the climb and altitude. Although I will admit that in the final push I had a small amount of dizziness. The view from the top was amazing. We could see the high Sierras and our path North stretched out before us. Lucky for me our day climbing Whitney was also the same day as my birthday. How lucky can one get!

Forester Pass
Forester Pass is the highest point on the PCT route at 13,200ft. We had hiked a few additional miles after climbing Whitney in order to set ourselves up to hit the pass at the right time of the day. Approaching the pass it is hard to tell where the hell you are going to go over. As you get closer you approach a wall with a small notch to the left side. Hmmm. Soon you are climbing that wall! Near the top of the pass there was a chute that was still holding some hard snow. I was very thankful there were some good steps already made. While the south side was relatively snow free the North side still held quite a bit of snow. To get down I did a little bit of glissading, some route finding between the snow, and some good old post holing. Overall it wasn't nearly as scary as I was building it up to be in my head.

Glenn Pass
Hiking toward Glenn the weather was coming in. We couldn't really tell what it was going to do so we planned to hike just below tree line, then make another assessment of the weather. If it looked to be getting worse we would sit put, if it looked like it was improving we would continue on. At tree line we took a break with Brownie and assessed. We decided to push on. I thought Glenn had the most fascinating approach, the mountain walls seemed so steep and close as you climbed up. The trail had a lot of tight switchbacks winding the trail to the top. We were lucky to have judged the weather correctly, a blue sky evening was clearing overhead. However, what we didn't expect to see on the other side was a steep and snow covered slope. When someone told us it was snow free they must have only been referring to the approach side. This was the only time on the trail that I wish I had my ice axe. The snow crossing was not so bad, but the run out didn't look like such a happy ending should I fall and not be able to stop myself. Cautiously I made my first steps into the steep snow following footsteps made earlier. Tiffany followed shortly behind. As I went forward I reported the snow conditions "this one is soft and deep" or "this is a bit of a hard patch, keep your footing". I also included a few "good job, you're doing great" for encouragement and for some self talk to reassure myself. Once past the steepest snow we were able to rejoin the path where the snow had melted. A few switchbacks later and we found ourselves looking at a steep patch of snow and no foot prints. Below us was a short 4 foot down climb to a less steep snow patch that led to the trail. I took my bag off, climbed down and then had Tiffany hand the backpacks down. She then followed and we made our way to the trail again. We were finally over the pass! We still had some snow and rock hopping, but the sketchy, rearend puckering part was over. When we rolled into camp that night we nearly fell into our bags. We were physically exhausted from climbing over Forester and Glenn Pass in one day and mentally exhausted from all the concentration.

Continues on part 2

Mojave to Kennedy Meadows

It turns out Mojave is not much of a town, but it was what we needed. A cheap bed, a shower and a good grocery store to resupply for the next 8 day stretch. While there we also found a Radio Shack where we purchased a cheap AM/FM radio. Some trail friends had one and it was nice to catch up on news, listen to the weather, and find a radio station for some of the difficult climbs!

We took a nero day in Mojave. We hung around all day completing our resupply, laundry, and other chores before getting a ride back to the trail around 4pm. We hiked the most boring 10 mile section we have yet to see. It is windy, dry dusty, and mostly a field of windmills.

The second day out of Mojave we climbed from Tehachapi Pass. As it turns out this is supposed to be one of the most windy places in the world. I questioned this, but I question no more. We nearly got blown off the side of the mountain. From our estimates and the forecast we believe the sustained winds were about 30mph with gusts between 50 and 60mph. In areas around the main ridge it was very difficult to stand and you could only cross some sections by walking sideways, facing the wind, and planting your trekking poles behind you to make sure you didn't go backwards. On the windiest section Tiffany almost lost the maps and got blown down the mountain (literally). Exhausted from fighting the wind we only hiked 15 miles that day.

Then we saw a bear! Out of camp mid morning we were hiking across a green treed stretch in the middle of a burn area. I was leading and heard a large animal breaking through the bushes. I thought it was a cow, I stopped and waited to see where it was and which way it was headed. A few seconds later I saw a large furry animal appear on the left side of the trail. It took a half a moment to realize what it actually was as we watched it continue to run across the trail and on down the hill. It passed only 50ft in front of us. We stood there shell shocked with knocking knees. Here we used our radio for the first time, we needed a little noise and something to calm the nerves and let the adrenaline subside.

Robin Bird springs is one of the few water stops on this stretch. People tend to gather near water, and we ended up with 9 people camping in the same spot. The spring is also in the middle of open range lands where cows regularly come to get water. As it turns out Tiffany does not like sharing her watering spots with the cows. The cows drank downstream of the spring then made the mistake of wandering up to the camp spot where Tiffany was. As the two large guys stayed in there tents, Tiffany stood guard of the camp sites waving her trekking pole, shooing the cows away. Tiffany finally got her trail name: Cowgirl! Hopefully someone has already guessed the correct name on her blog so that I have not ruined the trivia.

The night before we headed into Kennedy Meadows we had trouble finding a great spot to camp and ended up sleeping in the gravely bottom of a drainage. We almost should have stayed in a less comfortable spot as all I could think about was that if it rained (which the forecast called for a "slight chance") we might wake up floating on our pads. And of all the people that would be camping in the bottom of a drainage on such a night it would be the engineer who used to work on drainage design!

Luckily, there was no rain that night. Not on us or further upstream in the drainage area. We woke up early and headed out to make our way to what I consider our first big milestone, Kennedy Meadows. I must say for all that I heard about Kennedy Meadows, it is not what I as expecting at all.

The best thing about Kennedy Meadows has been the care packages from friends. We received a care package from friends in Colorado, one from friends in Portland, and one from my Grandparents. We got fudge and cookies, beer, the largest Snickers bar in the world, and fun trail flair. Other hikers watched and we got comments such as, "how do yo make friends like that?", and "I need to find some friends when I am done hiking." We felt so loved! Thank you to our trail angels from afar!

I will try not to hog all the computer time at the cafe here so this email may not be edited that great, but hopefully you will still get a taste for what trail life has been like over this last eight day stretch.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics Mile: 702
Days: 42
Body: Desert Boot Camp Candy Bars: 25
Bags of Chips: 6
Jars of Peanut Butter: 4 (Shared) Showers: 10

Past Mile 500!

Mile 498 to Mojave

Our night at mile 498 proved to be very windy. We were actually fairly well sheltered from the gusts, but the sound of the wind in the trees made it really hard to go to sleep. The biggest problem was the amount of dust that blew into the tent. During the night I pulled my sleeping liner over my head to avoid getting the dust in my hair and breathing it in.

As it would turn out we were not the only ones who had a rough night with the wind. We found Samba and Talywa, and later Hikeawhile, napping in the shade by the trail.

From our camp we headed down to Hiker Town. Tiffany describes hiker town well in her blog. Weird little place, but a hot shower and a place out of the wind were nice amenities.

Out of Hiker Town we hiked 24 miles to cross the desert floor. The trail follows the Los Angeles and California aqueducts for the majority of the hike. Keep in mind these are piped underground. So while millions of gallons of water flow beneath our feet we walk on dry dusty earth with no shade. We also walk past hundreds of windmills in this stretch. They give testament to just how windy it is here.

Our only shade in this stretch was 17 miles in, under a bridge and one oak tree next to the bridge.  We rested at the bridge for 4 hours during the heat of the day. Many other hikers were there as well enjoying the lone shady spot.

About 4:30 we headed out to finish the rest of our day and climb off the desert floor. The combination of exposure and wind seem to really take it out of me. In our last mile or so I felt pretty weak and tired. Our camp by a small stream was very welcoming.

Our hike into Mojave was hot, but not nearly as exposed and despite the huge wind farms, didn't seem as windy. Our usual group of 6, now referred to as the Buffalo 6-pack finished the last stretch to Willow Springs Road together.

We decided once again to try a 6 person hitch into Mojave. We must have some good mojo flow between us because it was not even 10 minutes and we got another 6 person ride!

We are now checked into the Motel 6 and looking forward to a hot shower, laundry, and some food!

Over all we are both feeling good. We feel like some of our desert days are pretty hard, but are offset by great days at the hiker heavens and great times with the new friends we are meeting on the trail. There,is no doubt in my mind that the fun out weighs any of the difficult or taxing pieces of trail.

We only have a few more days of desert before we begin climbing into the Sierras!

Many happy tails.

Trail Statistics
Mile: 562
Days: 33
Body: Hot feet
Candy Bars: 23
Bags of Chips: 5
Jars of Peanut Butter: 2 (Shared)
Showers: 8

Agua Dulce to mile 498

Zero Day! Our zero day in Agua Dulce was great. We slept in until 6:30, then rode the bikes down to the store to finish our resupply and get some more food. We only had 9,000 calories each left to purchase. A few boxes of Cheezitz, some candy bars, and tortillas to go with Nutela and we were good to go. We also treated ourselves to some fresh produce for the zero day. Something made fresh tasted so good.

As we were eating our fresh breakfast Waterboy came in looking for people signed up on the ride board. Tiffany got a ride into a Target this morning, which means I got some new underwear! Simple, but wonderful to get new ones!

While Tiffany was out shopping I organized the food and took some time to write in my journal and enjoy the cool shade under a large tree at the Saufley's. As I wrote in my journal and lounged around the patio I saw 20 or so hikers come and go here at Hiker Heaven. Again, so fun to meet all the different people doing this trail.

Later we made a second trip down to the center of Agua Dulce to get postcards, but found a very limited selection. We got a couple, but found an alternate postcard media. Some of you should be receiving our make shift postcards in the coming week.

For dinner 9 of us went in on a 28-inch pizza from a local pizza joint. We should have timed how long it took us to eat it. We took a picture around the huge pizza box and then decended on the meal.

We left the Saufley's at 5:30 am to get the road walk over with early. This segment of trail includes a little over two miles of road.

Our original plan was to walk from the Saufley's to the Oasis cache, but plans would change.

We walked16 miles to the Oasis cashe. Tiffany and I were the first to arrive and found ice cold beer! The Oasis cache is sponsored by the Anderson's, yet another trail angel on this stretch of trail. The Oasis has beer, soda, camp chairs, and blow up decorations appropriate for an oasis theme.

During our visit at the Oasis we were joined by Double-It, Gumby, Talywa, and Samba. We all enjoyed our frosty beverages and a long rest. The six of us were having such a good time together we decided to continue on to the Anderson's in our group. From the Oasis it is 8 miles to the road to hitch into the Anderson's.

When we got to the road we were wondering how to hitch in with such a large group. So we decided just to all line up on the road with our thumbs out. Assuming we would eventually all get different rides in. To our great surprise and delight it wasn't 5 minutes before a truck pulled over and gave us ALL a ride into the Anderson's.

The Anderson's is referred to as Hippie Daycare. You get all your chores done at the well organized Saufley's and then just hang out at the Anderson's. Upon arrival you receive a hug from Terry Anderson, then are told to find a camp spot in the large back yard, and come back with your head lamp.

Once we returned with our headlamps, some guy rolls up in his car with a case of beer and a stack of pizzas for all hungry and thirsty hikers. Savior hiked the PCT in 2009 and said he was just trying to give back some of the trail magic he received when he hiked.  I cannot wait to do this in the future.

We all enjoyed the pizza and beer. This was the appetizer to the nightly taco salad served at the Anderson's. When you stay you get taco salad at night and pancakes for breakfast.

After a plate full of cinnamon pancakes the next morning our group of six headed out together again. We actually walked out with a group of 10, but 2 of them took a different route to the main road and the other 2 didn't want to stop at the convenient store. So when we got back on the road to hitch back up to the trail head it was the Oasis 6 pack. Again we figured we would all have to get separate rides to the trail, but as luck would have it, we got another ride for all 6 at once.

On a bit of a high from our great luck we formed a line and started to make our way over the next ridge. We played the make a story game with everyone contributing to the story one sentence at a time. In short it was about Jack rabbits, Poodle Dog bush, a political plot to end the bush and something about the pine beatles. It had a Romeo and Juliet ending. Would probably have to hike for several weeks in the woods before one found it as entertaining as we did.

Throughout the day our group spread out and rejoined several times. Tiffany and I stopped for a while at a water tank where the other 4 were spending the night. We contemplated staying too, but the camping was limited.  So we pressed on for two miles and found a vary nice flat spot to put up the tent.

Still enjoying the trail as it only seems to get better. In a day or so we should hit a flat valley floor which extends several miles. I think this will feel like the true desert.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 498
Days: 30
Candy Bars: 21
Bags of Chips: 5
Jars of Peanut Butter: 1 (Shared)
Showers:7 (6with soap)

North Fork Ranger Station to Agua Dulce

We left the North Fork ranger station at mile 436 at about 4:30pm once it had started to cool.  We said good bye to Gumby and Camel and two others and made our way down towards the desert.  Leaving the ranger station and crossing the dividing line into the Mojave the landscape litteraly seem to change on the line.  The trees disappeard and we were back on a white sandy trail with only small hearty bushes for plants.

Originally we thought about trying to make it the 8 miles down to the KOA, but it got dark before got there.  We camped on a ridge about a mile from the creek basin with the KOA.  We had a great view and the setting sun made for a great evening. 

I might have had a great nights sleep if I would not have had my air mat deflate on me.  About two hours into my sleep I awoke with my body on the floor, not floating on the 2-inches of cushioned air I had been used to.  I thought I might not have closed the valve all the way, so I blew it up again and made sure it was tight.  Nope, I was back on the hard ground some time later.  So I slept the rest of the night on the floor. 

Despite the bad luck, my sleeping pad malfunction could not have happend at a better time.  The next day we were headed here, to the Saufley's!  We got up at 4:30am to be on the trail by 5:15 so that we could make the 11 mile hike into Agua Dulce in the cool morning.  By 9am it did start to get hot, but we were closing in on Agua Dulce and were able to make it to the Sweetwater Cafe for breakfast. 

This was a much anticipated breakfast as Tiffany and I are still trying to nail down how much food we are eating.  We tried to carry only the bare minimum for food on this stretch with the goal that we would have nothing left when we walked into Agua Dulce.  We did have nothing left, but I cannot say we always ate when we wanted to and we were certainly ready for more food.  We probably won't do that again! 

The Sweetwater Cafe did not disapoint.  We split their veggie and cheese omlet and the loaded breakfast burrito with sides of hash brown and toast.  We then waddled up Darling Street to the Saufley's.  The Saufley's is a well known hiker stop along the trail.  The Saufley's open their home and back yard to the multitudes of people hiking the trail each year.  They provide showers, laundry, a cot to sleep on, and with the help of volunteers will shuttle people into town for needed items.  On my ride into town we stopped to drop someone off at an AA meeting, then someone else picked up a backpacker guitar from a pawn shop, REI, Trader Joes, and Vons (like Safeway). 

I took the ride into REI so that I could replace my sleeping pad.  I am now back on the Thermarest Z-Lite.  This is a closed cell foam mat that isn't as comfortable as my air mat, but cannot get a hole and deflate in the middle of the night.  I wasn't expecting the Vons' stop, but took the opportunity to get some of the items I might not find in the small Agua Dulce store.  I was also able to sneak a quick trip to Wendy's accross from the REI while we were waiting to be picked back up.  You cannot miss an oportunity for a frosty and french fries.

As we were driving back to the Saufley's I saw Tiffany and 4 others flying down the hill on bikes towards the town.  (The Saufley's provide a fleet of bikes to get around Agua Dulce.)  They were headed to the $1.25 taco night at the local mexican joint.  After puting away the groceries I got a ride from someone else going into town and joined them.  We drank Corona and ate our mini tacos.

Full from cheap tacos a group of hikers joined around a camp fire at the Saufley's swaping trail stories.  These stops are fun to see how many people you are hiking with on the trail.  You pass or get passed by people while you are hiking, but it isn't until you get to a stop like this that everyone is in one place.  I stayed up way past hiker midnight, 10:30.

This morning I sit at the "internet cafe" station at the Saufley's.  Tiffany has joined me and we are discussing the days chores; where to get breakfast, counting our next stretch of calories, and when to go shopping.

I am still realy enjoying the trail and don't have much to complain about.  Life is simple and great.  Oh, and for those who have been wondering, my trail name is Midnight Chocolate.  This is the trail name I aquired on the Colorado Trail.

Will try to add photos later today.
Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 455
Days: 28
Body: Resting Up
Candy Bars: 14
Bags of Chips: 4
Jars of Peanut Butter: 1 (Shared)
Showers: 7 (6 with soap)

Big Bear to Ranger Sta. Mile 436

We left Big Bear ready to be back on the trail again. We got a later start in the morning, but we were still able to cover 19 miles on the first day. This put us well on our way as we only gave ourselves 5 days of food to get to Wrightwood and we needed to average about 21 miles a day.

Our second day out of Big Bear was our first rainy day. And it rained ALL day! Since we only have our desert clothes and the bare minimum for rain gear it sucked! We are only anticipating it to rain two to three days in this first section of the PCT and we didn't expect we would get an all day rain. Oh well, clearly we survived just fine.

The night of our rainy day we ended up at Deep Creek hot springs. Technically you are not supposed to camp there, but we had not found anything else in the last 15 miles and we were not sure when the next one would be. So we took a long rest in our tent through the night.

Coming out of Deep Creek drainage we walked through the Mojave reservoir, which in some years can be full and the trail flooded. Certainly not a problem this year. Again we had another day where camp spots seemed to be scarce. We ended up at Sliverwood lake camping area. We misinterpreted the directions to the ranger station and ended up in the group camping about 2 miles away. We were tired, it was late, so we took another long rest in our tent in a closed group camping spot.

The third day out was something to look forward to. A trail stop at McDonalds! When the trail Crosses I-15 you can take a .4 mile detour to McDonalds. It is even on the trail sign (see pic on Tiffany's post). We met Mike and Jill there and all took advantage of the seat out of the wind and the food. I would guess that I ate an amount of McDonalds food equivalent to all the McDonalds food I've eaten before then.

Full from McDonalds we headed up and over a ridge to cross the San Andreas fault. Not much to report on that other than another water cache with pool side lounge chairs. If we had not spent so much time at McDonalds we may have stopped for longer at the cache, but there was also no shade. We moved on to climb up to our camp spot on a ridge.

Our camp spot on the ridge set us on the road which was part of a trail detour to avoid Poodle Dog bush. This is a bush that grows in burn areas and can give you an ichy rash similar to poison oak. We were happy to avoid the Poodle Dog, but not happy when we found we took the road too far and missed the PCT junction. The distance we went wasn't too bad, it was the elevation we dropped and had to regain that was heart breaking. Oh well, considering this is our first major mistake over 350 miles we are not doing too bad.

Our last town stop was in Wrightwood. We got off the trail at mile 369.5. We couldn't have had better luck hitching in; we had someone pull over for us literally as we were walking off the trail onto the side of the road. We got picked up by two college aged boys who must have been disappointed to find out how old we were.

In Wrightwood we came into town just in time to see the two Germans, Autobahn and Sasquatch leave. They said the Yodler was the place to be. After a quick stop at the hardware store we headed that way. There we found the hikers! It is fun to reunite with your fellow hikers in town. We shared a room with Stilts, Muppet, Dear Hunter, and Sexy Legs. The Yodler was only a block away so we would take turns going into the room to shower and coming back to pizza and beer all clean.

Hikers seem to all run on the same general schedule. We were all up by 6am and had food on the mind. The only two places serving breakfast didn't open until 7:00. This meant that by 6:55 all six of us were lined up at the door.

After a hearty breakfast Tiffany and I went shopping for our supplies, repacked our bags, ate some more, then waited for our ride to the trail. A local we had talked to earlier in the day offered to give us all a ride.

The day out of Wrightwood was a true nero day for us all. We hiked together one mile to a visitor center and camping area. Here we lounged around through the late afternoon and evening. We knew it was a light day with a garbage can at the camp spot so we even had a few beers with us. A few others stopped by to say hi but decided to go a little further and passed on. We all decided that we slept better that night than we did in the hotel.

Soon it was time for us to start moving north again. We find that because we don't cook breakfast we start earlier than most. We left the four at the breakfast table. Sexy Legs and Deer Hunter are taking there time to get to Agua Dulce because Sexy Legs is having problems with one of his knees. We would meet up with Stilts and Muppet later on.

Out of the visitor center we had a short bit of trail before we headed up! It was 3,000ft over 4 miles to the top of Mt Baden-Powell. We took the 1/4 mile detour to hit the summit. Fun to be on top of a peak again.

At Little Johnny Springs and trail camp we met up with four others refilling on water and using the picnic tables for a long break. We hiked out of here with Muppet and Stilts and finished the day on the endangered species detour. You can choose between an 18 mile detour or a 4.5 mile detour with a little road walking. This is supposed to bypass 4 miles of the PCT, guess which detour we took. The detour goes through Buckhorn Campground. We decided to sleep there for the night. After sleeping in the middle of nowhere a campground seems noisy. The toilet and running water was a nice amenity to have though.

Next morning we again left Stilts and Muppet eating their breakfast. We are descending to the valley floor and headed toward the desert again. Climbing out of the creek basin you could tell it was going to be a hot day.  About half way through we met up with Gumby and Camel. We leap frogged them a couple times, then ended up hiking with them into our camp at the Mill Creek Fire Sta. The camping was kind of crappy and right by a fairly busy road.

That leads us to today! This morning started with a large detour. This detour is on a paved road that parallels the PCT. We took this detour to avoid the Poodle Dog bush again. This 10 mile segment is supposed to be heavily overgrown with the nasty stuff. The detour takes you through an LA County work camp that was burnt down during a fire in 2009. Much of the reason for the Poodle Dog bush problem is related to this fire. The bush flourishes in the 5 to 10 years following a burn. The 2009 fire we are walking through covered about 220,000 acres.

Now we sit at a water cache at the North Fork Ranger station where the resident for the forest service keeps several large jugs full of water for thirsty hikers. Once the heat of the day has passed and we have quenched our thirst we will head out again and descend into the Mojave desert where we hear they had a record breaking heat wave today.

Trail Statistics
Mile: 436
Days: 26
Body: Feeling Good
Candy Bars: 22
Bags of Chips: 4
Jars of Peanut Butter: 1 (Shared)
Showers: 6 (5 with soap)