Made it out of the (big) Mountains

Found some service here in Red's Meadows near Mammoth Lakes so I'll send a quick update. My Heineken beer can cook pot sprung a few leaks during this last stretch, so I'm enjoying 710ml of heaven in the name of 'equipment repairs'. Tough life.... This last stretch has been big in every way. Big elevation gains, big views, big snow fields, big days. Really really truly beautiful country out here. I spent a few days nearly all above 11000 feet and above treeline, complete with countless creek fords, epic views, and high mountain passes with snow - the longest being Muir Pass with about 6 Miles all walking on the snow. So great.

Into "the best stretch of hiking in the country"

Didn't enjoy rushing yesterday so I spent another night and took my time sorting gear and food. Pack feels a lot heavier an ice axe, cold weather gear, a bear resistant food canister and 9 days of food... I managed to fit in all inside though and it doesn't feel tooooo bad. Once a couple of days of food is gone I won't notice it anymore. New shoes are feeling pretty good, I replaced a twice broken pole, got snow baskets, and found a free waterproof stuff sack in a hiker box! I wouldn't let myself buy the stuff sack because I dropped to much money on the other shit I needed, and as soon as I got back to check for free food hikers left behind at the hostel there was the exact thing I wanted to buy in perfect shape.

It rained in Lone Pine this morning and it looks like a bit of snow above about 10,000 feet, but overall the weather isn't looking too bad for the next little while: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=rev&smap=1&textField1=36.55&textField2=-118.35&TextType=2 I'll probably take my time getting to Crabtree Meadows where the report is from, then climb up Whitney early Thursday before heading on up the trial. This is going to be a 135 mile stretch (plus 16 for Whitney) before my resupply at Vermillion Valley Resort. Lots of snowy passes to cross, so going will be a little slower than usual but I'm planning to do some big days. It's tough to fit enough food into a bear can, and I don't want to pack two, so I guess I'd better just walk lots or go hungry when my 9 days of food runs out... If needed I can hike off trial 2 days before my resupply for about 9 miles to a trailhead, so if I'm short on food there is an easy bailout option.

I'm just backing up some photos at an Internet Cafe now, then I'll try the difficult hitch up to the trailhead waaaaay up there. Lone Pine is at 3700 feet elevation, and we look immediately up to multiple 14,000 foot peaks. The Trail Pass Trailhead is around 10,000 feet. Can't wait!

Oh, the DVD just popped out finished. Off I go!

Lone Pine California

Well, turns out the hype from Kennedy Meadows was waaay blown out of proportion... I did the 44 miles into the high sierra and out trail pass to Lone Pine in two beautiful days - no snow, no rain - just some good climbing and fun walking. It did get down to -3 celcius, but I stayed warm and happy. There is a cheap hostel full of hikers here, so I hitched in and spent last night here to get some gear and get my food drop from the post office. I bought some new shoes, but I think I'll bring them in and try different sizes today. It's hard to know what to buy when your feet are swollen from a 24 mile day in the mountains... I'm don't think my feet are more 'normal' today though... Probably won't be a normal for a few months... I'll enter the real mountains later today or tomorrow and climb 14500 foot whitney wednesday probably. No snow up to 10700 feet so far, but there will be on the passes for the next week now. Whoohoo! Internet will be n/a for while now - hope you all are well!

Onward!

Not much has changed around Kennedy Meadows. A few burgers eaten, a
gallon or so of icecream devoured, a few new hikers incoming and a few
heading out. My turn is tomorrow morning - I'll head out early for a 2
day stretch to the Trail Pass Trail exiting to Horshoe Meadows and
hopefully a short wait for a ride into Lone Pine with some Sunday day
hikers. The weather isn't seeming as bad anymore - things start
warming up Wednesday - and I think I was a victim of the hype machine
working in overdrive around here. Have I camped in snow at -10
Celcius? Sure have, and enjoyed it too. Am I looking forward to some
long awaited cold weather? YES! With a couple little supply pickups in
Lone Pine I'll be ready to head out for a great time in the Mountains,
in one of the most beautiful seasons too. With the weather changing I
can be sure that there will be crowds of people quick on my heals as
well, so I can always fall back is routefinding is an issue in the
snow, which it shouldn't be. I plan to hit the post office and gear
store in Lone Pine and then try for a ride the same day. Camping at
the trailhead will give me one day or a bit more walking to Crabtree
Meadows, and then the next day, weather permitting, I'll be up at dawn
to make the 16 mile round trip up Mount Whitney before the
thundershowers come in for the afternoon. Highest point in the lower
48 states at 14,500 something feet. Whhheeeeeee!

"Hey, fuck this phone!"

So started our Kennedy Meadows entertainment while waiting out the
weather up in the mountains. I decided to take the day off deciding
what to do next, so a group of us went down to the local breakfast
place. Picture Elio Gerardi running a restaurant - it's not a perfect
image, but add more space to his living room, a *little* more
tidiness, and then add about 150 pounds on the same sized frame. We
waited about 45 minutes before ordering while the owner took a beer
break after serving the last batch of hikers (he asked if we were in a
hurry and we said to take his time), and served ourselves some cold
coffee while we visited. During this time he got a couple phone calls
that went something like this,

"What?"... "you already asked that." *slams down phone*.

All the other hikers had left except for Charlie, Mike and Myself, so
only we got the show. As he's waddling past it again the phone rings,
and in one swoop he grabbed it, tugged the chord out of the wall,
opened the door with his free hand, and chucked the phone out towards
the garbage can past us yelling, "Hey fuck this phone!", before
casually closing the old sliding door and going back inside. "There
ain't gone be none more calls, Bob", he stated to his help.

We stepped over the phone as we refilled our coffee for the next half
hour, but apparently Bob put the phone back on the counter... "Fuck...
Bob! You put this phone back up here?!" He hit the garbage this time
(almost like he had practice at this). "Put that thing in your truck
when you leave Bob. If you want it".

All in all breakfast was a two hour ordeal, but it was perfectly what
I was looking for. All we have is time to kill today (and until next
wednesday maybe...). He took 5 minutes adding up what we owed him, but
I guess it got too greasy in the kitchen to read so he sat down to add
it all up again. "Uhhhh, like 30 bucks boys." came out after 5
minutes. "How much each?". We quickly said, "ah, nevermind. We'll
check the menu to split it up...".

Kennedy Meadows is a little community kind of like Baynes Lake. It's
about a mile and a half off trail and the last easy resupply before
heading out into the high Sierra Mountains. From here we immediatly
climb from about 6500 or 7000 feet elevation to up over 10,000. The
weather has been great but unseasonably cold lately (65 today, when
last year today was 102...) and it's the same in the mountains. People
have been nonstop checking weather reports hoping to find atleast one
report contradicting what we all know: it's miserably shitty in the
mountains right now. A few days up from here reports are saying highs
around freezing and lows down around -10C, with thunderstorms bringing
in more snow. Most people, like me, are packing quite light and
expecting a few nights down to -7C but highs warm enough to dry gear
out and wear shorts. Not going to happen for about a week up here
unfortunately. Until yesterday there was about 50 people waiting to
see when the weather would break, but many grew impatient and either
headed in for a couple days to check it out, or found a ride out of
our remote place to head to sections further north. I almost left at
6am this morning to take advantage of a ride to a further south
section that I missed, but at 1am while I was frantically packing gear
and trying to print maps and water reports out I said fuck it. It was
a mess of trying to find fuel from other people, sort resupply, deal
with my extra alpine gear etc.

Some of the people I've been hanging out with have left to head
further north, and some are heading into the mountains to feel it out.
I have to leave the mountains 2 days up anyway from the Trail Pass
Trail into Lone Pine, which is just before the rough higher elevation
sections. It sounds like most people have bailed out on that trail and
are hanging out in Lone Pine (a group of 30 headed to a further north
section from there), so I'm not really sure what to do. Sitting around
is fun, but I really really want to get out and I've only been here a
half day...

One option is to take my alpine gear that I have - sufficient for the
next two days, and exit the mountains to Lone Pine, get my maps from
the post office in my Bounce Box, and head further North or South by
bus to hike for a week or two until things start melting again. That
would mean another zero day here tomorrow to hit the post office in
Lone Pine Monday. Or I could hitch out of here and grab gear tomorrow
and get moving. Or wait here for 6 days or so until the expected
warmer weather moves in and starts melting everything again....
hhhmmmmmmmmm. Eating ice cream all day is fun, but so is hiking. I'll
probably just relax some more and let the answer come to me. I want to
enjoy the high sierras, not survive them...

Day 11 Photos

I had planned on doing 15 -16 mile days throughout this section, taking it easy on my feet and timing my arrival at Walker Pass to land me at the Onyx post office Monday morning. I'm not very good at not walking... Saturday morning had me 20 miles away and within reach of the post office, assuming it closed early Saturday afternoon. I climbed out of songbird pass for an hour and a half pretty much nonstop, up into the clouds and rain drips. With a lighter load of water by then and my body hardening up, it really wasn't a challenge to chug up the switchbacks. Going down is another story though... After walking all my 20 miles by 2pm with a couple short breaks my feet were pissed right off. They were good most of the time, but the 2000 foot descent to walker pass finished them off. Luckily the post office closed that morning for the weekend and I walked into Meadow Ed's unexpected trail magic - a 5 day long barbeque just for hikers! With a couple other trail angel families it was amazing. Two plates of pasta and salad, a veggie burger, countless cookies, drinks and laughs. About 15 hikers sat around the fire with a half dozen trail angels telling jokes and stories, eating well and having a blast! Thanks soo much to Meadow Ed, Chai Guy, Bearbait and family, Magnet (formerly Incredible Bulk) and the other Angels whose names I'm missing. My trail name has now officially stuck - I'm 'The Trail Virgin' hehe. The old timers called me that on my first day, so to give them a chuckle I signed it as my name on a couple trail registers when ahead of them. I never heard it again until all the others who read it behind me caught up... "oh, you must be The Trail Virgin, right?". Funny stuff. - Trail Virgin

Day 10 photos

Day 10 started at an off trail spring - the last before a 32 mile waterless stretch. Two water caches are setup along the way, and just by chance as I write this 5 days later in a little diner in Lake Isabella I just finished chatting over coffee with the elderly couple who maintain them for PCT hikers! "hey there, are you hiking the PCT?". They're super nice people and were worried the cache had almost ran out day ago. I plan to carry my own water to not strain the trail angels stocking the caches and to avoid getting in trouble at an empty cache. Water is indeed heavy, but people get lazy and rely on caches often, even when not needed. As it turns out, the weather stayed unusually cold and my 6 litre carry lasted 40 miles! The terrain was stunning all day as we crossed a deep valley and traversed a few long ridges. I leap frogged all day with Shade and Beethoven and also met up with Bruiser, Wheeler, Pappa Smurf, and Bamboo Bob. The weather was strange all day, but overall great for hiking. I wore my poncho most of the morning waiting for the rain that seemed imminent but never came, but still wore long pants and an underwear top all day as it stayed cold and windy all day. By evening on top of the ridge people were estimating it was gusting to 50 miles an hour... I decided to spend an hour up top seeing if I could setup a shelter with my poncho in those conditions - I quit half way through as I was sure it was about to tear in half and carry me down to the valley bottom like a parachute... I walked 23 miles that day waiting for a sheltered spot and ended up camped with about 6 other people nearby when I found the only sheltered spot in miles. One guy still had his tent collapse twice during the night but I slept great. In the worst of the wind, with my long sore feet, I kept a shit eating grin ear to ear like I wore all day - I love storms like that, especially in beautiful places like that valley and pass.

Day 9 photos

I slept in! 11 hours of sleep feels good! I was on the trail by 7:30 and stopped to dry my gear in the sun after what felt like 20 minutes. Apparently I was zoned out for while because it was almost 10am. I took a long break in the sun and then caught up to Mike who had passed while I ate. He was fresh on the trail after a break and seemed to want some company for bit so we hiked together and chatted photography most of the day as he's changing career into photography - as a young tech geek I was able to pass on some info, him being 52 and new to some of the new digital techniques. The slower pace and my efforts to help my feet were paying off - I felt good all 23 miles and was a bit bummed I had to stop when it was getting dark. We took a long break at a great spring mid day with Kickstep and Annie, Buck Thirty (just getting on the PCT after 1000 miles on the AT), Bruiser I think, and someone else too. Had to hang food for the first time. We're in the mountains now!

Day 8 photos

I had cowboy camped (no tarp or anything, just under the stars) as usual and got up at dawn just just before the rain drops started. It was a big climb to start the day, up out of Tehachapi Pass and officially into the Sierra Nevada mountin range. WHOO HOO! By the time I made it the 12 miles to the first water source it was pouring rain - much to everyones surprise... As it obviously couldn't rain more than a few drops (there were cactus and joshua trees around!), I didn't bother to dig out my poncho. You get cold after being wet for 4 hours at 10 celcius waiting for the pouring rain to stop as you walk... I enjoyed feeling cold for a bit again and enjoyed the chance to learn more about my gear in the rain before getting into the real mountains, but once the rain slowed and the sun came out in the evening I stopped early to warm up and setup camp like most people. What do you do in camp at 6pm with 2 hours of light left? I laid in bed and ate half of my next days food...

Order of photos is all messed up...

Day 7 photos

After more town running around (too much for tender feet!) and a hitch with a very nice and interested job hunting Mormon, I was back on the trail loaded right down with 5 days of food and 6 litres of water for a 24 mile carry and night until the next water source. There was another road in 8 miles I could bail out on, but after a slow slow 8 mile limp I was pretty sure of what my problems were and that I could manage them and keep hiking - an inflamed tendon on the left caused by over strain and pressure from tight shoes, and a shin splint on the right. Being the 'smart, always thinking of my health first' kinda guy that I am, I figured an extra 5 miles along the freeway was a fine idea. I finished it off in the dark by headlamp for an hour before a 1 hour massage of eveything tender. I met Triple H after he hiked in in the dark and I scared the shit out of some night hikers with loon calls as they passed my camp just for fun. Outside of the two breakfasts I ate in town (at the same time - they even brought out two place settings for my company!), it was my lowest day so far (stressing about my feet), but still fun overall.

Day 6 photos

Only 12 or so miles remained before my next resupply, my 100 mile milestone, two injured feet, and a much needed rest night in the already described 'Best Motel' in Mojave. The descent to Willow Springs road was mostly painful, but something very very awesome happened - I came across a rare group of wild horses. Supposedly (from what I remember reading) they were left behind by Spanish Conquistadors back in the day and the horses I saw are the descendants of the ferral horses that have since lived in Antelope Valley. Pretty interesting to see. When I finally limped to the road I found a cooler full of ice and soda and a big water cache thanks to some great trail angels. The hitch took about 20 minutes and I had to take a picture of myself to see what needed cleaning before asking for a ride... There could have shit smeared across my face all week without me noticing, but all seemed fine so on I went. See the "don't stay in the best motel" post for more on the day.