2MoreMiles…

Forrester Pass 13500 ft

Day 57: (16.5 miles)
mile 766-782.5

I’ll start by saying this was a very tough day. We started the day walking away from summiting Mt. Whitney. Even though we had decided to not summit last night it was difficult to hike the PCT trail going away from the Whitney Spur trail. The other hikers camped near by all left earlier with all the excitement of a new adventure. Cheering each other on as they hurried up the trail saying good bye to us. We turned our focus on our adventure, Forrester Pass. All 13,500 feet.  We had about 13 miles to go to get there. The sun was out, the sky was that royal Sierra blue, and honestly the birds were singing. Our attitude could have been measured by the “spring” in our step. We hiked through tall pines and past wide open meadows.  We saw two deer feeding and couldn’t resist checking to see if they were bucks. They were! A small forked horn and a nice 3×3 or possible 4×4, hard to say with out some binos to see better. When they walked away the larger buck’s antlers were well outside his ears, still in velvet. It seemed like a movie. A picture perfect setting,  with the wildlife you would expect, on a beautiful day. Life is awesome!

We ford more icy creeks and lunch on the bank of Tyndall Creek. It’s here that we met a couple, our age, section hiking, eating lunch too. We get the usual questions about the trail and then the question, “When are you going to climb Forrester Pass?”  We say today. They respond “Today?” That should have been a bigger clue , especially after they had earlier mentioned they’ve climbed the pass on a earlier hike. We have what Ten Speed later referred to as”Thru Hiker Tunnel Vision”. This means we push on, defying common sense.

We head out, only 4 miles to the top of the pass and it’s 1:30 in the afternoon. The trail heads towards amazing mountain peaks, forming an incredible bowl. We start questioning the location of the pass.

It could be anywhere. We stop several times and make guesses. I remind Paul “We can wonder all we want, or we can wander and find out.’ He rolls his eyes, having heard this a thousand times. We push on as the trail turns to foot prints in deep snow…another clue.  We “posthole” for the first time and laugh, yet continue following foot prints not knowing where the trail is actually located.  From time to time we can see the trail in the open spaces clear of snow, but the trail winds around large boulders in every direction who knows where we’re going. As we close in on the face of this gigantic bowl, we see the pass.  It’s way the hell up there and it has a very, very, slim chute.  Several long steep switchbacks are now visible. Some covered in snow, but all look intimidating. Between us and the switchbacks is snow and boulders sloping up the mountain.  We posthole about calf deep over and over, and then decide to take the boulder route. Climbing over boulders focusing on the switchbacks thinking, we “got this.”  Tunnel vision anyone? This isn’t “that bad” we say, taking no thought of what lie ahead on the other side…how bad can it be, right? 

Surprisingly enough as we look behind us a quarter mile, we see the other couple following the “blind”. I posthole 30 feet before the switchbacks and Paul carries my pack up to the trail, as I scramble up to higher ground. Whew!  Now it will get easier we think and walk the switchbacks as if having successfully won at some game. 

The switchbacks are steep and you gain altitude quickly.  Before you know it, the valley floor is far below and the edge of the crumbly trail, is straight down. ‘Don’t look down’, I tell myself… focus on the trail.  The other couple is just below us and shouts, “having fun yet?”  ‘Of course’, we reply.  We continue climbing and reach the “snow bridge”connecting both sides of the chute. Up to this point the height issues were livable but this looked real scary (more like terrifying) and A LOT crazy!  I can’t believe I signed up for this.  Paul is giddy and thinks it’s the coolest thing ever.

Paul goes first and says it’s “easy”, “you can do it”, and I do…mainly cause I really have no choice.

I make it, but don’t look down, however I post holed once toward the last few steps and nearly have a coronary…woe!”) Up the other side of the chute to the elevation sign. We made it! It’s 5pm.  Pictures are in order. 

It is then that we see, looming over the back side it’s all snow, for at least two miles (of course). 

We follow the snow trail post holing a little as we go.  Again only calf deep. 

We then boot ski a bit.  All along we are thinking no big deal, plenty of day light and at least it’s down hill. Well, things got worse as the post holing became more frequent as we plunged downhill. We could see the lower elevation that had little snow and where the tree line began. That was the goal, the camp site, and safety.

Looking back from where we came

Behind us was the other couple having the same troubles. We pushed on. There was no other choice. I was looking for a closer camp site knowing it didn’t exist but out feet were now wet and cold. We were both complaining about the conditions and walking, potholing, climbing to our feet again.  It was exhausting. At one point I fell so deep it swallowed my whole leg.  Shit. Now what?  I undo my pack and take it off to make it easier to climb out of the bind I’m in and to use it to disperse my weight.  I shove the pack in front of me and pull myself along.  Finally to safety…a portion of the trail that is not covered in deep snow.  Meanwhile Paul has doubled back to make sure I get out of my hole and helps me with my pack.  I think how does one do this by themselves… this is flipping Dangerous!  We pick our route once again, and hear what sounds like a waterfall or roaring river.  Where is it?  We look around and then realize that its directly below us!  Paul takes a step. Down goes his foot through the snow and water starts to pour into his boot.  Shit.  People die because of this crap.  Paul is able to extricate himself without any complications. 

I say ‘screw it’ and decide to lower my center of gravity, sit down and start to slide on my butt (aka. Glissade) the rest of the way down.  This works perfectly, as I get down quicker and don’t have to worry about messing up my knee any further or breaking a leg or foot because it’s gotten wedged under a boulder… again.  I am however sopping wet and practically frozen as is Paul.  We are thinking survival mode now.  Early signs of hypothermia is setting in. Paul can’t feel his hands or feet and I basically can’t feel my hands and lower half of my body, in fact I am almost not cold…bad sign. Paul finds a flat area in a small stand of pines.  By the time I get to him he has created a fire ring and has collected a stack of wood.  Fire! Good thinking and even better planning on his part as he has been carrying (since the border) a small container of lighter fluid and tissue… Just in case.  This is a just in case situation.  He lights the fire and removes his saturated boots, replacing them with dry socks and his Croc camp shoes, and begins to rewarm his feet.  I quickly strip down out of my wet clothes and put on my dry sleeping clothes…complete with Western Mountaineering down puffy pants (and to think I almost sent those home) and begin to warm myself by the fire. The last we saw the other couple they were heading for higher ground and appeared fine. The fire was ” glorious”  I said over and over to Paul who was warm again. Now we needed a hot meal.  Paul went to the snow creek to fill the water bottles. While there, out of the darkness someone calls to him,  “Are you the guy with the fire?” Paul answers yes and invites the hiker to the fire to get warm. The hiker and his partner arrive shivering and stuttering as they had just experienced the same hideous descent.  Their names were Brett and Ten Speed. Ten Speed is a Triple Crowner and is doing the PCT for the forth time. They thank us several times for sharing the fire and we invite them to stay the night. They accepted immediately!

We stayed up well past hiker midnight telling stories, comparing our hike, and drying our shoes and socks. We were warm and the fire was glorious!! Oh ya…already said that.  Once sufficiently warm we crawled into our tent and slept comfortably thanking God above for keeping us from harm, knowing things could have been worse and gone astronomically wrong at any point.  But as Arizona says, “It’s not an adventure if there isn’t some risk, right?”

Day 56: (14 miles)
mile 751 – 766 (Crabtree Meadows)

Today was a relatively “easy” day as we mostly followed a 10000ft contour line. Of course there were descents and ascents taking us to water and our first “river” crossing. 

This required us to remove our footwear and wade into icy cold run-off water that is filling the creeks and rivers, and even leaching onto the trail.  Because the trail is well worn, a trough of sorts is created wherein the current run-off from the quickly melting snow tends to settle, often making for a rocky and/or soggy traverse. 

We talk about everything and nothing.  We solve the world’s problems…playing “if I were king/queen for the day”.  We get a little “trail delirium” as evident by the photo below. 

Water is plentiful and the temperature is perfect.  As we hike , we barely sweat.  We laugh about how in the desert we planned our days around water and now we plan them around summiting peaks and passes.  Talk turns to Whitney.  To summit or not to summit.  So far my altitude medication seems to be working and I’ve reached a new “high” over 11000+ feet.  We decide we will try, and call it if my head starts to hurt.  We now begin our descent into Crabtree Meadows… Pretty steep with some (actually A LOT… for me) big steps down and my left knee is becoming Very unhappy.. to the point of near mutiny.  It may take me longer to descend Whitney than to climb it. Hmmm. 

Whitney in the distance

We get to Crabtree and are greeted by scurrying marmots and grazing deer as well as little native and rainbow trout swimming in the stream that runs through the meadow.  We set up camp and Paul thinks it best we don’t do Whitney as he’d rather my knee last the whole trip and not risk destroying it climbing a peak, that is not part of the PCT, and we can do anytime as a stand alone adventure.  Paul has a good point and frankly he’s right…yes I told him so verbally (I’m sure he’s marked the date in his head).  I’m a little sad cause I know how bad he wanted to do it, but relieved in a way…headache, sore knee(s) with superior heights which terrify me will wait for another day.  As we finish dinner and plan out our next day’s quest…to Forrester Pass, Arizona and Hemlock arrive. Hurray!  People our age(ish), as most of the other hikers, while nice, are really young and fast and make us(me) feel old and infirmed.  Arizona and Hemlock will summit tomorrow.  We see Indy and Art Gypsy as they return from summiting Whitney. They look beat and confirm they are gased, but it was spectacular and well worth their tired legs and headache.  They also confirm my big step concerns.  We feel even better about our decision.

Day 55: (7 miles) Chicken Spring Lake
11230 ft

Up right on time 5:30 am. Can’t seem to get past that time any more even when sleeping in a motel. So, up we go and make plans to eat breakfast at the Alabama’s Cafe, do laundry (while eating…right next to the cafe), resupply our food, buy lunch at Subway, and hitch a ride 22 miles to Horseshoe Meadow all by 2pm. We eat with a group of eager, hungry, and interesting hikers. Everyone is sharing their plans for the up coming week and the big question is, what about Mt. Whitney?  We’ve decided to wait and see how I react when I return to altitude.  If I’m having altitude illness issues then we will skip the climb and continue to Kearsage pass. Paul really wants to summit and I’ve told him he can go ahead if it I cant, but he wants to do it together. We will see.  After all the town chores were complete we made a sign for Horseshoe Meadow and waited at the corner with our thumbs out. It’s Memorial Day weekend and the town is busy with tourist and traffic. This should be easy — Not! We wait for an hour and have a couple of nibbles and psych outs. (Nibbles are people that can give you a lift a few miles but not all the way, and psych outs are cars that pull over, or slow down, and speed  off. This is the longest we have waited for a ride. Paul has started giving commentary as the cars head in our direction, ” this is the one, he’s looking, new car , air conditioning … awe come on dude we’re clean and I’ve got new clothes!” Right when we think we should be holding out money or breaking out some soul train dance moves, we get lucky. A car that passed us in the other direction returns. They ask if we are 2Moremiles? We respond yes and they tell us they follow our blog. Cool … fans… we think… never had any…but still cool.  Paul jokingly asks them if they want our autograph.  They laugh and say they will give us a ride…(they have just come from Horseshoe Meadow but are willing to make the long drive back up the mountain).  Awesome.  We are the luckiest people alive…or at least hiking the PCT.  We add our two backpacks to theirs already in the back of the car.  They tell us they are training for the John Muir Trail and leave in 29 days.  I spy several large rocks in the back and ask them if they are using them for weight.  No, they say.  They just collect them…interesting.  We talk about backpacking and update them on where we’ve been and how things have been going…that its impossible to write about everything that’s happened and everything we’ve seen and still eat and get some sleep before we have to hike the next day, so we try and pick a theme or the most memorable part(s).  We converse non stop all the way to the parking lot.  We talk about hiker names and while they don’t think they’ve “earned” thru hiker names, they do have trail names for each other (“WooHoo” and “Butterfingers”). They explained why and I think they fit.  I’d place this as one of our favorite hitches so far. 

WooHoo, Dee and Butterfingers

And whom do we see as we get up to Horseshoe Meadow but none other than Banana Boat and a new hiker Trek.  Lucky them, cause now they have a ride into town.  We bid WooHoo and Butterfingers farewell and wish them happy trails on the JMT.  Before we head out back to the trail I scarf half my subway sandwich while Paul eat his whole.  While we eat we are asked by an elderly couple if we are hiking the PCT, yes we are…once we’re done eating.  We ask how their hike was today, they reply that they have just come from Mule Days in Bishop and thought they’d stop and check out Horseshoe Meadow.  They are familiar with the PCT and also tell us they  helped build/design the Tahoe Rim Trail.  We tell them we are familiar with that trail as we did it last summer in nine days…they are impressed.  We talk about mountain bikers on trails and the problems created when you mix hiking trails and bikes, and we finally learned why the hell some steps on steep climbs are so awkwardly far apart… It’s part of a design to keep motorbikes and ATVs off trails.  Ya learn something new everyday.  We climb up to Cottonwood Pass and onto Chicken Lake and a little past it and camp. 

Not bad for a Nero as we leisurely set up camp in a sandy granite bowl, all to ourselves,  overlooking what we believe is Whitney Meadows (at least that’s what the trail sign that had pointed in that general direction said.). Okay. Fingers are frozen now. Time to go to bed.

Sunset from our little bowl

Day 54: (18.7 miles)
mile 730.8 – 745 + 2.9 to Horseshoe Meadow

Max elevation 10651 ft

This morning was not as cold as the previous one.  We are able to get moving fairly quickly and are walking before 7am.  We had done the math of miles and meals and now realize we have shorter ourselves by at least one meal, if not two…especially if we are to attempt to summit Whitney.  This however is in somewhat limbo as once I hit 10651 ft (actually about 100 ft before that) my head starts to pound.  I will admit I am a little worried about even getting to Crabtree meadow which is well over 11000 ft and making Forrester Pass at over 12000ft.  Hopefully the altitude medication and proper hydration will kick in fully and spare me the sickness.  I have never been good at higher altitudes.  We see very little snow as it appears has melted as quickly as it came.

We walk on decomposed granite and through tall boulder fields stacked precariously as if a young giant had done so with a “primitive” set of Legos.  Boulder fields turn to forest void of undergrowth, yet strewn with blow downs in varying degrees of decay. 

We remark how the combination of random boulders interspersed amongst the blow downs with live and younger trees towering beside them and the still and quiet of the air makes us feel like we are traversing a graveyard of sorts… the boulders being the headstones and the hovering trees visiting family members.  The climb in elevation is gradual, but enough to feel it. 

We spy the Owens Valley and Hwy 395 at one point, and now know what the hell is up here as we had often wondered many a time driving the 395 to Mammoth to ski. 

We stop at Diaz meadow creek (mile 741) for water and lunch and reconfirm which trail we will take to Horseshoe Meadow for a hitch into Lone Pine.  We decide on the Horseshoe Meadow/Mulkey Meadow trail as it’s only 2.9 miles and thus makes it an 18+ mile day and early enough to the road for a better chance at a hitch.  Once we start down the trail to Horseshoe Meadow we see three thru hikers we recognize from KM that had left a day or so ahead of us. They are coming back from Lone Pine and a resupply and are cagey about their snow experience, saying it wasn’t “that bad”, however their faces tell another story.  One says that everyone but Mammoth went into town…but then Mammoth is crazy and tough as nails.  We remarked that he probably asked, “When’s the weather gonna hit?”…in the thick of it.  The three agreed.  When we got to the bottom and were walking across the meadow floor we saw Indy and Art Gypsy.  They told us the real story, about the whiteout conditions, hunkering down for two days next to a raging fire with several other hikers and then taking the first exit out and into town for more food.  In classic form, Art Gypsy (who is a photographer by trade) smiles brightly, “But I got some great photos!”.  They give us the lowdown on getting to town and where to stay.  We wish them safe travels and make our way to the road.  We are prepared to spend the night at the campground, if we must, and try and yogi a ride out of there, but are happily surprised within about 20 minutes by a truck with three backpackers from Big Bear returning from a short trip and heading into town for dinner. 

Paul with Jones, Treble, and Tron

They offer a ride of which we graciously accept.  The ride down the mountain was spectacular.  The conversation turned to thru hiking, trail names, what we carry, how we resupply, average miles and some of our ” adventures “.  They dropped us off at the hostel where we saw other hikers we recognized from KM, and believe it or not , Altas from the Why Not gang.  He had just got into town as he had to take some time off to attend his girlfriend’s college PHD graduation/ceremony.  We decided to have dinner together at the Pizza Factory and catch up.  Barrel joined us for dinner as well.  Barrel was the one sleeping next to the water cache at mile 630…Bird Spring Road when we got it at 2am.  Barrel went through the thick of the storm only making 24 miles in three days as the snow was mostly thigh deep.  He was surprised his feet did not get frostbitten.  He said at one point when he was setting up his tent and his shoes were so wet and frozen he took them off and walked around in just his socks as couldn’t feel his feet anyways.  He would heat his food and place it between his feet to warm them.  We were to late be able to do laundry, but also ran into Cheetah, Dirt Monger and Bear Claw.  Dirt Monger and Bear Claw are super fast and Ultra light hikers.  They said they made it to Cottonwood Pass and then down into Lone Pine for resupply having only been subjected to sleeting rain.  Paul was able to replace is torn shirt and pants as an outfitter called Elevation (they give thru hikers 10% off) and I purchased some compression sleeves for my lower legs to combat shin splints.  We would have passed out asleep earlier, but as luck would have it, the killer deal we got at the Dom Villa historical hotel, came with another price…super drunk, loud off key signing,  poker playing (outside near our room door) well into the night Motorcycle Club.

Bridge over the south Kern

Day 53: (16.3 miles)
mile 714.5 – 730.8

Last night was bitter cold as the skies were crystal clear and the stars shined brightly.  Our Western Mountaineering 20 bags worked perfectly… even better with them zipped together.  The water we had left in the JetBoil had frozen overnight.  It is hard to get going at our usual start time of 0530 due to the cold so we duck our heads back under our sleeping bags and nod off for another hour.  It’s not much warmer then either so we get moving as fast as we can once the sun hits our tent.  Our goal is at least 16 miles, 18 would be better but we will hit some heavy elevation to the tune of over 10,000 feet…and snow.  We cross the bridge at the Kern river and begin what turns out to be a gradual climb over several miles.  Because I am susceptible to altitude sickness over 8700 ft I take some medication that I hope will help.  When we hit 9000 ft a slight headache begins but subsides with a dose of Advil. 

We now are at the snow line and are tromping through compacted and quickly melting snow which makes for a slower trek combined with the gains in altitude. 

It is like a winter wonderland and we can’t help but laugh when we imagine what the hikers were going through who were stuck smack dab in the middle of the storm.  It must of been horrendous.  After we peak at 10000 ft we begin to descend from wooded forest to sparse forest spattered with boulders and finally into long and narrow meadows of which bears have been sighted.

It’s what we dreamed the Sierras would look like. We can see awesome peaks in the distance covered in snow. I commented how some look like the Matterhorn at Disneyland which starts a Disneyland conversation. Oh well we’ve got nothing but time.
We arrive a little earlier than the normal time (6ish) to camp at Death Canyon Creek.  The water report said the creek had a low flow, but because of the recent rain/snow the creek is flowing well with clear cold water. A relief. We are met by some previous PCT through hikers, Wildflower and her three friends. Wildflower hiked the trail in 2005 and is a Triple Crown hiker. She and her friends walking a short section SOBO to KM for the weekend.  We find a flat piece of real estate after much consideration as there was seemingly endless possibilities, and are asleep before dark.

Us with Banana Boat in front of the Kennedy Meadows General Store

Day 52: (14 miles)
mile 702 – 716 (South fork of Kern river)

Figured we try and get out today. My shin feels pretty good and the skies appear to be clearing.  We pack our packs and have a bit of breakfast, and say our goodbyes to Arizona, Banana Boat and Cheetah (all of whom will catch us once they get back on the trail.) Cheetah and Arizona need to go into Lone Pine for some paperwork and gear issues and Banana Boat has a chest cold.  Banana Boat is 21 and taking a year off from college to wander and do the PCT.  She is quite hilarious and full of energy.  She had started the day after us on April 1st, and due to a series of mishaps ended up at KM just after we did.  Off into the Sierras we go.

We climb over 2000 ft, but its over 14 miles so the trek is fairly pleasant.  The skies above appear foreboding and we wonder out loud if we made the right decision leaving today…especially when it starts to hail on us 6 miles out.  We quickly don our rain gear and pack covers, only for it to stop 15 minutes later. 

We take off the rain gear as we are sweating profusely, but keep the pack covers on.  At about 10 miles from KM we see three hikers heading SOBO, but we recognize them as SloBro, Me Too and Hemlock.  When we pass, we ask if they’re alright.  They tell us that they got to mile 720 last night and ended up walking in a “whiteout” and six inches of snow.  They had some gear failure, nearly froze and decided to head back to KM for equipment change and to wait for better conditions.  We told them that we were planning on only going to mile 716, to which they agreed was a good idea.  By tomorrow the conditions should improve with the snow compacting a bit which should be no problem for us as our footwear is heartier than theirs.

We trekked throughout the day with puffy thunderheads threatening to rain or snow on us at any moment.  As we got closer to our end point for the day the sky cleared and we were happy to see clear blue skies.  We arrived at the campsites adjacent the south fork of the Kern river and set up camp up the hill from the river hoping to stay warmer and dryer than the rest of the hikers.
As we ate our heaviest food first, which is the strategy to get your pack weight light, in this case Mac n cheese. We were entertained by two fighter jets buzzing the valley several times just before sunset.

Day 49-51
miles 0

Day 49:  We awoke the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing and I had slid off my pad and nearly off the ground cover.  Paul was wrapped tightly in his bag migrating as well.  So maybe it wasn’t the flattest piece of real estate.  We wander onto the deck just in time to order breakfast burritos.  We are definitely taking a Zero today and will graze the day away with the rest of our fellow hikers.  As we wait for our turn in the burrito cue (they are made one at a time…no fast food here), Rainman has scored a tub of Nutella and some wassa crackers from the hiker box and we indulge. 

Many hikers are still awaiting packages. We wait our turn and do laundry. Three dollars to wash our clothes and dry them via a clothes line.  Good thing the sun is out.  We also score a hot shower (outdoor hillbilly type shower) for three dollars each, and we get a clean dry towel and soap.  I finish my shower only to discover that the flimsy wooden door between me and the tired shower curtain has swung open on its own which now explains the draftiness.  We are hoping our tent arrives via FedEx Air today.  It appears that a free standing tent is a good call as there is some weather soon to arrive (rain at KM and snow at higher elevations and Whitney). Everyone is discussing the upcoming weather as new bear barrels are stuffed and packs rearranged or configured to fit the barrel. ( Bear barrels are required for the next three hundred miles to protect your food from bears and bears from sugary human food that rots their teeth.)  Those that are fast (and younger) hikers plan on leaving in the afternoon, provided their resupply packages arrive.  They do not, and mostly did not, plan on summiting Whitney, so they think they can make it to Lone Pine before it rains or snows on them.  We on the other hand are not as fast (or young) and I need to heal up before we tackle the Sierras… besides we’ve already done the freezing rain and blizzard thing.  No need to repeat that experience if we can avoid it.  I spend most of the rest of the day with my leg in an ice bucket with a steady dose of Advil to help with the swelling.  Paul shares stories and chips and catches up on the latest issue of Backpacker magazine. Not as many beers tonight though…they are out of Coors.

Day 50:  Our tent arrived late afternoon but it was the only thing from FedEx that came which was unusual.  One woman is really PO’d cause she paid for “guaranteed” overnight delivery through FedEx and she has been waiting longer than us.  Rainman, Tarzan and Assawaggen all left last night.  Indy and Art Gypsy are staying one more night, so are we. We have a chance to test out the new tent with the rain/snow on the horizon, which was a good idea. See, the tent didn’t come with instructions and it took us three attempts to get it right. At least we got the mistakes out of the way.

Day 51:  Glad to have a tent as it threatened and rained just a bit, but was mostly windy and cold.  Much warmer that way.  Today rained most of the day, but we lucked out and were able to score a camper for tonight at PCT trail angel Tom’s Place so that we could pack up a dry tent and be ready to set out tomorrow… Weather permitting.  Shin is just about 100%. We opted to rest the shin another day and wait out the weather.  More hikers left today with the skies looking dark with heavy clouds.  Slow bro, Me too , and Hemlock left early before the rain. The temperature has been dropping all afternoon and we can’t help but think about how our fellow hikers are fairing up on the mountain.  Dinner tonight was at the Grumpy Bear.

Tom ...Trail Angel

Tom gave us a ride to the restaurant.  While there we were surprised to discover that Arizona had just made it into KM and had decided to dine at Grumpy Bear too.

Arizona, Paul and I

The Grumpy Bear Diner

Had a great meal and reunion with Arizona.  He will zero at KM and probably catch up to is in a day or so…even if we leave tomorrow.  On the ride back from Grumpy Bears we could see that the clouds had lifted and could see the higher elevations were covered in snow.  Our decision to wait out the weather is looking better and better.

Day 48: (15.95 miles)
mile 686.8 – 702 to Kennedy Meadows

Up early again. No breakfast or coffee. Should be cooler today but we don’t want to chance it. 

We want to be able to make it to Kennedy Meadows before it closed at 5pm and get our hiker box… and beer of course, yet we didn’t want to overheat and my shin was on fire with each step.  Our mission was clear, get to Kennedy Meadows then you can stop moving and heal up with ice…and beer.  Luckily the trail was not severe and I could tune out most of the pain.  We motor along.  I am in a trance of sorts and on auto pilot which is a shame because we are entering some neat terrain, most of which I fail to appreciate.  Along the way we are passed by Tarzan, Assawaggen and Mammoth.  We meet and are passed by a new hiker, Rainman, who is our age and per his lips, feeling “quite spunky”, and also on a mission to get to KM before it closes. We travel downward most of the day passing many old prospect mines and their tailings. Were these old mines from the gold rush days?  We can’t help but wonder.

Fork of the Kern

Today we will be crossing the east fork of the Kern river. Plenty of water there, even during a drought year. We plodded along, Paul and the “gimp” (“One Speed ” is now my trail name) with my aching shin. Five miles short of of Kennedy Meadows we reach the river. It looks so inviting. We had talked about soaking our feet when we reached this point , but we can’t find a safe entry. Soak our feet or drink beer? We push on.  We hit the 700 mile mark…2 more miles! 

An hour before closing we are passed by Daniel.  He is on the same mission too. Finally we hit the road into Kennedy Meadows. Good news/Bad news.  Good news…It’s only .75 miles to the store.  Bad news…it asphalt and uphill.  Argh! Shin hurts more with hard surface.  Stay focused I tell myself.  “Limp really bad when a car goes by, maybe they’ll give us…you a ride”, Paul says. No ride but we make it to the store with plenty of time to spare.  We drop our packs on the deck. We are greeted with cheers from Tarzan, Assawaggen, Rainman, Mammoth and a few others.  Now for much earned beer.

Tarzan

Rainman, Assawaggen, Indy

Six pack of Coors please.  We missed the sign up for dinner (lasagna) but the grill was still open and we munched on double cheese burgers…heaven!  Paul secures a bucket of ice water and I soak my shin with everybody’s extra beers.  We laugh and share stories on the deck as music (our era) plays through crusty speakers.  Just before the store closes, another beer “run”.  The stories and laughter echoes till late into the night and we realize the music is no longer playing and the outdoor lights have been doused.  Wow.  This is a first.  Eventually we call it and wander off to set up camp on the flattest piece of real estate we can find.  This should be interesting.

Day 47: (14.8 miles)
mile 672 – 686.8

We both slept fairly well last night after the bear scare. Sleeping in the middle of the trail could have been a bad thing if the bear would have come along. After our morning coffee and oatmeal we set off to get closer to Kennedy Meadows. After a few miles Paul notices bear prints in the trail again only this time it’s different.  It’s daylight, the prints are much smaller, and there are two pairs of prints. One set of prints is large and the other small. Momma and baby bear? Once again eyes forward and who needs coffee any more. We followed the tracks for a 1/2 mile or so before they turned off trail and up hill. This is bear country and our resupply box at Kennedy Meadows has our “bear proof” food barrels that are required for the next 300 miles. These are Black bears not known for being man killers, but are best known for stealing food in camp grounds. Not to say we’re not a bit worried, just trying to convince myself everything is totally fine. Most of the trail is ups and downs and we reach Chimney Creek just after noon and found the spring flowing with clear cool water. We felt lazy so we took an extended siesta after lunch with a hiker named Miles. Miles is from Tennessee and we  could have guessed this when he said “Where you all from”? We exchanged our home info, when we started our hike, and how many miles we average each day. This is the typical conversation hikers have when they first meet. After the siesta and the moaning and groaning, that comes along with  stretching we packed up to complete the goal of 16 miles. This would then cut the miles down to 15 to Kennedy Meadows, a shower, and a hot meal.

Before leaving though another hiker named GoalTech came through SOBO.  He was section hiking and doing on-trail trail magic as he was carrying a satchel with small bags of chips and via coffee.  We chose chips.  As we exchanged trail names, he lit up and said, “2moremiles…yours’ is one of the blogs I’m following”.  Cool beans, another fan.  He asked, and took our picture. We snapped his as well.  Once again the terrain went from a beautiful forest to an old fire burnt forest which we walked through until night. Since the wind had come up we were looking for some kind of wind blind.  We saw a small stand of pines on top of a knoll that was spared from the fire about 100 yards downhill and off the trail. It was perfect, we made camp and dinner before it became completely dark.  It was then when Mammoth appeared from behind with a big “hello!” We both spun around and said “Holy Sh#@!” Mammoth apologized up and down for the scare and asked if he could camp with us. He said he was trying to get out of the wind, but later he told us how he ran into a bear, face to face and was a little uneasy ever since. We shared our bear print stories and that we were a little on edge too. Obviously!  Mammoth is 20 years old, 6-4 and has walked to California form New York. Now he wanted to walk to Canada. What next we asked? Mammoth’s response was a shrug of the shoulders and a big smile. Gotta love this kid.

Monument at Walker Pass

Day 46: (21.3 miles)
mile 652 (+2) – 671.3

Got up early to try for a morning hitch to Walker Pass…after coffee at the coffee shop of course, and maybe work on a patron or two for a ride.  We stand on the shoulder of the on ramp of Hwy 178, just before the “Pedestrians Prohibited” sign and stick out our thumbs.  No takers for about 20 minutes… we must be losing our touch.  But wait for it…a truck pulls over and it’s one of the guys (Bob) from the Barber shop, a Forest Service Ranger. 

He’s going to his moms in Onyx and can give us a ride as far as there.  He tells us we’ll have no problem getting a ride from there to Walker Pass, and he’s right. No sooner does he drop us off and we start to hitch, a small sedan pulls up and asks if we are hiking the PCT and need a ride.  Why of course we are, and yes we do. 

John Michael a retired road engineer and hiker has us load up.  He’s another interesting fellow.  He was a homesteader in Alaska till he got sick of being poor and part of the food chain so he decided to go back to college and became an engineer who designed and built highways all over California and Nevada.  He reckons though he traded his “piece of mind for financial security”.   He had hiked sections of the PCT over the years and seemed like he had been quite the adventurer.  He dropped us at the Walker campground where we watered up at a cache left there and re-hiked the 2 miles up to Hwy 178 where the PCT crosses, and there is a monument.  There we briefly met Kimchee who was going into Lake Isabella to meet her parents.  We hear her parents provided some awesome trail magic when they dropped her off the next day.  Up we hiked…yet again fully stocked.  Legs are feeling good for the most part and it’s not too hot yet as it’s just past 9am and there is a slight breeze.  We do the first 4 miles or so climbing 1600 ft. and have an awesome view of the Owens Valley below. Ahead we can see small glimpses of the daunting Sierra mountains with snow capping the tallest peaks.  We take a break after 7 miles, check for phone signal.  Yes. Finally, signal on the trail…during a break.  I check our email and it looks like our tent (Big Agnes Angel Springs UL2) has been shipped and should meet us at the Kennedy Meadows General Store.  I talked Paul into a tent for the Sierras…and beyond (weather is unpredictable, with a forecast of rain/snow about the time we arrive near Mt. Whitney).  We will still mostly cowboy camp, but being wet AND cold is really no fun in the middle of nowhere with restrictions on building fires.  With phone signal I call my friend Sandy who had recently been in a car accident to see how she’s fairing (broken wrist and ankle) and leave a message. Somewhere out there is Mt. Whitney all 14,500 ft. We hope to  summit in about a week. We mention this to each other and decide not to think about it , we have too many miles ahead. The trail wrapped around deep rocky canyons with Pinos pine trees growing on the higher elevation slopes. The air temperature was soaring into the high 80’s and we began thinking about that next water source.  Joshua Tree Spring was 13 miles from our starting point and was a natural spring that had tested positive for uranium. We had worried about this days ago when we ran into Island Boy who worked for the local water company. He told us it was true, but not to worry as it was a very low reading, parts per billion, and a one time exposure would not be a problem. We felt better, but had decided only to take what we absolutely needed to get to fresher water. We arrived at Joshua Tree Springs and met Angry a young hiker drinking gobs of water. He said he wasn’t afraid, and the water tasted good to him. We took a liter each, lunched and had a short siesta. My darn shin is starting to bother me again and I worried this could become a bigger problem. Just after the spring we reach another milestone… 1/4 of the way done.

Wow!  We continue hiking into the late afternoon as the trail climbs and then descends down to our next water source and hopefully a place to camp.

Thank God as my shin is killing me and my soles hurt as well. Angry had left us about forty five minutes earlier and we saw his foot prints in the soft trail dirt. Paul was leading the way when he stops abruptly and says “we have a problem”! He explains or should I say shows me the large BEAR tracks on the trail. ” Are they fresh” ? I ask.

He explains that Angry has left good tracks and the prints are on top of his…  meaning the bear is between us and Angry. We both conclude that the prints are big and have a solid outline. This means the bear is Big, and heavy. It’s about an hour before dark and a mile to water. Being hunters we know animals go to water right before dark and it looks like this one is too. We shift into high alert and walk with eyes forward and clank our hiking poles together saying “hey bear” loudly. Normally, I say we would have walked the other direction, but we need water and Canada is straight ahead less than 2000 miles away! When we reach the water source it’s a small spring tucked up into small ravine, it’s dark and we are wearing head lamps. Paul gathers the water and filters it as quick as possible while I talk loudly about nothing just trying to make noise. It seemed like a long time and I thought the bear would show up any second. Finally we skinned out of there and  were back on the dark trail.  We spy a perfect campsite only a few hundred yards away…hmmm.  We are tired and consider it briefly but quickly decide, No Way, we are not going to sleep anywhere near this place. Onward!! We walked an additional 1.5 miles and were now in another pickle. The only place to camp was in the trail. We were traversing a large canyon and the terrain sloped straight up and straight down. No flat areas, so down we went, signal file. Tired, hungry, and shin sore as hell we made camp for the night hoping we had walked far enough from the bear.  Whew!!!

What it looked like the next morning