Day 47 - Kennedy Meadows to Kennedy Meadows campground

Today was almost a zero day.
We woke up to a chilly morning, and Yair took off to Ridgecrest to return his rental car. We were hoping he'd have good luck hitching back.

Bambi and Rudolph relaxing at the "Internet Cafe"

We finally got our laundry done, and had a shower, after the water shortage ended. So we were relatively clean. I then started the task of arranging my food for the next 7 hiking days. It's a long stretch, and we also have to fit about 5 days of food inside our Bear canisters. I managed to get all of my food inside my canister, for the entire 7 days. I just don't eat that much. I hope I won't get too hungry on the trail.
Yair got back just before 13:00, and we decided officially that we'd head out in the evening, just to hike the short, 2.4 miles trail to the campground.
We spent the rest of the time organizing, sending boxes to Lone Pine, eating good meals I got from home (thanks!) and laying around.
At about 18:00 we left the general store, and headed out. We stopped to weigh our heavy packs at the Internet Cafe. Idan's was 40 pounds, Yair's was 35, and mine was just 30. I hope I didn't forget anything.

Entering Bear country

The trail to the campground was easy, and Yair got his first taste of the pct. Once there, we found a nice spot not far from the water spigot, set up camp and made dinner.
A short while later Big Boots, Sock Pot and Twice came by, and made a camp fire in their campsite. We joined in for a while, and it was very nice. Penguin also showed up and camped nearby.
All in all, a very relaxing and easy day.

Days 42-43 - zeroing in Lake Isabella

After the great trail magic dinner up at Walker Pass campground, we also had pancake breakfast for dinner. I failed miserably, and only had one. What can I say? I'm not a breakfast person.
There was another hiker that came in last night, after doing a 40 mile day. And two more that strolled in this morning after doing over 30 yesterday. They were all heading out, and not going into town.
We went out to the highway, and got a hitch in about 10 minutes. The lady who picked us up, Helen, said she just started noticing hikers on this road this year. She leaves in Ridgecrest, and drives over to Lake Isabella every Friday. Two weeks ago she picked up a thru-Hiker from Scotland, and first learned on the whole pct. She was very interested in our hike, and asked a lot of questions about it.
When we got down to Lake Isabella, she said she'd like to take us over to the next town of Kernville, to show us the nice Park over there. So she drove 10 extra miles over there, and we saw the nice Park and the Kern river over there.
Afterwards she got us back to the Lake Isabella motel, and we waited for Big Boots, Rudolph and Bambi. We all shared a two queen size bed room, and Big Boots got to sleep on the floor (and pay less).
We did our laundry while waiting for the room to be ready, and later had a shower. It feels so much nicer to be clean in towns.
Idan and I went over to eat something for lunch. I had a burrito. It was all right, but wasn't made of the freshest ingredients. Then we went to Vons and got supplies for the next, 2.5 days, section to Kennedy Meadows. We also got some town food for tomorrow breakfast and lunch.
Many other hikers arrived during the day, filling up the motel. At the evening Writer came in with a new shipment of hikers, including Penguin. Writer has started a thru-hike on April, and wanted to write about the trail and the hikers. She switched to section hiking, to concentrate more on her writing. She posts her articles on http://howdoyouhikethepct.com
I went for dinner with Big Boots, Sock Pot, Young Oak and Writer, at a nearby Mexican place (a real restaurant, not the fast food from lunch). Writer kept asking us about what motivates us, and what makes us hike the trail. It was an interesting conversation. She got our contact details so she will be able to ask more questions later, for her project.
On our second zero we pretty much did nothing except move three rooms down. And a sand twister took Idan's hat flying across the road, when we went out for lunch.

Day 32 - Zero day at Hiker Heaven

This was the first zero day I took just to rest, and not just trying to get better from some injury or illness. It felt good.
I didn't sleep in, though. I guess I'm used to wake up with sunrise. Besides, I knew I'd be cooking inside my sleeping bag in 10 minutes, if I'd stay in it.

Having breakfast with Penguin, Cheese and Will at the Sweetwater Cafe

So, after a slow morning of doing nothing, I finally took a bike down to town for breakfast. I sat at the Sweet Water Cafe with Will, Cheese and Penguin, and we all filled our bellies with different variations of eggs. I had Florentine Benedict, and it was very nice indeed.

My breakfast

After breakfast I had to bike back up. I was worried about this bit, but I managed to make it back in one piece. I got just in time for the ride to REI.
In REI I only bought a pair of socks. I'm not sure the toe socks are really working for me, so I'll see how it goes on the coming days.
The trip to Wal-Mart was a pain. I had to buy supplies for the next section, as well as for three other sections throughout the Sierras, and also a bit for Yair, who will join us for that section of the trail.
I came back with a big box full of food I had to distribute to different boxes, and we shipped them from here. They really do run an excellent operation here at Hiker Heaven. I just hope we calculated all of our food rations right, and that we will manage to get some bagels and cheese along the way as well.
Right now we are getting ready to have our pita with humus and tomato dinner. I'm getting hungry just by thinking about it.

Day 31 - Acton Koa to Hiker Heaven

As usual, we got up late, and were almost the last to leave the campground.
I last saw Idan when we were crossing the rail road, just beyond the KOA. He just went off and didn't look back.
The climbs weren't that bad, and I passed several hikers on my way up. The trail then went down and under a highway. It then entered the Vasquez Rocks Park, which was very nice, and has all those signs next to different trees, with their names on them.
At this point I figured out Idan is not going to stop until the end, so I found a nice shady spot on the side of the trail, and had my snickers. Soon, Sunbeam and Arctic joined me for a snack, and surprised me that we only have 3 more miles to go. Penguin joined us, and we headed out to the last bit together.

Arctic, Sunbeam, Penguin and her uncle, on the way to Hiker Heaven

After another short climb we saw what we thought was Agua Dulce, and were very disappointed to see the trail going around it and over another hill. Just before finally reaching town, this guy with a camera was walking towards us, and Penguin was very surprised to meet her uncle, who had been following her blog, and surprised her.

One if the many boxes Idan got here.

We finally got into Hiker Heaven at around 11:00, and I met Idan. I knew I could count on him to get us the best beds. We are now showered and done our laundry, been down to town for veggie burrito, and have finished our dinner pizza along with Cheese.

Hikers hanging their sleeping bags for airing

Cheese is impressed by the size of the pizza

Idan is already planning all of our mail drops for the Sierras, but I'll get to it tomorrow, before we head over to the Wal-Mart to buy supplies.

Day 29 - pct mile 384 to fire station at mile 419

So, after a nice warm night at the parking area, we were planning on hitching on the mostly deserted highway in order to get around some closure, and skip the ultra long (19 miles) official alternative and somewhat shorter old alternative.

4 happy hikers, after a wonderful ride down the trail. Thanks, Barbra.

The hitching bit seemed to be the problem. We were just waiting for cars to come around, when Kyle and Snail Trainer came down from Little Jimmy campsite together with Barbra, a weekend hiker they've met up there last night. I immediately zoomed in on the car they were heading to, and asked her if she might be going in the direction we needed.
Apparently, Kyle and Snail Trainer were planning on hitching a bit further than our original plan, and it took very little persuasion to get us on their plan. So, we hitched from 386 to 399. Skipping all detours, and a bunch of trail miles. Sorry.
Down the trail from 399, I admit I wasn't really excited crossing the 400 miles mark. It's not like I walked it all. Oh well. A bit later we got to our water source, and filtered some yellow colored water from a spigot. They tasted fine.
Onward, the trail crossed the highway another time, and finally stopped following it. Near Sulphur spring it got a bit strange, with one trail going down to the water, and the other remaining on the ridge. We weren't sure which one was the pct, so we just remained on the ridge, and made our lunch stop just after they met again. Oh - and we actually took a nap of about 20 minutes!
From there, the trail kinda went up slowly, going over big areas with a lot of Poodle Dog Bush we were trying to avoid. They supposedly cause skin irritation, but I'm not sure I'm sensitive to it at all.
The next water source was a nice spring near the end of the climb, and I had my 1 liter Gatorade drink from it. That was a nice spot.
Just about an hour further, we reached a very nice area for resting, full of hikers. Penguin was just getting there and heading out, and Sunbeam was there (and I didn't recognize her at first with her hat on) and many other new faces.
We rested there shortly, and then I put on my music and headed down the final 5.5 miles to the fire station. It was an easy trail, and I think I raced it in under 2 hours. That was rather fun.
Here, at the fire station we all crashed under a nice pergola, filling up our water, and cooking dinner, and charging phones. After a while most hikers headed down a bit further to the campground by the road, though a few headed out to hike 5 more miles today. That's hardcore!