Into The Sierras

June 4th, 2012
Day 65
Today's Miles: 14.3

This morning we headed out from Tom's, but not before we weighed our packs. With everything including food and water, my total pack weight was 32lbs. Tailgate's pack weighed 34lbs. Our packs were actually some of the lighter to leave Tom's over the last few days, we were pretty surprised.



Here I am weighing my pack.

We set out for a short day, but we also were going to climb up to 8,000 ft. today.




First we had some more meadow walking to do, which still looked awfully like the desert to me.



I guess it's official: we are in the Sierras now.

The first 5 miles today absolutely flew by! Tailgate and I were in a great mood and were enjoying all of the water we were running into.

After we started climbing, the views of the mountains and meadows were awesome! Such a welcome change of pace.

We stopped for a few minutes to watch this hawk soar above us.



This wood have been such a lovely shaded section of trail before it was burnt.

Speaking of fire, the fire we mentioned on our first day at Tom's was contained that night. However, it was a very smoky night.



Meadow walking. Luckily it was in the 70's today and very comfortable.




We had big plans to spend the afternoon swimming in the Kern River, but when we arrived the river was pretty low. However, there is an awesome campsite above the river.



We stayed here with Lifeboat, Doc, Bluejay, Super Girl, Little Bear, Day Man, Camshaft and Karate Kid.

We made a campfire and even played a few campfire games. We played the one where each person makes up a few sentences of a story and then the next person adds onto it and so on. We came up with some pretty good stories while we were keeping warm around the fire.



The fire was smoking a few of us out, but man it got chilly last night. Our down jackets were put to good use.

-Twist

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Zero at Tom's

June 3rd, 2012
Day 64
Today's Miles: 0

This morning we woke up after a fun night and were eagerly anticipating going through all of our gear for the Sierras. But out of the gate we had to head over to the general store for all you could eat pancakes.



Camshaft admiring my M&M Pancakes.

After breakfast we finally popped open our package and began the debate of all debated this year on the trail....ice axe or no ice axe? We decided to send our axes home and carry our micro spikes. Along with those, we picked up our bear canister, alpine gators, my fly fishing gear, and food. We also got our sleeping bag liners but bounced those to Lone Pine.

After our chores we hung out at the general store for a while and enjoyed a beer and a burger.



The store from the road.















It was $3 for an outdoor shower, and well worth it.

After a relaxing afternoon, we got to eat tacos at Tom's place (Twist managed to choke down 7, while I had 6). To put it simply, they were awesome. After dinner we enjoyed another movie (Zombie Land) in the outdoor amphitheater and got to bed somewhat early so we would be fresh for our first day out of Kennedy Meadows.



The theatre.



Our trailer.

Thanks again to Tom and everyone at the Kennedy Meadows General Store for all the hospitality!

-Tailgate


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Kennedy Meadows! We made it!

June 2, 2012
Day 63
Today's Miles: 13.1

Today is the day! We only have around 13 miles to make it to Kennedy Meadows!

We started out the day with a quick 4.5 miles down hill to the next water source. We hiked this section completely dry because we dry camped last night. This always makes me a little nervous, but hopefully in the upcoming sections water won't be such an issue. It will feel weird hiking without a water report after today. The water report has been like our bible for the last 600 plus miles.






The sun was just peaking over the hills as we were coming down. I was glad to get out of the exposed burn area before it got too hot.

We got to the water source and chatted with Clutch for a half hour or so. Clutch is awesome! He gave me a little section of a sleeping pad the other day and I have been using it as a butt pad during breaks. Oh the luxury!






Tailgate was sure this would be the last cactus for a while. Still yet to be seen.



A little bit of green must mean water! We were approaching the south fork of the Kern River and I was excited because this will be on of the largest bodies of water we have seen on the trail so far.



Definitely big enough to soak our feet.



There was a large fish here that was taunting tailgate as we soaked our feet.




After we left the Kern we headed out across the meadow. It was surprisingly hot.



We made it past 700!



AND we made it to THE Kennedy Meadows!




I got a little emotional as we dropped down into the meadow. Arriving here is such a big milestone for us! I have been dreaming of arriving here since we started planning this trip and now we are actually here! Bring on the water and trees galore, I am ready for a change of pace!




We got into town and were greeted by the crew at Tom's place and then we headed up to the store.

At the store we grabbed our two packages and had a "rambler" burger at the burger shack (double burger with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, sautéed onions and BBQ sauce).



In the afternoon, Tailgate noticed there was a little smoke in the air and by the evening we were beginning to become concerned about the nearby fire.

I guess Lifeboat was concerned too because he was camped just a few miles away and picked up camp when he saw the smoke. He showed up to Tom's while we were watching Water Boy in the outdoor amphitheater.



Above you can see the sun setting into a smoky sky.

The last 700 miles have been such an adventure, and I can only imagine what the upcoming trail has in store for us. I am so happy to have made it here. I am just savoring every moment of this personal victory.

This seems like another good time to thank our supportive followers, family and friends again. We can't say it enough! Thank you! We know you all are celebrating in spirit with us here!

-Twist

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Water, Water and More Water

June 1st, 2012
Day 62
Today's Miles: 20.4

After a fun night around camp with everyone, we set out at about 6:30am to get us that much closer to Kennedy Meadows.

The climb up and out of the canyon where we camped was long, but with the sun just peaking over the mountains we got to enjoy some really great views.












Looking back from where we climbed up from.

We have really started to see some awesome rock formations the last couple days, and when we reached the top of this morning's climb it was no different.










About 12 miles into the day we hit Chimney Creek near Cranebrake Road and found a nice shady spot to stop and take a lunch break.



Our clothing drying on a nearby tree.

After a while, Carl and Clutch showed up to join us creekside.






Carl grossed Twist out with his lunch...

It has really started to get consistently warm the last two days. Yesterday was 98 degrees at one point and today it got up to 100. And when it's this warm I just can't seem to drink enough water for my body to stay hydrated. For instance, just after our lunch break I had totaled 10 liters for the day and still felt as though I was far from drinking enough.

We pushed on after lunch and did the 2,500ft climb over the next 6 miles in time to see the sun setting.







Instead of night hiking the last 4.5 miles to the next water, we made it about 1.5 miles down the other side of the mountain and decided to dry camp near a fire road. We are already looking forward to the short day tomorrow and finally arriving in Kennedy Meadows!

-Tailgate

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Up from Walker Pass

May 31, 2012
Day 61
Today's Miles: 16.7

So we were suppose to leave Lake Isabella yesterday. However, as I was getting out of the shower I slipped and fell. I tweaked my neck pretty bad. Also, we have been having issues posting to our blog from our phone. So, we decided to stay another day to resolve our technical issues and let my neck tweak work itself out.

So after a few calls to tech support and a few neck massages later, we happily headed back to the trail today.

I made a superb hitch hiking sign and we headed out to the freeway entrance prepared for a long hitch. We had heard that the hitch from Lake Isabella back to Walker Pass was a difficult one. If we didn't get a hitch in a few hours we were going to get on a bus to Onyx and then hitch from there.

Luckily, I barley had a chance to stick out my thumb before a car pulled over for us! We threw our packs on top of the car and hopped in. Our ride went on to tell us about his evangelical faith and asked us many questions about the state of our souls. We even had a prayer circle when we arrived at Walker Pass. He gave me a magazine about missionary work, I think it was title something like the "Voice of the Martyrs". As a thru-hiker, I don't really carry magazines. I didn't want to be rude, so I accepted it and we started hiking up....the whole experience was different but we tried to be as polite as possible.




It is still so barren, but we are just days from Kennedy Meadows and we can taste it.




We had a little climb to start the day. We are both looking forward to climbing out of the dessert, so each climb is one step closer.



I enjoy the trail when it follows along the mountain side like this. You can really see where you are going and enjoy the views.














We had a pretty good day hiking, BUT the best part of the day was waiting for us at camp! While in Lake Isabella, our friend Carl (who we met in the San Jacintos) texted us and said he was getting back on the trail at Walker Pass! He will be section hiking part of the trail for the next few months and we are so excited to get to hike with him! We also found out Carl's new trail name is Lifeboat.



Me with my martyr magazine and the bonus prayer map. Lifeboat in the back.

Tonight we intended on hiking another 5 miles up from the camp where we found Carl. However, it was a pretty steep climb and I wasn't feeling up to it. We camped near a creak with Lifeboat, Jared, Clutch, Colors, Quark, & Caveman.

-Twist

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