Day 47 - Chicken Meadow Lake

June 11, 2012

Day 47

Miles: 20

Total Miles: 756

click to enlarge picture

I'm taking lots of pictures today.  I stopped for lunch at Poison Oak Spring and then walked another four miles to Chicken Meadow Lake.  The lake is cold but I waded in up to my knees and washed my legs and then sun-bathed for a while.  In the desert it was all about covering up and avoiding the sun.  now I am able to bask in the sun's rays and try and get some color to correct my severe farmer's tan (hands and neck are brown, everything else is pale white!)  I'm also seeing clouds today for the first time since the start of the hike!

Although I ran into Threshold, Shameless, Chicken Little and others at lunch - tonight I'm camping solo again near the two small lakes that look like footprints on the map.  I climb Whitney tomorrow!

Day 46 - Hiking in "The Range of Light"

June 10, 2012

Day 46

Miles: 20

Total Miles: 736

A solo day of hiking but I'm loving it!  Only one person passed me sitting on the side of the trail eating lunch - Tuna Helper.  Tuna Helper is attempting a record thru-hike of the PCT of under 60 days!  He started at the border on May 25th and is already 725 miles down the trail 15 days later.  He said he is averaging 44 miles/day in the desert and his goal for the Sierra's is 35 miles/day.  Now that's nuts!  My biggest mile day to-date is 30 and that was one hell of a long day.

I'm camping alone tonight at 10,500 feet.  Tomorrow I will get up to 11,500 ft and hover around that altitude until I get to Mt. Whitney at mile 766.

Day 45 - First Day in the Sierra's

June 9, 2012

Day 45

Miles: 14

Total Miles: 716

After two miles of sandy walking, past the Kennedy Meadows Camp Ground, I'm finally here.  Beck's Meadow is beautiful and a welcome sight to my desert-weary eyes.  It feels like a completely different hike now - green, wet, trees and water...lots of water.

I arrived at the Kern River and camped nearby.  Wampass Cat, Zen, iPod and others had arrived and already had a fire going - my first campfire of the trail!  I'm excited about what's to come in the Sierra's...

First views of Beck's Meadow

Bridge of Kern River