Well, I guess we’ve switched from being “hiker trash” to being “trailer trash” because we really enjoyed our one night in the cute tiny trailer at Tom’s place. Breakfast time saw more hikers coming in and lots of hikers leaving to tackle the Sierras (once they finished their pancakes and coffee!)  The main conversation topics were 1)”What I plan to do when I reach Canada” and 2)Microspikes vs. instep crampons for the Sierra snow.  One of the hikers, named “Jackalope”, has an ice axe he made himself from a wrecked titanium racing bike.  It was very ingenious, and we told him he should have entered it in the “Homemade Gear” contest at the ADZPCTKO. But he’s a very modest guy, so he said no.

After breakfast, Bill started reading a true spy tale by a Brit named Peter Wright.  I took awhile working on the loads in our packs, trying to make the food bag weights equal.  I’ve noticed that with many guy/gal hiking teams, the the guys end up carrying WAY more weight than the girls.  Bill and I don’t do that.  He does carry a little bit more weight than I do, but not much more.  I also worked on solving the puzzle of why for the last couple of days my right shoulder has been sore.  Could be that it’s protesting having to carry more weight in order to give the sore right hip a rest?  Anyway, I rigged a setup that may help.

Then we went to the store to hang out for awhile till the chuckwagon opened, and I ended up helping a couple who had just come in. (They recognized us from reading our blog.)  I hustled the wife in to sign up for laundry so she wouldn’t have to go through what I went through yesterday.   Then we got a big juicy double burger and cheeseburger and lemonade and sat on the porch figuring, “Well, this is it–our last meal before we head out!”  We enjoyed talking to the other couple–they came all the way from Florida to do the PCT!  And they are loving it!

 After lunch, we headed out for the Kennedy Meadows campground, where the plan was to meet with Miwok and his dad (who were camped there) and visit for awhile before we got back on the trail.  But there was no sign of them anywhere.  We walked through the whole campground, looking for them, and no luck, so we signed the trail register and included a note to let Miwok know we’d tried to find him.  Then we started out. 

I felt very excited and very scared and weirdly enough, very peaceful, all at the same time. All the hikers had been talking about “big snow”, “river crossings”, etc, and I was wondering “Can I do this?”. Bill and I prayed as we began for safety and wisdom all along the trail, and up we went, following the Kern River as it wound its way through banks edged with willows and roses and wildflowers.  It’s really pretty here with the roaring river and the trees, flowers, etc.  We met a very disappointed fisherman, though.  “No luck at all,” he sighed. 

Unfortunately, we eventually found ourselves in ANOTHER burn zone with no regrowth.  Bummer.  We stopped for supper after crossing Crag Creek.  The trail was slowly getting more “Sierra-ish”, with rocks and rock formations, and much more rocky on the trail itself.  After another hour, at around 6:30 pm, we were at the edge of Beck Meadow and decided to stop, even though it was early.  We figured that this was a good camping place because it had  lots of trees, flat ground, and a little creek to rinse dirty socks in. Perfect!  And the mossies, though plentiful, were not outrageous.  So we set up the tarp & net tent, washed ourselves and our dirty socks in the creek and nipped into the tent before the mossies could get us!  (I should mention that when I say we “washed”, that does NOT EVER include soap of any kind.  We never take any soap products with us when we backpack, ever.  We don’t want to mess up any mountain lakes or creeks!)

Since it was still relatively early, we were able to enjoy watching the sunset, and spent quite awhile discussing our water plans for the next day.  I generally do this every night once I’m in my sleeping bag.  I look at water sources, how far apart they are, and make calculations as to where to get water and how much water to take.  We do not like carrying extra water if we can avoid it!)  Then it was time to lay our heads down for a lovely quiet evening in the woods.  I wondered sleepily, “When will we hit our first snow?”

Walk to Lórien: Winding up into hills near Redhorn

Tags: Beck Meadow, Kern River, Sierras