Out of the Desert and Into the Sierra Nevada

California, Section F: Tehachapi Pass to Walker Pass, and several days into Section G: Walker Pass to Crabtree Meadow

What a trip our last eleven days on the trail have been! Charles and I are now 745.3 miles down the trail and hiking through the Sierra Nevada. Our last six days in the desert were a whirlwind of hiking followed by a zero day and four absolutely gorgeous days in the Sierra. I was going to just write a post for Section F, but I’m SO EXCITED (!!!) to be in the Sierra that I can’t wait to share the small piece we’ve already completed. We have about twenty miles left of Section G.

We had some logistics to figure out for these eleven days because Charles is attending a wedding on June 2 in Arizona and needed to be off the trail by May 30. Our original plan was to exit the PCT down the east side of Mt. Whitney. That would’ve entailed buying two permits each and descending plus reascending about 6,000 feet over about eight miles through more snow than we’d like to deal with unnecessarily. We decided on exiting through a trail pass junction that goes to Lone Pine and were lucky enough that Charles’ mom came to pick him up to return to Flagstaff.

With eleven days to get off the trail we raced through the last section, 144 miles, of the desert in six days, averaging twenty-four miles a day. This is the fastest and longest I’ve ever hiked in that short amount of time. While a great challenge, I do not want to hike that fast again for a while as I did not fully appreciate those miles.

Day forty-two started what Charles calls the “Kennedy Meadows Ultra Marathon Push Extraordinaire” and the first of our six, twenty-four mile days. We finished the eight miles in Section E and saw even more windmills. For how excited I was to see the windmills, I was ready to be passed them due to all the wind.

The start of Section F is along Highway 58 and up into the mountains. There are many Joshua trees along the way. We had a very windy night at our tent site (not really a surprise because we could still see windmills).

Day forty-three was our longest day yet at twenty-five miles. We woke up to cloudy skies and windmills, both lasting for most of the morning. We found a nice spot for lunch under some oak trees and ended up staying there for two hours even though we still had fifteen miles to go. We hiked nine miles to Robin Bird Spring and then raced through another six miles to our tent site. We also passed mile 600 late in the afternoon.

Day forty-four started out in the forest. I was having quite a bit of nostalgia at Landers Meadow Camp/Spring (it reminded me of camping with my family and Philmont Scout Ranch) and I was hoping our last hundred miles to Kennedy Meadows would travel through the forest. That hope ended about an hour later when we were back down in the desert. We stopped at a water cash put out by the Walker Pass Trail Angels. There were also so many wildflowers on this piece of the trail.

I was very tired at the end of the day and we were both pleasantly surprised to meet trail angel Jim at Bird Spring Pass. He had dinner, sodas, chocolate, and water for hikers. We also started talking to a couple from Germany, Melanie and Alex. We had been hiking at the same pace as them since day forty-two.

Day forty-five, another twenty-five mile day, started out with 3.4 miles of uphill hiking. We saw even more wildflowers along the trail. We stopped at Walker Pass Campground for water and then continued another 4.7 miles up to our campsite. Section F was completed that evening at Walker Pass. Many hikers will hitchhike into Lake Isabella or Ridgecrest from here. After crossing the pass, we hiked up some giant switchbacks. Looking back at them reminded us of switchbacks the Grand Canyon. We didn’t reach our campsite until 8:00PM.

Day forty-six (twenty-five mile day number three) our hike was starting to look more and more like the Sierra. We finished our uphill hike from the night before and then had two more large uphill climbs.

We stayed at Chimney Creek Camp where we met Greg Hummel, who was putting on some Memorial Day weekend trail magic. We had met him and his wife back on day six at the Pioneer Mail Day Use Area where he told us about this event, but not where it would take place. At the time we were convinced we would be nowhere near the event and had just casually guessed where we though it would occur. Greg was one of fifteen people to hike the PCT in 1977; it was so neat to hear about his experiences hiking and the evolution of backpacking since he started.

Day forty-seven was the shortest day of the six at only twenty-two miles, but it was my worst day on the trail so far. I was so tired from hiking and ready to be done with the desert. We had one more uphill climb in the morning followed by a long downhill and then mostly flat section into Kennedy Meadows. We passed by the southern fork of the Kern River, which really started to feel like the Sierra. We reached the Kennedy Meadows General Store, where it is customary to clap for newly arrived hikers to congratulate them on making it to this major milestone on the PCT.

Day forty-eight we took a zero day. We walked/hitched to Triple Crown Outfitters, a store run out of the home of “Yogi” and “Worldwide.” Both have hiked the PCT, AT, and CDT, Yogi twice and Worldwide once. Yogi helped us pick out ice axes and taught us how to use them. Charles and I will be practicing quite a bit once we get a chance.

The big question of hikers once reaching Kennedy Meadows is what kind of snow gear they need. While not as big a snow year as last year, the snow levels are still high enough to need ice axes and foot traction devices. Some people who already started the Sierra experienced two white out snow storms and only hiked fifteen miles over three days through waist deep snow. While entering the Sierra a couple weeks after them, starting the Sierra in late May/early June is still considered early for attempting the section.

We also received our bear canisters in the mail and discovered the challenges of trying to successfully fit all of our food. We only had four days of food and somehow both filled up our containers (we have seven day bear canisters). Hopefully we’ll become much better at playing tetrace with our food.

There are also many dogs roaming the General Store, including one adorable puppy! They are all masters at sitting skills in hopes that you’ll give them some food. I gave pats to at least ten dogs during our stay there.

Day forty-nine was a slow start out of Kennedy Meadows and into the South Sierra Wilderness. After our previous miles we were in no rush. We originally planned to hike ten miles that day, but ended up only hiking eight. We had a nice lunch spot by the Kern again and received our first rain for the trip in the afternoon (why we stopped early).

Day fifty was our longest day planned for our four days at fourteen miles (quite the change from our previous section). In the morning we walked through a giant meadow with snow capped mountains in the distance. Our lunch break was again by the south fork of the Kern (it’s really a great river) and from there we did nine more miles. Our tent site for the night was above 10,000ft and it finally felt like we were in the Sierra.

Day fifty-one I was just in awe the entire day. The forest and mountains are gorgeous and everything I’d been hoping for. We passed a few meadows and and started drawing closer and closer to the snow capped mountains. We started to see a few, small snow patches where Charles took the opportunity to “practice” using his ice axe (actually just swinging it around like a madman). We camped for the night at the same tent site as Melanie and Alex.

The four of us were in for a surprise with a hail storm that evening. Charles and I were hiding in our tents and making dinner when we thought the storm was clearing up. The storm was actually just prepping us to be startled by a close lightning flash and immediate clap of thunder. Alex apparently was up on a hill (trying to book a hostel for him and Melanie) and was very close to the flash!

Day fifty-two we had a nice and easy ten miles. We left the PCT at a trail pass junction leading down to Horseshoe Meadow. Our permits were checked for the first time (because we are about to go through Sequoia, Mineral King Canyon, and Yosemite) by rangers from the Inyo National Forest. We had a nice relaxing afternoon waiting for Charles’ mom and talking with Alex and Melanie. It’s so neat to hear about their lives in Germany and why they’re on the trail. They are also taking a few days off from the trail before taking on the snow. Charles and I were discussing what it’d be like to take four days off from the trail and while I think I’ll miss showers and decent food (I apparently don’t sleep well in a bed right now) I will come running back to the Sierra.

Charles’ mom (because she’s a saint) took the four of us to Bishop (to drop me off) and then she took Melanie and Alex to Ridgecrest.

Now it’s time for four, relaxing zero days! Charles is back in Arizona for the wedding and my parents are visiting me in Bishop. We have some exciting (and slightly terrifying) events coming up. We’ll be summiting Mt. Whitney and climbing Forester Pass (the highest point on the PCT at 13,124ft) within in the next several days.

Charles’ Section

The last eleven days were surely defined by both pushing our limits and taking it easy. Doing 144 miles in six days was no easy feat, but we both pushed through and emerged alive, no, dare I say, victorious! Then treating ourselves with four easy ten to twelve mile days was a fantastic reward indeed.

This week, I’ll leave you with a quote from Earnest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, where an aged yet experienced fisherman embarks on an epic battle with a giant marlin.

“He was comfortable but suffering, although he did not admit the suffering at all.”

This quote sums up the six-day-mega-miles push, except for the fact that I surely admitted my suffering. Also, during this time I game Elizabeth the trail name “Sprinkles” because she always has a little bit of positivity to sprinkle on anything and everything. As we push on through the Sierra this positivity will surely be needed as we encounter snowy passes, cold nights, and frozen fingers. To counter those things will be the amazing views, still, mountain lakes, and quiet, crisp mountain air. “Comfortable but suffering” if you will. Or better yet “challenged and rewarded.”