We should have rigged the tarp last night, because when we woke up, our sleeping bags and gear were covered with frost, and my drinking tube had frozen. Welcome to the Sierras! But we were thinking “Coffee! Breakfast!” and wasted no time heading for Kennedy Meadows. Not far from the store, a hiker hailed us from a motley collection of trailers by the road. “Ho! How ’bout some coffee?” we wasted no time on coming down to where he was. Turned out that the Kennedy Meadows “chuckwagon” is closed on Wednesdays, but Tom, who lives just down the road, feeds the hikers. And there were hordes of them— all scarfing up Tom’s great coffee, and later, his equally awesome pancakes.

He told us we can sleep in one of his trailers tonight, if we want. Then we went to the store to sign up for laundry and showers so we can get clean. It’s a warm, breezy day— we plan to just rest and eat as much as we can. Got a good laugh out of a wild rumour somebody was spreading on the trail about a “fearsome river crossing before Kennedy Meadows!” Several hikers we met yesterday were freaked out about it even when we tried to reassure them that there was nothing of the kind. Today we found out the origin of the story— somebody tried to toss his pack across a creek, missed and it got all wet. Somehow that morphed into “scary crossing— a guy’s pack got swept away!” Just shows you can’t believe everything you hear!

Walk to Lórien: Being tracked in Hollin

I finally actually slept last night, even with the howling wind. I needed it badly! By morning all was calm and we were hiking into the Canebrake Creek Valley. There is one house there— 2 stories with an elegant pillared porch like a Southern mansion— out in the middle of the sagebrush. “Long way to the grocery store from there” was Bill’s comment. Then began the long, long climb to Trail Summit, with a stop at Fox Mill Spring to take on a full load of water. Some more hikers were there, just leaving. “Are you thruhikers?” they asked “Canada, here we come!” we fired back, and we all cheered.

The climb continued, till we were in another burn zone. We were here in 2005 and expected a lot of regrowth by now. Nope— it’s still “just” wildflowers, especially lupines. They were often waist high on me, and the air smelled like perfume as we walked along. Bumblebees were buzzing around us. It was a very warm, humid day and once you reach Trail Summit, then it’s miles of downhill going in and out of gullies to Rockhouse Basin, and finally some shade, full of tired, sweaty hikers.

We quickly joined them and met Miwok, who is originally from Petaluma. By late afternoon we reached the Kern River and passed a beaver dam, where a damp, happy hiker told us he’d just been swimming and saw 2 beavers at work. We camped by the river, too, and took baths (brrr!) in it before going to bed.

Walk to Lórien: Hollin Ridge

Today was literally an “answered prayer” day. For the last 2 days I was having serious pain problems. By the end of each day, my feet hurt horribly and my right hip also. Last Night I asked God to show me what to do. I did that in 2005 when my shoulders hurt, and the very next morning realized it was because my hip belt was far too loose. Well, I gave God the credit then for helping me figure it out, and He came through for me again this time, too! For the foot pain, I decided to replace my shoes more loosely (I’d had the upper part very tight to support my ankles). Voila! No more foot pain at all! The hip pain I thought about as I hiked, and discovered that if I pulled up on my shoulder strap, the pain went away. So at noon I sewed a “loadlifter” strap on, and we also tied a cord that helped pull up the waist strap also. It worked! The hip was immediately pain free too.

Early this morning we also had another great surprise. Turned out there was a trail angel named Okie Girl at Walker Pass campground. Even though it was 6:00am when we came through, she made us a big breakfast. And at noon we caught up with a big group of hikers, so now we have company on the trail. Tonight we had to camp yet again in a howling wind— and we had to be specially careful because there was a 2,000 foot dropoff close by and if a bit of gear got loose— it would be gone forever.

Walk to Lórien: Near small stream in valley near Rivendell