​Days 34-37, miles 652-702 (26% of the trail)

The hiking mellowed out from mile 652. It got cooler and greener, with a real, running spring swarming with mosquitoes. But hey, water. Ran into a (wild?) bull on the trail. Free range and grass fed. No idea how it got out to the PCT. We left each other alone. No interest in trying out one of Hemingway's other "sports."

I made it to the Kennedy Meadows General Store on June 10, day 36 of my hike. The end of the desert and the start of the Sierra. The store has a large patio filled with hikers this time of year. Each time a new hiker approaches, everyone applauds. It's a great finish to all that grueling desert hiking. It was some of the hardest hiking I've ever done.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was everywhere. Hikers were examining brand new ice axes and unboxing microspikes. Talked briefly about tenkara fishing with Downtime, a Swede who saw me unpacking my new rod. G-String (California) was having trouble with his. They're telescoping rods and it seemed he was too vigorous swinging it out, getting the last piece stuck. He thought I might have been a tenkara master and could fix it, but nope.

Hiked out the next afternoon. Too crowded for me. Many of us toked that day, while a large group was all giggly from shrooms. I started walking at 5:30 pm, mostly sober, hoping to camp alone for once.

Gear Changes

Out:

umbrella

sawyer filter

titanium mug

body glide

In:

ice axe

microspikes

one trekking pole with snow basket

tenkara fishing rod (3.4 oz, carbon fiber)

bear canister

windstopper gloves

DEET and picaridin insect repellants

headnet

baseball cap

Aqua Mira drops

Cheap waterproof socks from Amazon