Monday, June 24, 2013
Hiking Uphill: 377ft
Hiking Downhill: 137ft
Distance Hiked: 4 miles
Post by Melissa:
It's Monday and I had learned that the Kennedy Meadows store only made breakfast on the weekends so Nick and I thought we were on our own for breakfast. We got ready in our trailer at Tom's and walked down the store to see what we could find to eat. When we arrived we were super excited to see that the store manager had opened the small kitchen and was making breakfast burritos for the hikers. We promptly placed our order for 2 burritos. There were quite a few hikers on the patio this morning and it was fun to catch up with everyone. The burritos took quite some time as the manager would only cook one at a time but they were delicious. He put eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, bacon, and sausage in them (oh and grilled onions). Man were they tasty!!
After breakfast head back to our trailer and start sorting through our resupply box and packing up our backpacks. We had received our bear canisters, micro spikes, and ice axes for this leg of the hike and we had to now fit those in our packs. We had been told we would not need our micro spikes or ice axes because the snow levels were so low but we carried them anyway. I figured I had paid good money for them and wanted to have them on me "just in case" we ran into anything scary out there. I knew we were planning on hiking up Mt Whitney in a few days and there could be snow there. I wanted to be prepared and was willing to carry the extra weight until we reached Independence.
Me in the trailer sorting through my stuff, packing up my bear canister.
We make a final trip over to the computer lab in this silver trailer to send out some final messages to family and friends before getting on the trail. There was no cell coverage here so the computers were our only way to communicate w/the outside world.
We walked back to the store for showers, laundry, and burgers. When I was there I met this women (see below) who is attempting to set the female speed record for the PCT. She told me her trail name was Inish (not sure if I spelled that right). She was hiking 40 miles a day! Nick and I were jealous of her amazing buffed legs. I watched her stuff while she took an impressive fast shower. I noticed she was packing ultra light and she even had pieced of duct tape on her very worn sleeping bag. She was hard core!! Inish was telling me that she was a vegetarian and that she was really hungry and wanted to take advantage of the BBQ offered by the store. We were not sure if they offered a veggie burger but we were hoping that she was able to find something to eat. In the end she may of had to break down and eat meat. On this trail you need protein and energy.
All packed up and ready to leave our home away from home at Tom's!
I'm all loaded up too. You can see my new fancy ice axe on the outside of my bag. I have my new running shoes on and socks and leave my old pair of Salomon trail runners in the hiker bin (donation box). My Salomon's have about 500 miles on them but are in good enough condition that someone "could" still wear them if they were in need.
Me saying goodbye to Tom. Thanks Tom for the amazing hospitality and for driving all the way to Lake Isabella to pick my butt up!
We take a few photos of the place as we are walking out. Here is the outdoor kitchen.
Outdoor movie theater (it's fricken awesome!)
Area to hang out in front of the computer lab. The wooden cabinet and boxes to the right hold the hiker bins (donation boxes). I was surprised to see a few pair of crutches there too!
Alright, we are finally back on the trail and it's 5pm! Definitely off to a later start but we had a lot of stuff to take care of during the day. I'm in my new shoes hoping for a pleasant experience for my feet.
The sign below the PCT sign is supposed to show a bicycle with a line through it. Bikes are not allowed on the PCT; however, someone took a Sharpie and drew a bear. This is pretty hilarious! We are entering bear country so it's kind of suiting. I know it's bad to vandalize signs, but again, I got a giggle out of this.
Yay! We've officially reached the Sierras!! No more hot, uncomfortable desert! Whooo freakin' hoooo! We were both pretty excited to see this sign. This is the section of the trail we had been waiting to explore and we were finally here!
We continue walking on...it's not long before I start to feel pain in my feet. I had never felt this kind of pain before and it literally felt like the bones in my arches and ankles were straining and about to break. The pain had become unbearable and we stopped for a break at this lovely section of the Kern River. I was very upset. I had made up my mind at Lake Isabella that if my new shoes didn't work out "I was done!". And here I was...with my new shoes on and feeling severe pain in the bones of my feet. I couldn't make sense of it! These running shoes had been my favorite shoes for years. Why were they hurting me only 3 miles into our hike this evening?
I took some ibuprofen and was determined to push on through the pain for a few more miles. Nick suggested we set up camp for the night right here at the river. It was 7pm. I switched to my Croc sandles and was glad to not be on my feet but was sad at the thought that my hike may be over. We started setting up camp.
I'm cooking dinner right here. I know I look like a train wreck!
Annie's organic mac n cheese, with freeze dried chicken and bacon bits. Yum!
As we are sitting along the river enjoying our dinner we hear a large splash in the water. Nick had heard a similar splash earlier and had thought it was a bear jumping in the river and had even called out "Hi Bear". I asked him if he saw a bear and he said no but heard a large splash and was calling out to the bear so we wouldn't startle it and provoke an attack. Needless to say it was not a bear and not a large fish. Instead we noticed it was a BEAVER! He was smacking his tail on the water really loud. We couldn't believe our eyes. We had set up our tent on a section of the river with Beaver dens. Within a few minutes we saw a second beaver and could hear a 3rd on splashing downstream. It was very cool. Neither of us had seen beavers in the wild and it was an awesome experience.
This beaver had chewed a branch loose and brought it back to eat for dinner. He ate all of the leaves off of it right in front of us.
The sun setting near our campsite. Isn't it beautiful?
Nick and I closed up our bear canisters and put them a safe distance away from us. We had so much food that it wouldn't fit in our 2 canisters so we had a small food bag that Nick had to hang from a tree near by. It was fun watching him throwing stuff up into the trees. It took him a few attempts but he nailed it.
We then settled in for bed. We talked about what to do about my feet and new shoes and I was torn...part of me hurt so bad in my new shoes that I was afraid to put them back on. In my mind I had two choices tomorrow; 1) put the new shoes back on and hope they didn't hurt me "as bad" as today or 2) put my Crocs on and walk the 3 miles back to Tom's and fly home. As I fell asleep that was what was on my mind along with hearing the beavers splashing around for most of the night.
Hiking Uphill: 377ft
Hiking Downhill: 137ft
Distance Hiked: 4 miles
Post by Melissa:
It's Monday and I had learned that the Kennedy Meadows store only made breakfast on the weekends so Nick and I thought we were on our own for breakfast. We got ready in our trailer at Tom's and walked down the store to see what we could find to eat. When we arrived we were super excited to see that the store manager had opened the small kitchen and was making breakfast burritos for the hikers. We promptly placed our order for 2 burritos. There were quite a few hikers on the patio this morning and it was fun to catch up with everyone. The burritos took quite some time as the manager would only cook one at a time but they were delicious. He put eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, bacon, and sausage in them (oh and grilled onions). Man were they tasty!!
After breakfast head back to our trailer and start sorting through our resupply box and packing up our backpacks. We had received our bear canisters, micro spikes, and ice axes for this leg of the hike and we had to now fit those in our packs. We had been told we would not need our micro spikes or ice axes because the snow levels were so low but we carried them anyway. I figured I had paid good money for them and wanted to have them on me "just in case" we ran into anything scary out there. I knew we were planning on hiking up Mt Whitney in a few days and there could be snow there. I wanted to be prepared and was willing to carry the extra weight until we reached Independence.
Me in the trailer sorting through my stuff, packing up my bear canister.
We make a final trip over to the computer lab in this silver trailer to send out some final messages to family and friends before getting on the trail. There was no cell coverage here so the computers were our only way to communicate w/the outside world.
We walked back to the store for showers, laundry, and burgers. When I was there I met this women (see below) who is attempting to set the female speed record for the PCT. She told me her trail name was Inish (not sure if I spelled that right). She was hiking 40 miles a day! Nick and I were jealous of her amazing buffed legs. I watched her stuff while she took an impressive fast shower. I noticed she was packing ultra light and she even had pieced of duct tape on her very worn sleeping bag. She was hard core!! Inish was telling me that she was a vegetarian and that she was really hungry and wanted to take advantage of the BBQ offered by the store. We were not sure if they offered a veggie burger but we were hoping that she was able to find something to eat. In the end she may of had to break down and eat meat. On this trail you need protein and energy.
All packed up and ready to leave our home away from home at Tom's!
I'm all loaded up too. You can see my new fancy ice axe on the outside of my bag. I have my new running shoes on and socks and leave my old pair of Salomon trail runners in the hiker bin (donation box). My Salomon's have about 500 miles on them but are in good enough condition that someone "could" still wear them if they were in need.
Me saying goodbye to Tom. Thanks Tom for the amazing hospitality and for driving all the way to Lake Isabella to pick my butt up!
We take a few photos of the place as we are walking out. Here is the outdoor kitchen.
Outdoor movie theater (it's fricken awesome!)
Area to hang out in front of the computer lab. The wooden cabinet and boxes to the right hold the hiker bins (donation boxes). I was surprised to see a few pair of crutches there too!
Alright, we are finally back on the trail and it's 5pm! Definitely off to a later start but we had a lot of stuff to take care of during the day. I'm in my new shoes hoping for a pleasant experience for my feet.
The sign below the PCT sign is supposed to show a bicycle with a line through it. Bikes are not allowed on the PCT; however, someone took a Sharpie and drew a bear. This is pretty hilarious! We are entering bear country so it's kind of suiting. I know it's bad to vandalize signs, but again, I got a giggle out of this.
Yay! We've officially reached the Sierras!! No more hot, uncomfortable desert! Whooo freakin' hoooo! We were both pretty excited to see this sign. This is the section of the trail we had been waiting to explore and we were finally here!
We continue walking on...it's not long before I start to feel pain in my feet. I had never felt this kind of pain before and it literally felt like the bones in my arches and ankles were straining and about to break. The pain had become unbearable and we stopped for a break at this lovely section of the Kern River. I was very upset. I had made up my mind at Lake Isabella that if my new shoes didn't work out "I was done!". And here I was...with my new shoes on and feeling severe pain in the bones of my feet. I couldn't make sense of it! These running shoes had been my favorite shoes for years. Why were they hurting me only 3 miles into our hike this evening?
I took some ibuprofen and was determined to push on through the pain for a few more miles. Nick suggested we set up camp for the night right here at the river. It was 7pm. I switched to my Croc sandles and was glad to not be on my feet but was sad at the thought that my hike may be over. We started setting up camp.
I'm cooking dinner right here. I know I look like a train wreck!
Annie's organic mac n cheese, with freeze dried chicken and bacon bits. Yum!
As we are sitting along the river enjoying our dinner we hear a large splash in the water. Nick had heard a similar splash earlier and had thought it was a bear jumping in the river and had even called out "Hi Bear". I asked him if he saw a bear and he said no but heard a large splash and was calling out to the bear so we wouldn't startle it and provoke an attack. Needless to say it was not a bear and not a large fish. Instead we noticed it was a BEAVER! He was smacking his tail on the water really loud. We couldn't believe our eyes. We had set up our tent on a section of the river with Beaver dens. Within a few minutes we saw a second beaver and could hear a 3rd on splashing downstream. It was very cool. Neither of us had seen beavers in the wild and it was an awesome experience.
This beaver had chewed a branch loose and brought it back to eat for dinner. He ate all of the leaves off of it right in front of us.
The sun setting near our campsite. Isn't it beautiful?
Nick and I closed up our bear canisters and put them a safe distance away from us. We had so much food that it wouldn't fit in our 2 canisters so we had a small food bag that Nick had to hang from a tree near by. It was fun watching him throwing stuff up into the trees. It took him a few attempts but he nailed it.
We then settled in for bed. We talked about what to do about my feet and new shoes and I was torn...part of me hurt so bad in my new shoes that I was afraid to put them back on. In my mind I had two choices tomorrow; 1) put the new shoes back on and hope they didn't hurt me "as bad" as today or 2) put my Crocs on and walk the 3 miles back to Tom's and fly home. As I fell asleep that was what was on my mind along with hearing the beavers splashing around for most of the night.
What? You leave us with this cliffhanger!
ReplyDeleteThe next day is posted! Enjoy :-)
Deletelove the scenery and the location of your campsite, so pretty! very cool that you are seeing different types of wildlife too. Hopefully they will keep their distance!
ReplyDeleteI love the scenery too. It's beautiful in the Sierras!
Delete