Day 20: June 13, 2012

June 13, 2012.

Day: 20    Daily Miles: 38.25    Total Miles: 857   Hours Hiking: 16.5   6:15am-10:45pm

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Day 20

Atop the 'Golden Staircase'.

June 13th, Day 20. I made 38.25 miles. Just about 1.5 miles from the Muir Trail Trance or Muir Ranch turn off at mile 857, at point 0335912E 4121206N. I stopped at about 10:45pm or so. Lets see. There was...uhh yeah... It was an average-ish day I'd say. Mid-day I was totally hating life{Hah}. Although it was really pretty. I had to go up a huge up, but uhh. Lets see. Well I'm at 857 miles, If I had made it to 860, that would mean I'm averaging 43 miles a day on the nose even now overall. So I'm just slightly under 43 miles a day on day 20, that's including most of the Sierras too. So, that's even still ahead of the record, so good job me. It sucks. I started off towards - just over Mather pass by about 1-1.5 miles or so, more or less at tree line. I got up pretty early actually, I left by about 6:15am. The Palisade lakes and stuff were really pretty. The Golden Staircase - I was hitting that with the valley below completely light, but I was more in the shadow, so I think I got some good photos of that. There were a bunch of deer here and there hiding out in the willows and things. Let's see, anything remarkable? No, pretty much an easy down, just uhhh, weaving your way down the valley. Then I hit the ummm, is it the Kings River? Shoot, whatever. There is a trail intersection when you start 

Few miles before Middle Fork Kings River.

heading up next to a river towards Muir Pass, which is a looonng up. Well the majority of the first part isn't so bad. There are a few steeper sections that get ya, but getting to the pass itself with no snow is a pain. That trail just winds all over the place. I mean with snow at least you can cut a straight path, sure it'd be a little steeper, but is much faster. When you finally get up to where the snow starts again - there wasn't much on trail per se, but it was kind of a mix of mud and water on trail, so it was not as fast as basically walking across snow because you're dodging 3 inches of water and mud, then you hit a patch of soft snow and post hole. So there are some disadvantages to having it be 'snow free'. I got up to the hut at about 2:30pm or so. I mean I pretty much saw no one all day. I saw 3 people at that trail intersection at the Kings river...no the San Joaquin River?? Shoot, I don't know. One of those rivers. I don't pay attention to my maps anymore. Then I passed 2 people on the way to the top, up Muir Pass. That was it for the first half of that day. I ate lunch, took a bunch of pictures {at Muir Hut}, and then strode off across the snow less plain dodging the trail which was a creek in most places, down towards Sapphire and Evolution Basins, or the Evolution Lakes. I saw 4 other people there that had just popped up and over from the East side of the Sierra. I'm assuming by Bishop, over Sapphire Pass I believe. They were pretty stoked. I kept on truckin', but had to take a break. I was definitely pondering why the hell I'm doing this. I just get tired, I am tired and hungry. I've noticed that I've lost a lot of 

Climbing up to Muir Pass.

weight. At first my pants were tight - I mean they could have loosened up over the use of 20 days, the elastic and such, but now I have to use a belt. I mean they don't just fall off me, but they are loose. I have no butt. There is literally nothing there. I can feel the back side of my hips when I reach around my back, which is...I don't know, it's not right. It's nothing I've ever noticed before, and it might be there normally, but it's definitely more prominent. So yeah, I sat down for probably about 10 minutes and just tried to get it though my head - what am I doing, how far do I have to go, what's going on, blah ba blah ba blah. We'll see. I might get off, might try and make it to the half way point, I think the half way point would be a good jumping off point, ya know it's half the trail, it's a set place, it's not like it's just bailing out. We'll see. After I got up after that, I felt a little OK. It was all downhill from Muir Pass, or mostly, there was the flat part. Down past Evolution Lakes, down towards the Evolution Valley, I met or passed like 6 more people. Once down into the Evolution Valley, ohh man the mosquitoes were bad. They were even bad on the downhill. So I just kinda booked it. I listened to 

Muir Hut at Muir Pass.

my audio book "Hyperion" and didn't really pay attention to much. I got to the creek crossing, Evolution Creek crossing, it was soo low. It didn't even come up to my knees. So that's like 2 - 2.5 feet maybe. But I stopped there and the mosquitoes were so bad!!! For the 30 seconds it took me to strip off my gaiters, socks and shoes from both feet, I had to smack my legs multiple times, and each time I probably killed 10 mosquitoes. I got across, and tied to make it to the point where I have that one photo of Evolution Creek at sunset, and I think I was probably 10-20 minutes too late to miss the same exact same conditions I got in 2009, which I was bummed about. Because it would have been nice to get it with my new camera, or my point and shoot, because it has a slightly wider lens. But O'well. I 

Evolution creek just after the crossing.

got down to the bottom of there and kinda trucked along the flats next to the river until it was dark and I was tied and hungry and I didn't feel like trying to make it to my 860, which was my goal. So I ended 3 miles short. O'well. I still made it 38, which is still 2 miles over what I had expected/planned. So on schedule definitely. I'm supposedly going to have to pick it up from Reds Meadows to Tuolumne, I guess my schedule says I'm supposed to do 45, but I don't care {laughs}. So now my plan is to basically do at least 2 more 38's that means it's a 10 into Tuolumne in the next morning. Otherwise I'd have to do 2 42.5 and make it there late at night, camp, then wait until like 9 in the morning to get the post office. So, that wouldn't be bad to sleep in, but I don't think I can do 2 42's. So I might as well just do a 38, get close to Reds Meadows so I can get up early and get through the possible detour and construction shit and bust out a relatively good day and camp out above the mosquito valley on top of Donahue Pass and book it in, in the morning.

Lake Helen before just before Muir Pass.

Day 19: June 12, 2012

June 12, 2012.

Day: 19  Daily Miles: 31.75   Total Miles: 818.75   Hours Hiking: 16.5   6:40am-11:00pm

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Day 19
Afternoon

The melt lake below Glen Pass, south side.

June 12^th, it's about almost 12pm. I have made very few miles today. I made it up and over Glen Pass, came out of the valley from Forester, but my foot today is still hurting A LOT. On top of Glen Pass I stopped for a good half hour and tried to see exactly – figure out what's wrong. Because if I can't fix it myself, then that means I'll probably have to get off trail if it doesn't heal itself on its own, which good luck. I managed to pop one other little spot – deeep blister, but its still oooooch. I stopped for about 5 minuted and got back up on it and wooooh, it really hurts. It kinda goes away after hiking on it for a while, but it's still definitely there. If you get a rock in the wrong spot, it hurts quite a bit. So today I made the decision on Glen Pass to just keep going. I have 5 days worth of food, so I should be able to make it pretty much anywhere. I'm not worried about running out if I needed to get out. I'm just going to see how far I can get and see if it gets better. I'm probably not even at 10 miles for today and it's almost 12pm. I hope to make it up the next pass and make it 25-30 miles for the 

Just after the Rae Lakes.

day. But right now if no improvements occur, I might be getting out at Mammoth, or maybe Tuolumne if I really feel like pushing it. I'll just have to see how this foot goes. It's almost like the final straw - mentally, physically I'm alright with doing big miles, but kinda of emotionally, it seems to be like - I'm in the Sierras, it's spectacularly gorgeous right now. I mean it's like a whole month ahead of schedule {seasons} and it really pains me to have to go flying through here and not be able to stop and take it all in. Ya know, its just one of those things that the trail, obviously hiking isn't easy, but for me, I'll put the time in, the miles in and it's done. It's not like its super hard. But on the other side its like comparing hard vs. fun and it has been not that much fun. Which it's not really supposed to be I guess. But I feel like whats the point if you're not stopping and absorbing and enjoying what you're doing. I mean I could be walking on I-5 if I was just trying to break a record. Thats just kind of the difference I feel like, why walk somewhere beautiful really really fast if you're not going to enjoy the beauty. You might as well be somewhere else doing that or just doing something else. So, basically coming over Glen pass I've stuck myself into the Sierras and we'll see where I go. I might be able to have my foot get better and keep on trucking or I might just have to get off trail. So I'm planning on, if it doesn't get better, get off at Mammoth, get a hotel, call Scott, get my ass picked up sometime and go from there. Or if I have to get off earlier then VVR, or Muir Trail Ranch, something like that. We'll see how the days go. I just want to make it over Pinchot Pass today, ohh its gonna be a bitch. That's all.

300 degree panorama of Glen Pass.

June 12th, Day 19. I hiked 31.75 miles ending at mile 818.75. Just about a 1.5 half down from Mather Passin some trees next to a little creek. I stopped at point 0369432E 4101047N. Ohhh where to start about yesterday... It was my lowest mileage day yet, which does have a little bit to do with having done 3 passes yesterday, each one above 12,000ft. Glen Pass, Pinchot Pass and then Mather Pass. I started off at the bottom of the climb up to Glen Pass, so that was about 3,000 to 3,500 ft climb. That morning my foot just hurt, my left foot, right on the ball between my little toe and the next toe, this shooting sharp terrible pain, which I didn't know if I could figure out what it was. I had tried the day before with no avail. I managed to get a little something out. I stopped at the top of Glen Pass after going pretty dang slow because if I kept going, I'd be stuck in the Sierra with no real easy exit. But, if I turned around I could go out Kearsarge Pass that was only about 3.5 miles back and get out at Independence. It would have been the easy way to get out. Otherwise, I 

The long long up to Pinchot Pass..can't even see it yet!

sat up there for a good 30 minutes and really looked over my foot and eventually managed to pop this super tiny little blister right in the area where the pain was. I had popped one earlier, it's kind this disjointed large blister -but I don't know, you can't really..... {Helicopter noise, me chuckling} It looks like they {Park Service} is transporting a bear. There's a helicopter flying over with a big cargo net hanging from the bottom and it's black....Anyways, I got that popped and my foot still ached. But I decided that I had plenty of food, so I might as well just keep going through the Sierras, even if I had to take it slow, I could pop out at Mammoth or find some other way out if I did happen to run out of food. I mean if that was going to be the end of my trip, I might as well try and go through the Sierras and enjoy it going slow at least. So I pressed on. The pain really didn't go away, didn't go away. I got down to the Rae Lakes it was still there. I made it a little bit passed and I stopped at a tree and tried to plan out my leaving the trail - ya know like how many days of food, how many miles, especially if my foot didn't get better. Then I just kept slowly trotting on, with no real expectation of sticking to the record because my foot was just aching. But about halfway through the day, my foot

Pinchot Pass conquered, view south! 

 started not hurting anymore. I wasn't super energetic, I knew I had a huge climb up to Pinchot Pass. You drop down to about 8,500 ft then go back up to about 12,500 ft and it's just a long long exposed climb. You can't see the pass until you're right on it, so you never know where you're headed to, and you just kind of wind around, so it's not very fun. But, you know, I finally made it to the top of that around 4 or 5 O'clock and it was only mile like maybe 20, so I was going realllllly slow. But I was at the top and was feeling good - nice views. The last time I was up there it was totally white out conditions, I couldn't see anything and it was cold and snowing. So it was big difference. There is zero snow up there. The two lakes on the back side - the north side - in 2009 were completely frozen. This time there was no ice, no snow. It's really... the difference between these two years - an average year and this year is really immense. But I kept going, down, down, down. I met a few people. My goal was to at least get up to Mather Pass to make it a 30, because the top of the pass was right about 30. I met a big group of about 10 people, all thru-hikers, and was like "what the hell', they were all kinda camping together. The approach up to Mather was really nice. It's just gentle, not 

Lake Marjorie on the way down from Pinchot Pass.

really ever steep, the switchbacks at the top are great. But before I broke out of the trees, I actually saw Not A Chance - the girl who I gave that name too in 2009 in southern California. I knew she was on trail, she's been hiking pretty much every year I think. Somewhere along the line we knew we were going to cross, and we crossed. So I spent about 20-25 minutes chatting with her. They were really stoked at what I'm doing. And I'm like "I'm trying!" This is a lot harder mentally or just emotionally. Mentally, I'm like go and just do it, fine. Physically my body is OK. I have noticed a big weight loss. Which isn't very good because I don't have much to lose, therefore, I don't know whats going to happen coming up for the next half. But yeah, it was dark, I was night hiking. I got up to the top of Mather at probably about 9:45pm and just sat there for a little while. The stars were super bright, no lights anywhere else, the moon hadn't come up - it's just a sliver now anyways. It was jut really really peaceful. Ya know being at 12,300 feet, the starts just look extra bright. I hiked down a little ways until the first set of trees with a good little campsite and that's where I parked it for the day. Phew. It was a low mile tough day with 3 passes, that's for damn sure. I really wish I would have gotten more so 

Looking south a few miles before  Mather Pass.

that I can keep up a little bit more it would have been a little nicer so that I wouldn't have to take the Reds Meadows detour or have to wait or whatever for it and actually arrive in Tuolumne Meadows without having to worry about the store being closed and getting my packaged next. So that's really just my next goal, get to Tuolumne and decide from there. I mean mentally I'm hungry, I'm tired - I mean I just need sleep. My body is....my brain is tired. My body feels OK, it just keeps going and going and going. But mentally it's just like ugggghhhhh! I wish I could walk and sleep and eat. I've been dreaming about, or day dreaming about buffets all day long. I just want to eat and do nothing. {Laughs} Actually one of the things I talked to Not A Chance about was "I've almost considered getting off trail just so I can sit around and do nothing and eat." I mean it's really that big of a pull. We'll see, we'll see. Ya know, it's one of those... It's not necessarily enjoyable. I really like where I'm at right now in the Sierras, but I'm still having to put in the miles and go fast. It's just the culmination of everything is just uggggghhhh, this weight on your shoulders. You know you're stressing all day long about miles and how they impact the future. Ya know, I don't think about time as an hour....I don't think of an hour as an hour anymore, I think of an hour as somewhere around 3-4 miles, which is a total change in perception. It's really strange actually, to think of it that way. Anytime you're not moving, are miles that you're not making. Basically part of the record that you're not going to break by more time. So, it's stress, it, it really is stressful. Just for the fact that you're tying to do something withing a schedule and you're trying to make the deadline. It's like having this huge deadline but you have to think about it every day for 60 days before it's due. Add on top of that, you just have to keep on moving, skip things and not rest and it's a pain in the ass.

360 panorama of Pinchot Pass.

Day 18: June 11, 2012

June 11, 2012.

Day: 18    Daily Miles: 40     Total Miles: 787     Hours Hiking: 16.5    6:25am-11:05pm

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Day 18

Morning

June 11^th. This is just a little note. I camped up by Poison Meadow, almost right at the saddle/crest where it starts. This morning I woke up early at about 4:50am or so and looked out. Last night I settled down, ya know I can't see anything it's dark and I couldn't see anything it was about 10:10pm or so. But I managed to pick a beautiful spot next to this big foxtail pine that was half dead. This morning when I woke up for the first time, I was looking due East and the sky was just this fiery orange-red on the horizon with all of these stumpy gnarly trees silhouetted, and it was really nice....but I went back to sleep. I told myself to take a photo, but, nah.... I wake up to my alarm about 10 minutes later and the same thing is going on, I go back to sleep.. I woke up again at about 5:25am or so and the sun had just kind 

Entering the Sierra National Parks!

of come up and it was rimming/haloing all these trees in this yellow-golden light, ohh it was sooo beautiful. Then I look behind me and all of the already gold-yellow-brown tree trunks were just on fire with this color. And I'm sitting surrounded by all these trees, the meadow probably 100 yards down to the left, the north. So the light is just creeping in, the grass is super bright green, and it was just a great way to wake up in the morning, even though I did go back to sleep for another 20 minutes {Haha}. It was a good morning, a good way to wake up compared to the way that I arrived last night, I was like 'ugggghhh', almost hating life. So, the silver lining, there it is. I'm probably 5 or 6 miles into hiking today overlooking this massive valley with lower tree studded hills off to the west. I'm up on the side of a ridge parallel to it that's studded with all these yellowish-brown-orange tree stumps and snags and stuff. It's just been a nice morning. I just passed Chicken Spring Lake at about 11,500 ft hence the heavy breathing, even here walking where it's fairly level. But in the sandy soil it takes a bit to hike and talk. But yeah, Forester Pass is coming up and Crabtree Meadows, so we'll make sure to hit those and see what we can do today.

Cottonwood Pass Trail Junction 180 degree panorama.

The basin west of Crabtree Meadows

June 11^th, Day 18. I went for my second day in the Sierras. I accomplished 40 miles on the nose and I stopped Vidette Meadows, just after Forester Pass – about 6 miles past. - at point 0374476E 4069086N. So lets see here, umm, I don't even remember where the hell I stopped yesterday....(laughs) Oh yeah, I stopped at the beautiful umm trees... Lets see, a recap, umm... The morning was really pretty so I went slow, taking lots and lots of photos of the pretty trees. By about midday, I knew I was behind by at least an hour, somewhere about 3-6 miles. Annd I umm, I'm, this is really disjointed today.... So I went through the trees. By Chicken Springs Lake there were about 10 people camped out there. I plodded along, not too terribly hard, then I came down to Rock Creek and had a terrible climb up to Mt. Guyot. It's just long and steep and you're at elevation and you have to gain all that you just lost to get down to the creek. Then it levels out for a little bit and you have 

Creek crossing at Crabtree Meadows.

to do it again, climb to the ridge. About a 1/3 way up the ridge, I got a spurt of energy, or, I don't know, something kicked in and I hauled up the rest of it, which was awesome. I wasn't going to say no to that. After that I was kinda zoned out for a while. I hate that feeling, it's this zombie zone. I know I'm walking, but I....I just can't explain it. Your eyes work, everything works, it's just you're in some kind of haze or a fog and you can't get out of it. I have found that counting steps does kind of bring me out of it. It usually happens when the trail is pretty routine and not difficult, where you don't have to really choose where you're stepping and things like that. Especially when you're listening to music, you're just gone. But I made it atop there and dropped down into Crabtree Meadows, which was pretty much empty. The last time I was there it was frickin' packed with people, granted we did arrived towards the evening, and I arrived around 1pm. I met a girl called Birthday Girl, some of her friends were up climbing Whitney, but she's moving on because

Looking S on the Big Horn Plateau.

she's low on food. Lets see, a little way after I stopped and had some lunch in a big meadow with some beautiful views. I kept pushing because I knew I had to make it over Forester to try and make my miles. So, ups and downs, ups and downs. I finally made it to the Big Horn Plateau, which was spectacular as normal. I camped there in 2009. I dropped down to Tyndall Creek and there was 5 miles from there to Forester which wasn't too bad. Just a gentle up, and yeah, it was beautiful because you're above tree line pretty much at that point and the snow... Oh my goodness, NO SNOW. The first snow I hit on Forester was literally at the base of the switchbacks and it was only about 15 ft and melting fast. I pushed up the switchbacks, totally out of breath as you'd expect. I hit the top at about 7:30pm and the sun was just casting the most beautiful alpenglow on the tips of the mountains on the south side. The valley on the north side was almost completely

Approaching Forster Pass - offcenter left low point.

 light still. So it was super spectacular. I'm so glad I was up there at that time. I hung out there for a little bit and took a bunch of photos and started my way down. There was finally more snow, but by now means, like 5% of what was there in 2009. About a couple hundred feet here or there that I had to cross. But nothing! I actually wish there was more snow, because walking all the switchbacks, on the rocks and on all the terribleness, was, I feel slower actually than walking on snow or even postholing. Because then you could at least go straight and go down steeper things versus the trail and switchbacks that meander frickin' everywhere. The rocks weren't very pleasant, because earlier in the day, actually the night before, my left foot, between my little toe and the next toe, a crack, split, cut or whatever opened up, about ¾ inches long. At first I thought the pain that was coming from there was that, but realized that, that didn't hurt at all and there seems to be 

Descending Forester Pass at sunset.

a blister or something realllly deep under that spot. I managed to lance it, one little pocket of it and some kind of whitish fluid came out. I don't think it's infected and I'm not sure how it would ever be infected. But it's SUPER painful. Ya know the rocks, if you hit them in the right spot you just wince in pain. It was getting dark, I hiked until 11pm. I got the flashlight out, just going down switchbacks, finally into the trees, then to the bottom of the valley and made it to where I camped next to the bear box. There seemed to be about 4 or 5 other people stashed in the woods around there, probably because it's only a few miles to the Kearsarge Trail to take you to Onion Valley to resupply. So, we'll see about this foot, because it sucks. It could be a deal breaker if it doesn't get better. I'll have to keep looking at it and determine how well I can walk on it because it is definitely hampering me.

Approaching Forester Pass(out of sight left side) in the evening light 180 degree panorama.

Day 17: June 10, 2012

June 10, 2012.

Day: 17    Daily Miles: 42.25    Total Miles: 747   Hours Hiking: 15.5   6:45am-10:15pm

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6 miles out from Kennedy Meadows cg.

Day 17

June 10^th, day 17. I stopped at trail mile 473, or 443 rather, fuck, 743! At coordinates 0392373E 4032522N at somewhere right around 11,000 ft. Ooo, yesterday, wow, lets see where to start. I left a little late at about 6:45am from the Kennedy Campground there. The first 15 miles are nice, pretty easy, gentle up. Started off at 6,200 ft and then gradually made your way up to about 8,500 ft. And then they decide to throw you up to 10,000 ft really quickly and it's steep. It's kind of a slap in the face when you just went 15 miles slowly, you know, one of those 'welcome to the Sierras, looks it's really easy....ohh no it's not!' I kinda just went slow for the first part and I knew that elevation was going to be a factor, so as long as you can keep a pace for a while you can do it. I just kinda kept chugging along, chugging along, and after that first climb, there's downhill. Then, there's another climb up to, up this ridge with all these really amazing – looks to be lodgepole and foxtail pines and maybe a couple bristle cones, but I couldn't really tell too well. That climb just keeps going and going. You start at about 9,000 ft and you top out at somewhere in 11,000 ft, but it just kinda winds its way through and up. And by this time I've already done 

The trail goes under the log!

ohh 25 miles and I'm still not used to the elevation. So I had to trudge along there and my midday kind of lull was with me too. So after lunch I was like uggghhh. So I just resupplied at Kennedy Meadows and I've got new shoes and I had to battle them all day for the right fit. I think I got close but I get a quarter sized blister on my right heel, the foot that has had relatively zero problems. There was blood in it, not a whole lot, but I was like 'great...' So, we'll see if I can get that figured out and dialed in for tomorrow. Left foot is pretty happy, even the big scab where the first pair of shoes was rubbing my heel/ankle area is happy. But after that climb, well the climb is not so hard if you were fresh and only doing 20 miles, is really beautiful. You come up to this crest, the ridge and are looking down into the Owen's Valley and lake Owens and you see highway 395 briefly. But everywhere standing around you there are these golden-brown-yellow tree trunks, some gnarled, some straight with these crazy branches coming out – of course the dead ones look the best. They are just studding everywhere between slabs of rock and views in all directions. It's one of those places where you want to come back for photography and just hang out. It's definitely a places I really like. It's very similar to the 

Ridge view down into the Owens Valley.

White Mountains and the bristle cones except for they are mostly gnarly in the way that they go straight up, like they spin and have these weird curls instead of just big curly branches and arms and things and being really squat. These go up to about 30-40ft and I'm assuming they are lodgepoles. You stay in that kind of environment pretty much until you drop down towards Guyot Creek, tomorrow. Lets see, yeah, I got in late {last night}. I wanted to figure out how fast I should go through the Sierras to reach Tuolumne Meadows at an optimal time. So, I figured out that if I could do 42's, which I was hoping to be able to do 40's, to kind of catch up on the miles that

I had not done in the desert to keep my average up around the 60 day mark, that I could do the Sierras in a 

little over 5.5 days, could reach the post office on a Friday in the afternoon and be set. Ya know, haul ass through the Sierras, make up my time and hit the post office at an awesome time. So we'll see, I did manage that 42 today. I did have to night hike today uggggghhhh... for like {3 hours}. It took it out of me a bit. But I made it. The last mile I had to literally count steps to keep myself focused and motivated. I passed over 43 people yesterday. A good ground of 15 or so I passed at about 8:30pm by Diaz Creek. But, ya know, it's just one day after another. Tomorrow is going to be Crabtree meadow, Forester Pass – Forester Pass will be 33 miles into tomorrow, so not super bad, but it would be nice if it were a little earlier. We'll see if we can make up a little time and get there early and get more sleep and acclimate better. Otherwise I'm not doing too bad, really happy I'm in the Sierras. It's really beautiful as expected and there's water everywhere. So I've been drinking my fill, unlike the desert where I was definitely drinking as much as I could, but still definitely conserving. That's all.

Pretty trees on the long ridge traverse before the Horseshoe Meadows cutoff.

Day 16: June 9, 2012

June 9, 2012.

Day: 16   Daily Miles: 35.75    Total Miles: 704.75   Hours Hiking: 20   6:35am-6:05am

Listen to the audio journal above or Download June 9th Audio File Here

Day 16

Entering the Kennedy Meadows Campground.

June 9^th, Day 16. I traveled 35.75 miles today. Stopped at 0398170E 3990588N In the Kennedy Meadows campground. Today wasn't an exceptionally wonderful day. I had to hustle to make the Kennedy Meadows store by 5 o'clock, which I did, but just barely! I literally got there at like 5:02pm. Which on Saturdays I guess they are open a little bit later to like 5:30 or so. But I made it regardless. The last about 8 miles I had to just really focus, I took half a caffeine pill and just went. I was like 'this is what I trained for, 10 miles in 2.5 hours'. I woke up a little later than I wanted to which made it so I had to really hustle at the end of the day. Within a couple minutes of camp, there were fresh bear tracks on trail covering other peoples footprints, so there was a bear real close. There was a lot more up than I remember, mostly in the section where I camped between the Spanish Needle Creeks, well all the way to Kennedy Meadows really. It was fairly warm, well hot almost. I believe my watch said 85 degrees and when you're in a burn area and you're going up hill and there is no breeze, its a sweat factory. But regardless, I made it, nothing too exciting really, just trying to go fast and actually make it. The coolest part about the day was when I got to the store – my main goal was to get there so I wouldn't have to wait 

The flats after Kennedy Meadows store.

around for my packages until the morning. I got to the store, asked for my packages and the women said that 'your parents had picked them up and they are down at the campground at site 34'. I was like 'really?? wow! Thats a surprise!' I had said I would be arriving probably sometime on the 9^th. They were looking to try and meet up with me, and I said I might arrive late, so I may have to wait around until the next morning to get my packages. So I guess they put two and two together and were like 'we'll grab his packages for him in case he is late'. I bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream of Half Baked, found the log book, went out to the picnic tables, chatted with some people, signed in, had them sign my witness log, ate my ice cream and literally didn't spend more than an half hour at Kennedy Meadows store before I took off again. They were actually having a community pot-luck, $5 donation and you could eat a whole ton

The feet after 700 miles. Yes my legs are that dirty.

 of food. It was a good little stop, one of those that I wish I could have stayed longer because I know there were a ton of hikers there still, I only say maybe about 20 hanging out on the porch or down at Mikes. O'well I'll pass plenty of them up in the Sierras. The last few days they have been busy with hikers leaving. I went and found my parents about 3 miles down the trail. I got a shower out of the camper, got some laundry done, repacked. They had picked up 2 other hikers, Ben and Jeff. We had dinner, trail magic style. I ate a bunch. They knew from 2009 what thru-hikers want. And, I actually got to sleep on kind of a bed, which was amazing. It's probably the only time for the whole time I'm on trail that I will get to sleep on something other than my 1/2” x 33” pad. So I had a good night, woke up this morning, had all my stuff ready and am ready to go.

The ridge just before dropping down to the Kern River and then ~ 8 miles to Kennedy Meadows.

Day 15: June 8, 2012

June 8, 2012.

Day: 15   Daily Miles: 43.75   Total Miles: 669    Hours Hiking: 16.5   6:10am-10:50pm

Listen to the audio journal above or Download June 8th Audio File Here

Day 15

~5 miles S of Bird Springs Pass Road - HDR

June 8^th, Day 15, I went 43.75 miles. I stopped at point 0406733E 3958841N at a grand total mile 669, to finish out my day. Lets see, where to begin, where to begin. I awoke and got my stuff together and was on trail by about 6:15am. It was still windy, but not nearly as windy as the night before. The sun had come up – it was a nice sunrise actually down out over Inyokern and China Lake. The mountains kinda all stacked up on each other with different hues of purple and gray and black as the sun was orange and yellow across the tops of them. I saw about 4 people ahead of me – they walked by while I was getting ready and just woke up. So my goal was to catch up to them. I remembered correctly the night before that there was a longer sandy climb, which was what I had to do within the first 20 minutes. The easy walk over to Bird Springs Pass cache, which actually had water – the person who is supplying the caches had their transmission die on the 5^th, and so there was a note at the Kelso Valley cache saying that the Bird Springs one might not get delivered too or be empty. That was good news {that the cache had water}. I didn't take any water, I had plenty. I talked to the guys that had passed me, there were 4 of them. Another guy came in afterwards. And then there was a very large um....hey squirrel... a very large climb from Bird Springs Pass. It wasn't super steep, there are parts of it. It just winds it way up, up, up, up, up, up. When you finally peak and get around the false summit onto the back side, you get your first long distance glance of the Sierras – the barren peaks above tree line – gray 

Climbing up the big hill after Bird Springs Pass Road.

rock and such. I met another couple, I hiked with the guy from the couple for about 5-10 minutes, he was asking me questions because he had heard about me. That was nice to actually move and not be stationary while talking. My goal for the day was to get to Walker Pass somewhat early so I could enjoy the trail magic that was happening there via Meadow Ed from the 7-9^th. I forgot about a dry and terrible road walk for about 3 miles by McIvers Springs. Then another dry and monotonous walk through a burn area on top of a ridge that felt like it never ended. In 2009 on that same ridge I found a turquoise Indian bead when I was looking for some rocks. I actually just passed a piece of obsidian on trail, so the Indians were out here, the evidence is all over. I met, I think a Japanese man named 'Hi', he was walking on the road. Some ATV'ers passed by. One stopped and we chatted for a little and they gave me an ice cold water, which was awesome. I finally got out of the monotonous area and was, surprised, delightfully surprised, that there was a 4 mile downhill to Walker Pass. I arrived at Walker Pass around about 2:30pm, so I had about 1.5 hour there. I ate, chatted with about 10 people who were hanging out. I looovveedd just being able to sit, especially in the middle of the day because I never really take breaks then and have food to chow on. I had donut holes, banana, soda, chips and salsa, bean dip, some cookies all manner of good things. I finally left a little after 4pm and wanted 

Sunset shadows, looking E towards Inyokern/China Lake.

to make it another 15-20 miles to make tomorrow easier to get into Kennedy Meadows so I can possibly make the store while it was open as well as have a little bit of time to just sit back and relax. Supposedly, my parents are going to try and meet me there. Which it would be awesome if they did, but doesn't matter if they didn't. That's what I'm really trying to make the store just in case. I last talked with them coming up from Highway 58, and they mentioned they might and I said 'well if you do, pick up my packages from the store, because if I'm late it means I'll have to wait until the morning and it'll put me 2-3 hours behind when I actually want to be leaving'. So we'll see, hopefully I'll make the store and see if my packages are there or not, and if not, I'll hike down a couple miles to where they said they'd be camping. We'll see about that. Anyways, I night, well evening hiked, I passed the two Kiwi's that were at the trail magic, they were pretty fun to talk to just because I actually have experience in their country and I think most of the people they meet don't know anything about it. I met them up about 2 hours back on trail – they left earlier than I had. I spent about 25 minutes chatting, giving them tips on places to go, things to see and whatnot about the trail. Those are two guys who – ones an older guy, ones younger in early 20's guy, by older I mean like 60. I'm not sure if they are together, like father and son, or they were just like hey, we're from the same country lets hike together. 

About 50 miles to go until Kennedy Meadows!

But I could totally see myself hiking with those guys because they, I don't know, they just seem more fun. I kept going, it was sooo frickin' windy. On the area where you kind of pop out, you're on the inside of the mountains, like facing towards the Sierras and the desert is on the other side of the mountains, and you finally go over a saddle and you're facing out towards Inyokern and China Lake, literally looking straight down on the desert where they've hacked the trail into a big rocky cliff. Some of those ridges that you kind of nose around ohh, there are 40mph winds blasting through there. But I finally made it through that and went down, down, down. I night hiked for a good 2.5-3 hours which was slow because the trail was rocky in places and started going up, and fairly steeply up too which was not very fun. My goal was a water source and finally hit that and went not very far after to the first camp site and spent the night. This morning actually, not even 5 minutes from camp I found there were fresh bear tracks on top of all the footprints on the trail, so there was a bear nearby, but they don't like people.

The climb just after the Walker Pass and Hwy 178 Crossing.

Day 14: June 7, 2012

June 7, 2012.

Day: 14   Daily Miles: 47.5   Total Miles: 625.25    Hours Hiking: 18.5   5:10am-11:40pm

Listen to the audio journal above or Download June 7th Audio File Here

Day 14

June 7^th, day 14, coordinates 0396936E 3928463N. I ended at mile 625.25 for a grand total of 47.5 miles. I was out kinda in where I expected to be, passed the Kelso Valley road in the rolling rocky hills with Joshua Trees.... ------------(too windy to hear)------------ For the beginning of the day it was pretty dang nice. I actually hiked – I woke up at about 5am and started hiking and put in about 3 miles to make sure my previous days mileage was high. So in actuality, I probably did like a 52 yesterday. But I survived, I did a bunch of night hiking, I hiked until about 11:30pm. The best part of the day – the first 25 miles was super boring until I made it to Robin Bird Springs, filled up, took a long lunch, did some foot care. After lunch I felt the mental haze I've felt before but have never gotten in the middle of the day. It's only ever been in the mornings or in the later afternoons which makes it weird that I got it around lunch. It basically made my afternoon miserable, I just hated life, I was like uggghhh, I can't handle this, this sucks. I finally ate more and drank more and it kind of went away. So I'm not sure if it's related to electrolytes or blood sugar level or dehydration, but I think it's one of those three. I also took some caffeine which perked me up after a little while, made me 

A mile before the Kelso Valley Road crossing and cache.

happy, then I was glad I was doing what I was doing, like it normally does, because I'm not addicted to it. I sped on down to the Kelso Valley cache, filled up water. I was going to take less than a did, but saw a note dated the 5^th of June that the awesome person who delivers the water out there, his transmission broke, and wasn't sure if he could make the delivery to the next cache. So I made sure to stockpile enough to make it all the way, the next 30 some-odd miles to Walker Pass. That's where the trail magic is happening 7-9^th, I'm going to hit it on the 8^th. I almost actually to Bird Springs road cache right now which is full. I night hiked where I night hiked before in 2009, it was great, it was a lot easier than I remembered actually, that was a plus. It was windy, but I found a great place tucked behind some Joshua Trees, where there was no wind. It ended well and started OK. It was actually about 80 degrees all day long in the sun so it was hot. I'm going to make it to the trail magic today, hopefully hang out for only an hour. Get some good food and make some more miles so I can cut the mileage down for the next day to make it to Kennedy Meadows hopefully before the store closes so I can get my stuff prepared at night and leave in the morning.

Morning panorama looking north towards the Sierras I was to see soon enough!

Day 12: June 5, 2012

June 5, 2012.

Day: 12    Daily Miles: 45.5    Total Miles: 531.25    Hours Hiking: 16   7:15am-11:30pm

Listen to the audio journal above or Download June 5th Audio File Here

Day 12

June 5^th, Day 12. My 12^th day on trail. Lets see, I camped out at 0366221E 3858229N and I made it 45.5 miles for a grand total of 531.25. Ohh where to start. I camped out at the what was previously called the Red Carpet cache at Lake Hughes road. It was windy through the night, I slept on sand which was nice. In the morning I didn't get a very early start, about 7:15am, which is late actually, but I made great time, I was headed to Hiker Town, so that was my goal for a resupply. It was windy and cold. There is kind of a ridge walk, you're in the trees, but on the side of the mountain, but near the top of the hill/the ridge you're walking on. For a good 4-5 hours there was 10-20 mph winds and it was like 40-45 degrees out. Needless to say, I was in my jacket. But the sun came out and the clouds dissipated, the views opened up down towards the Antelope Valley and Lancaster, and it turned into a nice day. By the time I got to the crest and started heading down towards Hiker Town, it probably about 70-75 degrees, a light breeze, nice and warm. I met like 14 hikers on trail which was neat, I mean it was nice to finally meet more people. I basically just chatted with them for a few minutes here and there. One guy named 'Raisins', he's trying to do a speedier hike, in 3 months because he

Just before dropping down into the Antelope Valley.

 has to make it back to school, so he had a billion questions, which I didn't mind. He actually caught me once on the trail heading to Hiker Town, and just as I was leaving Hiker Town he was arriving so he had a few more questions. Coming down the mountain was fine. It seemingly took a little longer that I was expecting to get to Hiker Town, but so be it. I spent 2 hours at Hiker Town, resupplied, showered, did hand laundry while in the shower, repacked all my stuff and found some stuff in the hiker box to chow on before I headed out. I talked to a bunch of people, that was fun. I wish I could have stayed, it would have been a nice night. It was SUPER windy out on the flats of the Antelope Valley where I have to walk alongside of the aqueduct. I left at 7pm all bundled up and kept going until about 11:30pm along the aqueduct which is just a dirt road walk. Not too much excitement out there. I got to see the sunset, the stars came out for about 2 hours before the moon rose directly over Lancaster which was awesome. It was full and started out kinda as this oblate disc,

The start of the LA aqueduct walk.

 kinda squished. It was bright orange above the orange lights of the city lights. For about 20-30 minutes it stayed this bright orange color and slowly because a perfect sphere as it rose above. For the rest of the night it was a bright white ball hanging out in the sky. I had plans on trying to make it to the Cottonwood bridge, but I didn't quite make it. I made it to mile 531 instead of 535 where the water spigot is, but no big deal. I actually just got tired and found a berm on the side of the road and kinda just hoped over the berm, threw out my pad, put my pack down and went to sleep {quickly}. It wasn't anything special. It was still windy so in the middle of the night I got my ground tarp out and put it under my feet so I could take my shoes off. That was about it. It was a good day all around. A little later than I expected, but no too shabby for a resupply.

Day 17 Panorama - At about 10,000 ft at the southern end of the Sierras. ~12 miles from Kennedy Meadows.

Day 11: June 4, 2012

June 4, 2012.

Day: 11  Daily Miles: 45.75   Total Miles: 485.75  Hours Hiking: 16.5  6:00am-10:30pm

Listen to the audio journal above or Download June 4th Audio File Here

Day 11

Morning light heading down to Soledad Canyon.

June 4^th, I camped at 0366183E 3836123N. I actually hiked 45.75 miles. Technically I actually hiked 50, but I got up at 4:30am on what is technically considered day 10 and hiked for 4 miles until 6am, when day 10 ended. The reasoning, is really trivial, it doesn't matter, as I did the miles in 11 days, but I wanted to make day 10 have a 39 mile day instead of a 35 mile day. Either way I did a 50. I camped at the red carpet cache, although I'm not sure it's called that anymore. It's one section, ridge or whatever – chunk over, the next road over from the Anderson's road. Yesterday was an awesome day. I was up at 4:30am, came down from the ranger station, got to Soledad Canyon and the onshore breeze had blown the fog in so it was not hot at all. It was literally foggy, I couldn't see very far far. Once I started pulling into Vasquez Rocks, the fog began lifting, blue skies. Low and behold, it's windy and not hot! Which is amazing because the climb out of Agua 

Vasquez Rocks, just before Agua Dulce!

Dulce is a long, long uphill sunny battle. It was about 10:30am when I got into Agua Dulce, went into the store, bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's cookie-something-or-other ice cream. I was hoping the Mexican food restaurant next to the store would open at 11, but did not open at 11, as they were still getting stuff ready, so I boogied out of town. Before town, I had met, 5, 6, 7, at least 8 hikers, which is a ton of hikers for me. I saw a few more in town itself, so I can only imagine how many are actually at the Saufleys, the trail angels there. So I battled out of town, the nice long road walk. Going on the uphill, my right calf and right hamstring are hurting. I think thats because my left foot is in such hobbled shape that I've been kind of limping and babying it, therefore putting all the extra strain on my right foot. I think it's finally caught up with me. So I got up that hill slower than I ever expected, well kinda, I had to take more breaks because my hamstring does not feel good going up hill. But yeah, it was windy and beautiful, it was like 75-80 degrees with puffy clouds. The trail was wonderful, nice and open, and flat. The tread was flat with no rocks, with small gravel, so it was interesting 

to compare it to all the other stuff I've been doing the last few days. It's gentle with smartly designed ups and downs. I met a few other people. I got to the Hiker Oasis cache – the Anderson's water cache, I had a soda, stashed one for later. Kept going, kept going, kept going. I was listening to the second book in the Hunger Games series. Basically I was just hauling ass all day. I didn't have to stop for much, thats what I got such big miles, granted I did get up bloody early. I got to San Francisquito road, I could have stopped and gone to the Anderson's, that would have been mile 39 or 40, but I figured I might as well push it. I was hoping there was water at the cache, because I had only 1L and there aren't very many water sources out here. And there was {water}, there was also 5 or 6 hikers camped around it when I arrived at about 10:30. The last 4 miles were pretty tough. When I hit San Francisquito road I put down a Mt. Dew, and the caffeine and sugar rocketed me up the 2.5 mile continuous up. By then though, I was just tired. 4 miles is a hell of a lot when you're tired. Especially when you're going down hill and it's dark with no light because the clouds have socked in the big full moon. But yeah, I cooked dinner and went to bed at about 11:15, pack of full water and I'm looking forward to Hiker Town.

Day 15 Panorama - The first view of the high Sierras in the distant background.