Day 59 - 73, Mile 652 - 745

After a long, dry and hot desert stretch, we finally stumble into lake Isabella. This section absolutely wore me out so I decided to take a few days off and recover. This extended break allowed Rhine and Debbie to surprise us with a visit!

They brought us much needed supplies, a 30 mile drive back to the trail and most importantly a boost in moral. Their eagerness to drive all this way to help us out humbled me. Thank you Rhine and Debbie! You can count on my support when you do this....

Now we're on our way to Kennedy Meadows which is known as the gateway to the Sierras as far as PCT'ers are concerned. This is an interesting section as we experience the transition from desert to alpines. However, water sources are still a trickel and 15-20 miles apart, so in that respect its still desert, albiet much nicer.

It took us 4 days to go the 45 miles into KM for two reasons, one it was close to 100 degrees and secondly, we were intentionally dragging our feet to allow as much snow as possible to melt in the high Sierras.

On our last hiking day in to KM we came across our first river in the Sierras. I couldnt help my self and had to take a dip.

Sam was content with just washing her feet.

With raucous applause by our fellow hikers for completing the desert, we stroll in to KM general store. Kennedy Meadows, pop. 200 is a extremely friendly hiker town. They essentially gave us free reign allowing us to pitch our tents literally anywhere. But first we need to open two boxes full of surprises! One by my sister Allison and the other from my good friends Chad and Paula. When we were opening the boxes, we noticed a fire behind us. It started at a remote camp ground Sam and I camped at just the night before!  Hikers helped residents evacuate belongings from their homes and the mood in This normally festive place became somber. We heard tails and watched FB videos of hikers scrambling away from the flames. This was a danger I honestly never considered, but certainly do now. They closed the trail and as a result, KM turned into a ghost town. Fortunately, no one was injured or any structures destroyed and the trail is still intact so it will open soon.

My current internet is painfully slow so I can't post the box opening videos, but at least I have one pic. We're about to open Chad and Paula's box here where I was given some wonderful trail magic by both of them.

 

                             Fire

Sam using her art to motivate us all.

 Teaching Sam the finer points of over eating. Something I took great pride in.

          Filling our bear canisters

Leaving KM and starting the Sierras! Although it's bueatuful here, we find ourselves in another hot and burned out forest. Remember All those massive fires you see on the news over the years? Well we've been hiking through all of them and this was burned out section number 12 or so. I found myself sinking back into  mindless grind mode to get through it and then...boom! Over the peak and there they are, The majestic Sierras. It was a real motivator. A boost I sorely needed. This is why we are here.

 I use my altimeter to let me know where we are at by studying the elevation profiles. Extremely helpful.

 Were only in the southern Sierras here, but still quite bueatuful.

Our first fire, not for warmth but to keep the mosquitos away. And surprisingly, it works. Just over those rocks on the other side of this campsite was an amazing view of the valley were we watched the sun set and the stars come out. To watch the entire transition is an amazing experience. I highly advise trying it out.

Unfortunately, we needed to drop out of the mountains and go to Lone Pine to get some snow gear. But we'll rejoin the trail where we left off and continue our journey tomorrow...

Thank you Rhine, Debbie, Allison, Matt, Colin, Claire, Paula and Chad for the trail magic. It really helped both of us out and seriously boosted my spirits. I am humbled.

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SAM: Después de dejar Lake Isabella y mis pies terminaran de curar mis tios Rhine y Debbie vinieron para ayudarnos a reingresar el camino y nos trajeron algunas cosas que necesitabamos, y ha sido verdaderamente una de las mas grandes ayudas que hemos tenido ^^ (thank you so much for that <3)

Teniamos que llegar a Kennedy Meadows, el último punto antes de llegar a las sierras nevadas, la sección mas bonita de la que hemos estado hablando durante todo el camino. Pero aun eran 3 días desde donde empezamos para llegar alli.

Fue una sección sencilla, no habia mucha agua, pero de todas formas fue mejor que la anterior sección, conseguimos tomar una foto de una serpiente,

poco a poco el paisaje empezaba a hacerse mas montañoso hasta que llegamos al río Kern, donde muchos entraron a bañarse pero yo me limite a refrescarme y lavarme los pies xD

Despues de los tres dias porfin llegamos a Kennedy Meadows donde recibimos dos cajas! Las primeras que recibimos en todo el camino. Una era con comida y un par de cosas utiles de parte unos amigos de mi papa, y otro de parte de mi tia Allison con parte del equipo que necesitabamos para las montañas y con un monton de comida! (thank you Allison ^^ so much candyyyy<3)

Al llegar alli podiamos ver un incendio, y todos empezaron a hablar al respecto, al final resulto que habia empezado cerca de un campamento en el que nos habiamos quedado solo dos dias atras, no hubo ningun humano herido, pero muchos de los caminantes estaban cerca cuando ocurrio, y tuvieron que caminar tooodo el camino de regreso hasta la carretera y conseguir alguien que los lleve directamente hasta Kennedy Meadows, ya que era obvio que el camino iba a estar cerrado, asi que mientras nosotros estuvimos alli, empezaron a llegar todos los que estaban en Lake Isabella y retornando alli, asi que habian al menos 100 personas xD pero fue una bonita experiencia ya que conocimos a mucha gente a la que no habiamos visto antes. 

No habia mucha conexion, pero habia buena comida ;D, asi que despues de comer y descansar un par de dias partimos cuando ya no habia mucha gente para poder disfrutar de las montañas con mas tranquilidad y para que los campamentos no esten muy cargados, asi que partimos y para comenzar a escalar a gran altitud y disfrutar de un nuevo escenario.

Ahora estamos en Lone Pine, aun estamos pensando si vamos a escalar Mount Whitney, que es el punto mas alto de Los Estados Unidos :O asi que seria una gran experiencia pero nos tomaria todo un dia extra de comida (y peso) ya que debemos de escalar 8 millas de subida, mas 8 millas de bajasa de regreso al camino, pero, aun se esta debatiendo ;)

Toda esta experiencia comienza a tomar sentido desde este punto, las vistas y el ambiente es tan bonito que nos hacen querer quedarnos aqui mas tiempo y no querer salir de las sierras, mi papa tambien ahora esta mas animado y eso me hace sentir mas animada a continuar ^^ es una sensacion de si querer o no terminar el camino, una sensación un poco extraña, pero es parte de la experiencia creo yo asi que, ahi que seguir adelante, y pasar el norte de california lo mas rápido posible xD no queremos que nos pille el invierno en Washington!