Pictures from 6/29 cont'd #2

Pictures cont'd from the 29th

Day 45 6/29 18.5

The morning was cold again so we packed up as quickly we could and hiked in all our layers until we found a nice sunny spot to stop and eat breakfast in the warmth. We continued on towards Forrester pass, the highest point on the pct at 13200 feet! After a long climb up on some of the craziest switchbacks we've been on so far we made it to the top!! After a bit of steep downhill with an amazing view we made it to a small lake where we took lunch with another hiker named Ithaca. After the pass the downhill went on for about 6.5 miles down to 9400 feet, the way down felt super long. We then had one last climb to a trail junction where we will take a side trail 8 miles off the PCT in order to get to a road where we will hitch to town for our next resupply.

Day 44 6/28 4 PCT miles, 17 side trail miles

We woke to another chilly morning, partially frozen water bottles again. After eating breakfast we packed only the food, water, clothing, and a couple other miscellaneous items we needed to get up Mt. Whitney and back down into my pack. The rest of the gear and food went into Carly 's pack which we left in a steel bear locker while we did the climb.

The top of Mt. Whitney was about 8 miles from camp so was great to be able to leave most of our gear at the bottom of the mountain.  We started the day at 10,700 feet. After about 3 miles of climbing we ran into two thru-hikers from years 2010 and 2008 who had slept in a little hut on top last night! They said that during their hikes, which were about at the same time of year, this whole area was covered in snow and some of the creeks we rock hopped across were waist deep fords. The low snow year in the siearras made this section much easier for us.

The walk up was extremely scenic, as we got higher the views just kept getting better. About 2 miles from the top we met up with a trail that came up from a road on the otherside of the mountain, from then on there were tons of hikers on the path. When u get up to the top one side of the mountain drops off a couple thousand feet, we found a good spot overlooking the big drop off and had lunch. There were probably about 30-40 people on the summit the entire hour we were up top. There were fighter jets flying over the mountain all day,it seemed that they were always flying high over head, but when we were on the summit two jets buzzed the top it seemed like they were only a few hundred feet above the summit.

Also on the way up we met a guy who was training for a 130mile run in the Himalayas, at 18,000 feet. We told him he was crazy. His girlfriend was behind him talking to someone else and apparently she was the first american woman to ever complete the race!
On the way down we met a few other thru-hikers we have been hanging around with who were just heading up and hoping to catch a sunset.

We got back to where we stashed our gear and then did about 4 more miles along the PCT and camped next to a creek for the night.

Today was porobably my favorite day of the trip so far, it was awesome to go up the highest peak in the lower 48 with a super light back pack. The views today were also unlike anything we've seen thus far. It was a great day of hiking!

Day 43 6/27 21mi.

We woke up to partially frozen water bottles!! It was a chilly night. We spent the day up high again rarely going below 10,000 feet. We walked through a couple really gorgeous meadows in the morning and made it to a lake which was all the way up at 11,200 feet. The lake was crystal clear and a great spot for a snack break.

Soon after the lake we enter Kings Canyon/Sequoia national parks. Shortly after entering the park we started seeing a ton of people, and we kept seeing more and more people throughout the day.

We had one big climb in the evening, we then dropped slighty to a meadow where we got our first good look at the Mt. Whitney area. There were about a half dozen mule deer grazing in the meadow and a bunch of marmots running around. We hiked a litrle bit farther to another small meadow closer to Mt. Whitney.

Tomorrow morning we will be climbing the 7.5 miles up to the top of Mt. Whitney, which is the highest point in the contiguous 48 states at 14,505 feet above sea level!! This is a side trip that is not part of the official PCT, but it might as well be because almost every PCT hikers takes this side trip. We both can't wait to get started in the morning!

Day 42 6/26 20 mi.

Last night was very cold and it was hard to get going this morning until the sun started to hit our campsite and warm us up. We walked 3 miles to a an area where a group of about 8 thru hikers camped last night and were still getting going. They had just got done filtering water from one of the nastiest looking water sources we'd seen in a long time. I was glad we carried enough water to make it to the next stream.

After our big day yesterday and the fact that we stayed above 10,000 feet most of the day we were both feeling tired and kinda dragging.

Carly got moving a few minutes before I did before lunch and saw a bear cub! Luckily she never saw the mom. We did about 3 miles from our lunch spot to a stream that was just off the trail there we came across some trail maintainers who had a camp set up near the water. They weren't eating as much as they had predicted and gave us 3 oranges each, a bag of awesome trail mix each, about a pound on roast beef, grits, and an avocado!!! All that awesome food put a little pep back into our step and we finished the ten remaining miles to camp surprisingly quickly.

The landscape we have been walking through the past 2 days has been unreal it looks almost fake it's so beautiful.

Day 41 6/25 23mi.

Last night was cold and our morning started late because the cold made it hard to get out of our sleeping bags.

We did a few miles along the south fork of the Kern river. A guy named Frank that we met at Tom's yesterday caught up with us in the morning and we ended up hiking near him all day and taking breaks with him. The scenery was spectacular all day we were able to see huge mountains ahead of us all day. Throught the day we climbed from about 6000 feet up to 10500 feet and then did a bit of downhill to our camp at about 9400 feet. Tonight is shaping up to being even colder.

At one point during the day Carly, Frank, and I had a hard time finding the right trail. We went a lil down the wrong trail at one point, but quickly realized it and backtracked to the PCT. About a mile after that we ran into 2 hikers who had gone down that same wrong path for about 2 hours until they happened on some horseback riders who told them they'd been on the wrong trail the whole time!!

Day 40 6/24 2.5mi.

We were able to sleep in since we were in an RV protected from the sun. We started off the morning right with a big breakfast at the general store with almost all 13 of the hikers that were still in town. They loaded us up with bacon, sausage, blueberry and M&M pancakes, orange juice, fruit, and coffee.  I got to shower up after breakfast, carly showered last night, then we got to do our laundry. We had to sign up to do laundry last night as there is only one washer and no dryer. 

After all that we went back to our little RV we slept in at toms place and sorted out our resupply. We also got our bear canisters in the mail, which are required for this section of the trail. Its basically a little bucket that a bear can't get into.

Then we went out for lunch at the general store with a few other hikers. they had huge burgers!

After spending some type using the computer and making phone calls we headed back to the general store for ice cream and snacks.

There are about 200 people who living in the town of Kennedy Meadows, but there is no electric lines that connect to town. The general store runs off of a generator and everything at Tom's place is solar powered!

After getting everything thing together we ate a few tacos that Tom made up for the hikers and headed out around 7. Carly ate red meat for the first time in many many years!!!! There were only beef tacos. She said it wasn't to bad.

After dinner we headed out the 2.5 miles to a campground that the trail runs right through, we spent the night in the campground.

Carly and I got trail names hers is Chatterbox (its an ironic name haha) and mine is Chuckles because apparently I never burst out laughing I just chuckle really hard.

Oh and I saw an owl yesterday I stopped to take a drink from my waterbottle and looked over in the trees to see a large owl perched about 100 feet away.

Also, another hiker saw a mountain lion! He said he was by himself and felt very uneasy for awhile afterward.

Day 39 6/23 21mi.

We had 21 miles to go to Kennedy Meadows and the only store closed at 5pm so we planned to get up nice and early. I set my alarm for 4:45am. Well, the alarm didn't go off then, after our long day yesterday I accidentally set it for pm haha. Luckily carly still woke up at 530 and we were hiking by 630.

We had a long uphill climb to start the day and at the top we got the first glimpse of the high sierras off in the distance! We both cruised up the climb and baxk down the other side, had a quick lunch and finished the 9 remaining miles to Kennedy Meadows by 3:45.

On the way to the general store we stopped at a trail angels place named Tom. He hosts hikers in a bunch of RV's scattered throughout the property and provides internet and various other hiker services. We set our gear down there and ran over to the general store for ice cream, gatorade, and pick up our resupply packages. The store is to small to buy everything for a resupply so we had our mom send us a bunch or food, thanks mom!

There are about 25 thru-hikers here at Tom's and most we haven't met. At 5:30 everyone went to a poy luck on the porch of the general store where the locals bring rood and the hikers pay $5 a piece to raise money for "emergency services". We were absolutely stuffed by the time we finished eating!

Back at Tom's we got an RV to stay in for the night and spent the night hanging out with other hikers and using the internet. Just before we went to bed Tom cooked up a bunch of hot dogs for us hikers!

Day 38 6/22 27mi.

We camped up high last night so the day started out fairly easy with amazing views!

Just after the last town stop we officially eneter the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Right away we were able to notice a slight change in the landscape that we're walking through. The mountains have been more jagged, there have been more mountain peaks in a smaller area, and its been a lot more rocky.

We walked with Avocado and Chow down for awhile this morning and made it 15 miles before we all took a break for lunch. Our break was next to a very small stream that was almost dried up, but we managed to get enough water out of it to last us until the next water source.

After lunch we climbed up qbout 2000 feet where we had to cross a little saddle that the wind was whipping through. I had to lean hard to the left, into the wind, the wind was so strong it was hard to keep my balance and when a big gust would blow it'd puah me 4 or 5 feet off to the right of the trail. Carly was behind me, she said she had to walk a bit off the trail to stay closer to some trees in order to get to the other side.

At about 8 we made it to a stream where we were planning to fill up on water and camp near. When we got there we discovered someone had left few beers and sierra mists in a basket in the stream for PCT hikers!!!!! So I got to enjoy a nice cold beer while I pumped water for tonight and tomorrow morning.

Day 37 6/21 23.5mi.

We started the day fairly early with a big climb. The climb wasn't as tough as I was expecting and it felt awesome first thing in the morning.  Then we slowly meandered downhill for many miles and then slightly back uphill.

We stopped for lunch at a small hunting cabin that was 0.2 miles off the trail with Avocado and Chow down. It was nice to eat lunch in the shade. We kept up the good pace after lunch and made it 20 miles by 6pm when we stopped to get water from a cache at a small campground. 

We did another three miles or so up a steep incline and found a place to camp with Dr. Huss.

Our campsite for the night was up in a saddle between to mountains and was therefore very windy. We managed to find a little bit of protection behind some trees, but it was still a very windy and loud night.

The past few days, ever since we left the town of Mojave, have been very dry. We've had to carry water for 15-25 miles from every water source!

Day 36 6/20 22mi.

The day started early and easy, our first 7 miles of walking was slightly downhill and well shaded. Once we got done with the downhill we were back into the hot exposed desert.

Once we got back down into the desert the remainder of the day was super hot with few shade spots. However the two of us and the three guys that we've been hiking with managed to squeeze under the shade of a Joshua tree for a long lunch break.

We left our lunch spot just before 3 but it was still blistering hot out so Carly and I took another half hour break in the shade. We both cruised the rest of the way to a large water cache where we decided to spend the night.

Our walk through the desert today was like walking through a huge sand box. The trail was covered in super loose sand which made walking a lot more difficult.

Day 35 6/19 23mi.

The majority of todays hike was some what shaded and a bit breezy, which made hiking much easier.

Dr. Huss and I saw a couple of mule deer early in the morning! The two of us were walking in front most of the day. At one point we came across a group of 5 people wearing reflective jackets, when we got up to them they were tearing some plants out of the ground and putting them in big ziplock baggies. When we asked what kind of work they were doing they said that they couldn't talk about it, and that it was confidential. It was very odd. Nobody else saw them at all today.

After about 16 miles we finally reached a water source, where we filled up and stopped for lunch. We met another hiker who was female which made Carly excited because that was only the 2nd or 3rd female thru hiker we've seen all trip!

We kept on moving until the next water source where we met 2 more thru hikers. We hiked another halfmile and camped with Dr. Huss

Day 34 6/18 21mi.

We started the day with a slight downhill to a highway. Where someone had stored a bit of water for hikers. The group of 5 of us all drank a ton of water and headed up a long and fairly steep uphill.

We kept moving until we found a huge pine tree casting off a lot of shade where we all ate and took naps. Then continued on to a spring that was barely trickling, it took us all about 2 hours to get all filled up for the next 19 mile waterless strech, because the water was dripping out so slow.

We continued on to an area with a lot of flat spots to camp at, we had to kicked dried up cow pies off of our flat spots again.

Also the Joshua trees are extremely sharp! Dr. Huss stood up into the tree we are sitting under in the picture and it resulted in him having a gnarly blood stain on his hat.

Day 33 6/17 6mi.

Happy Fathers day to all the dad's reading this! We probably wouldn't be experiencing this amazing adventure if it wasn't for our father.

We were able to sleep in a bit since we were staying at the Motel 6. We got up and went to have breakfast at a litrle place nearby with Pacemaker, Dr. Huss (the 2 guys we shared the room with), Avocado, and Chow down. We have been hanging out with this bunch quite a bit lately.

After breakfast we headed to the grocery store to resupply. The guy shopping in the picture above is Dr. Huss. We went swimming in the motels pool, but spent most of the day doing our town chores.

We went out to dinner at the same place we had breakfast, then everyone but pacemaker headed out to the road to hitch back to the trail. After almost an hour we all finally got a ride in a big van.

The entire area around town and near the trail is covered in wind turbines there are probably thousands of them! And we saw more tower pieces and blades lined up in town to be built soon. They even had some very old two bladed turbines. The two locals we met both hated the turbines with a passion and referred to them as "raptor killing machines" haha.

We all started hiking at about 7pm and finished at about 1030 in an area with cows roaming around. We had to kick dried up cow pies out of the way to make room for us to lay down.

6/24 Update We made it to Kennedy Meadows, which is the town before we go up into the high sierras. I don't have reception or access to wifi here so the next time I will be able to update this journal probably won't be until we hit the town of Independence in about 6 days. I type all of the journals and save them on my phone at the end of each day and take pictures with my phone, so that is why I am not able to update it from this computer. That's also why my journals are sometimes mixed up and there may seem like there are things missing from journals, it is hard to remember everything you wanted to type when your tired and worn out from hiking all day. Hopefully I will have updates in 6 days!

Day 32 6/16 26mi.

We got up early and were hiking by 6 we stopped under a bridge with 2 other hikers for a 2nd breakfast today was super hot, but the wind kept us fairly cool, we only found shade maybe once every 3 or 4 miles! We didn't think we would be able to make it the 26 miles to town but we ended up getting there a little before dark. When we got there the other two hikers we have been around had been trying to hitch for 45 min. We had to wait another half hour when finally a couple in a truck going the other direction let us hop in the bed of their truck and took us the whole 9 miles back to town, completely out of their way!

The four of us split a room at the motel six! We hopped in the pool for a few min and headed over to the grocery store for some snacks, we finally got to bed at about midnight.

Day 31 6/15 26mi.

The day started with 11 miles of mostly downhill hiking. It got hot really fast this morning, but we made it to a road where we stopped at a place called "hikertown".

Hiker town is a small group of buildings and mobile homes next to the trail, there really isn't much else around. They have a bunch of small buildings decorated like an old west town, if hikers wanna stay the night they get one of the buildings in the picture above. We hung out in there garage where they had a bunch of couches set up along with a bathroom, shower, and washer. Within the next hour 4 other hikers showed up. We all hung out and got huge lunches for $10 each, a pop, salad, garlic bread, chicken, pulled pork sandwhich, mashed potatoes, and broccoli!!

After hanging out for about 5 hours we headed out at 4 and walked along the los Angeles aqueduct for anout 15mi. Along the way we met a guy that lived out there in the middle of the desert, we were walking through Mojave desert, he stopped to talk to us and give us some cold pepsi. He gave us some good info on the trail up ahead. We didn't finish hiking until about 11!