Saturday, June 22, 2013
Hiking Uphill: 4,526ft
Hiking Downhill: 4,660ft
Distance Hiked: 28 miles
Post by Nick:
As I approach Spanish Needle Creek in the morning I'm in need of water. There's several crossings and the first is just a muddy seep but one of the subsequent ones has a small trickling stream from which I can refill my water containers.
I scared up a covey of these birds...chukar I think?
I'm winding my way up into the Sierras via many switchbacks along ever growing mountains as I head North.
I scared up the below buck...he better watch out this fall since he's now legal for hunting season.
I get to my next planned water source and find nothing but a mud pit with a lot of empty beer and water containers.
I fairly worried since I'm out of water but soon after passing the *creek* I see the following message written on the back of a PCT marker.
Fortunately I discover water after following the above directions. Apprently there is a stream but it goes underground at the previous crossing. This seems very common in the Sierras where streams appear and disappear along there lengths. If water appears dried up at one point along a stream it can often be found by hiking up or down the stream. I top off my water and wash my feet.
Is this the Sierras yet?
The eternal question has been answered... and yes...yes it does!
I ran into this little bear at Manter Creek where I took a foot break and chatted with a fellow PCT hiker ("Shorts") that I just recently met. The bear came up to us boldly at first and then realizing we weren't friendly backed off, took a dump, and retreated to watch us from a distance until we departed.
Northbound on the PCT approaching the South Fork of the Kern River.
I ended up finding the river, hiking along it for a short period of time in the dark, at which point I found a sandy patch along the shore and camped for the night. After the previous bear encounter I was paranoid and fell asleep clutching my food tightly.
Post by Melissa:
I woke up and was happy to see that Tom had put out some pastries for us. I gladly ate one and made some small talk with Tom and some other hikers. I was surprised to see that there were quite a few hikers there and more were strolling in every hour. The Talker had rolled in the night before and I said my hellos but was able to navigate around him pretty well because he had a lot of other hikers there to bend their ears.
There was no cell coverage here so I was only able to communicate by using Tom's computer lab. He had 3 computers for our use and they had a lot of people waiting to use them. I tried to work on the blog and be productive but it was difficult because there were others waiting to use the computer.
In the afternoon I made my way over to the Kennedy Meadows Store that was about 200ft up the road from Tom's place. They have an outdoor patio area where hikers can hang out, drink beers, and eat BBQ. I ended up hanging out there for a few hours. Kelsey (Surefoot) and Julia (Train Monkey) had arrived and I was happy to see them again and hang out w/them. I also met a guy named 10-4 that had been hiking w/the 2 girls and he was super cool. We all hung out at the store including the Talker for a few hours shooting the breeze and sharing fun stories.
Walking up to the Store...it's the only store around
You can see the outdoor patio in the front and right side of the store
Enjoying a Lunatic Lemonade (10% alcohol). I'd never seen these before so I had to try it. Considering the beers were super expensive, this was a bigger bang for the buck :-)
Sitting on the front porch
The store prepared a set number of dinners each night and you could sign up to get one of them for $15. I signed up for the steak dinner option. It came with a baked potato, sweet corn on the cob, a dinner roll, and a green salad (in addition to the steak). It was AMAZING! And I was happy to have the hot meal. There was no food being offered at Tom's other than the morning sweets. The store also closed around 6pm and after that there are no options for food. There is nothing else around...it's pretty desolate up there.
Oh, and I can't forget the dessert included w/the dinner! Cake, ice cream and a cookie!
The movie at Tom's outdoor theatre this night was King Pen. I laughed my butt off at the outdoor theatre and then promptly crashed out in my trailer :)
Hiking Uphill: 4,526ft
Hiking Downhill: 4,660ft
Distance Hiked: 28 miles
Post by Nick:
As I approach Spanish Needle Creek in the morning I'm in need of water. There's several crossings and the first is just a muddy seep but one of the subsequent ones has a small trickling stream from which I can refill my water containers.
The eternal question has been answered... and yes...yes it does!
I ran into this little bear at Manter Creek where I took a foot break and chatted with a fellow PCT hiker ("Shorts") that I just recently met. The bear came up to us boldly at first and then realizing we weren't friendly backed off, took a dump, and retreated to watch us from a distance until we departed.
I ended up finding the river, hiking along it for a short period of time in the dark, at which point I found a sandy patch along the shore and camped for the night. After the previous bear encounter I was paranoid and fell asleep clutching my food tightly.
Post by Melissa:
I woke up and was happy to see that Tom had put out some pastries for us. I gladly ate one and made some small talk with Tom and some other hikers. I was surprised to see that there were quite a few hikers there and more were strolling in every hour. The Talker had rolled in the night before and I said my hellos but was able to navigate around him pretty well because he had a lot of other hikers there to bend their ears.
There was no cell coverage here so I was only able to communicate by using Tom's computer lab. He had 3 computers for our use and they had a lot of people waiting to use them. I tried to work on the blog and be productive but it was difficult because there were others waiting to use the computer.
In the afternoon I made my way over to the Kennedy Meadows Store that was about 200ft up the road from Tom's place. They have an outdoor patio area where hikers can hang out, drink beers, and eat BBQ. I ended up hanging out there for a few hours. Kelsey (Surefoot) and Julia (Train Monkey) had arrived and I was happy to see them again and hang out w/them. I also met a guy named 10-4 that had been hiking w/the 2 girls and he was super cool. We all hung out at the store including the Talker for a few hours shooting the breeze and sharing fun stories.
Walking up to the Store...it's the only store around
You can see the outdoor patio in the front and right side of the store
Enjoying a Lunatic Lemonade (10% alcohol). I'd never seen these before so I had to try it. Considering the beers were super expensive, this was a bigger bang for the buck :-)
Sitting on the front porch
The store prepared a set number of dinners each night and you could sign up to get one of them for $15. I signed up for the steak dinner option. It came with a baked potato, sweet corn on the cob, a dinner roll, and a green salad (in addition to the steak). It was AMAZING! And I was happy to have the hot meal. There was no food being offered at Tom's other than the morning sweets. The store also closed around 6pm and after that there are no options for food. There is nothing else around...it's pretty desolate up there.
Oh, and I can't forget the dessert included w/the dinner! Cake, ice cream and a cookie!
The movie at Tom's outdoor theatre this night was King Pen. I laughed my butt off at the outdoor theatre and then promptly crashed out in my trailer :)
love the bear pics! very funny indeed. I'm surprised you don't have to hang your food yet b/c of the bears. Good luck!
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