My feet still hurt somewhat this morning. I quickly massaged them, had breakfast and broke down camp. I knew the others intended to hike a total of approximately 8 miles yesterday, which meant that I had some 6 miles of catching up to do. If I could keep a good pace, I might be able to catch them before nightfall. But more likely it would be somewhere tomorrow. Today the trail would wind uphill be pretty much a the full day. From 6132 feet all the way up to over 10000 ft. We would be making altitude again! I was excited to get higher, it would hopefully make for less hot days. Because we’ll be encountering all the run-off water from the snow-melts, everybody considerably decreased their water-carry capacity. In the desert was able to carry a maximum of 5.5 liters. In Kennedy Meadows I got rid of a bunch of bottles, and now my max is only 3 liters. Which to be fair I hope is erring on the safe side and probably not needed for the Sierra section. Two liters at a time should do just fine.
The trail quickly gained altitude within the pine trees, following a creek. The sun rose further, and then I was happily surprised when seeing the first real mountain meadows. Everything was so green and lush, there was even real grass! It’s been so long since I’ve seen real grass, it was pretty neat.
Yesterday was the first day that I tried out my new Hyperlight pack. I absolutely love it. It takes care of all the issues I had with my previous pack; it has very nice and functional hip-belt pockets, it packs like a charm because it does not have the arc-shaped frame, it is waterproof, and it is considerably smaller and sleeker. Yesterday I weighed the pack, and with a full bear-canister and 2 liters of water it weighs around 27 or 28 pounds. That’s a significant weight-drop compared to my desert-gear. The significant decrease in water-carry contributes significantly to the weight-difference, but I also successfully got rid of a bunch of redundant items. I exchanged my sun-hoodie for a Columbia sun-shirt, because my sun-hoodie was kinda falling apart. My new blue shirt is also a real success! It dries super fast and is more comfortable to hike in. The sleeves can be rolled up (and attached, so they don’t come down).
I encountered a couple of hikers during the day and had short chats with some of them, but mostly I was booking it up hill, making good progress in the morning. It was getting warmer again, since we were not at significant altitude yet, but it felt so great to know that there was water around (pretty much) every corner and to finally be out of the sand-box. My spirit was surely lifted by this new environment. Happily surprised I noticed how rapid the transition from desert into meadows and mountain vistas had occurred. It seemed like yesterday that we were being relentlessly cooked in the steaming desert.
Around 1300 the trail would intersect the South Fork of the Kern River. My stomach was growling like crazy, and I was excited to sit down along the riverbank, soak my feet and enjoy a good meal. From the distance I could not make out any other hikers, but when the trail dropped down the final feet, a lovely shaded area appeared in sight next to the bridge and… everybody was there! I’d made my way back to the bubble, there’s some 3 or 4 groups that hiked out yesterday at similar times, and I caught up with all of them. It was great to join Thad, Jukebox and Pops, Amanda and Julian so much sooner than I expected. They all laid smiling in the shade, and told me that they planned to head out 1.5 hour later. Bliss! Plenty of time for me to recover from the fast pace I’d been hiking at this morning.
Cooling my feet in the river was a real delight, and after a lovely break all of us headed out together. It was still warm, but the everybody knew that it would be over soon. The atmosphere was great and I enjoyed myself a lot. All of us were giddy with joy from the beautiful and exciting change of scenery.
Leaving the meadows behind us, the trail started to ascend steeply into a gorgeous pine forest. I already started to notice the elevation gain, getting out of breath a lot sooner than usual and feeling the lack of oxygen in my breathing. Regardless I was still in an excellent mood; feeling that we were actually getting into the mountains now was real exciting.
I’d done a fairly big morning, and at the end of the afternoon I felt my energy draining fast. The last mile into camp was a struggle, and it took me a long time with lots of breaks. I lost the others along the way. They planned on camping at a campsite some 3 miles further up the trail. I didn’t want to over-exert myself after the injury and had already done plenty of miles today. I found a lovely spot and was soon joined by Gord, Alex and Johnny. We had a chilled out evening and were later joined by Amanda & Julian. It’s been a long time since I’d been at camp around 1800, three hours before sundown, and it felt good! This change of environment has made for a great day, and I can’t wait to find out what gems the Sierras have to offer!
It’s far beyond your reach,
It holds a place in time
Somewhere ahead is the back of the line
I can’t relate,
To your mistakes,
Awkwardly speaking with nothing to say
Caught up in you life,
Excuses are so lame,
You may be different, but I’m still the same
The reasons that you thought
The attention that you bought
You say things are simple,
We both know they’re not
You can’t let it go.
Whoa whoa whoa
It’s not in what you do,
More in what you say…
Summer – Sum 41
Nice!
Goed bezig, mooi om weer te zien en te lezen! Heb jij al een trailname eigenlijk? Thijs en ik dachten aan Choir Ball 😉