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