Day 45 – From Manter Creek to Kennedy Meadows, mile 702

June 4. Slept pretty well. It had cooled down during the night, that helped with the sleep.

Started walking at 6am… Motivated to make it to Kennedy Meadows by 10am and with that in time for breakfast. The trail followed a river… The sweet sound of running water accompanied us on the last steps towards Kennedy Meadows. With that also the anticipation of having creeks, rivers and lakes around you for the next section, the High Sierra.

Being able to wash yourself every day… Do some laundry, wash the dishes… 😁

Oh yes. 700 miles done. And so excited to move on to the Sierra.

After the 700 miles marker, it was just a couple of miles to Kennedy Meadows and the General Store there.

Will be camping here at the Kennedy Meadows General Store for a night or two.

Light boots for the desert (left), leather boots for the Sierra and beyond (right).

Time to prepare the gear for the Sierra, fill the bear canister… And give my feet some rest.

Day 44 – From Spanish Needle Creek to Manter Creek, mile 694

June 3. Early start, 5am on trail. As often, not so easy to get up. But once awake, the cool air and the darkness is nice.

The vertical profile today said a first climb to 7000 feet, down to 5500 feet, up again to 8000 feet. With every day you feel the Sierra coming closer. Also the trail itself changes. Less sandy patches, more and more rocks.

Took a break after getting water 12 miles in. Nearby forest road. Car driving by. I joked about smelling trail magic… And guess what! Mountain Dew, Cliff bars, cookies,…. Yeah! Surprising trail magic is the best.

The last days in the desert turn to be really hot. But the beautiful scenery, the blossoming flowers, …

After the 8000 feet peak today, it was more or less downhill towards Manter Creek. The heat remained and the last few miles felt longer and longer…

Came to campground after 24 miles today around 6pm, with tomorrow morning less than 10 miles left to Kennedy Meadows and the breakfast there at Grumpy Bear’s Retreat.

Day 43 – From Lake Isabella to Spanish Needle creek, mile 669

June 2.

Breakfast at Nelda’s Diner. Tinkle had found a trail angel (Mariann) to pick us up right at the diner at 8.30am to go back to the trail head at Walker Pass.

Took two Gatorades from the trail magic at the trail head. Started walking 9.30am.

Lots of climbing. Really hot day. There was talk about a heatwave with temperatures in the high 30s Celsius.

At 5pm, when getting water, everyone was tired from the heat, so we went an early end of the day.

When pitching my tent, I realized that one of the guy lines nearly had ripped, it must have been scratching at a rock when I had pitched it last time. Kind of disappointing. The guy line is long enough to continue using it… But I wished they would have used a bit robust material for the guy lines.

Day 41 – From Bird Spring Pass to Lake Isabella, mile 652

May 31st. Another early start for the push to Lake Isabella. Due to a 1500 feet climb, we got motivated to leave camp at 5.15am.

I had a really bad night, did not sleep much. The wind had kept me awake, shaking the tent that I did not really pitch sufficiently due to the loose ground. Learning… Better keep looking for a suitable spot to stake down the tent decently.

But the show had to go on… And I had to keep walking to make it to Lake Isabella tonight.

Beautiful desert landscape in the early morning

The early morning climb at least offered breath taking views again. At the top around 7000 feet, I settled down for a coffee break.

After the climb, most of the remaining miles led even or even downhill through a beautiful landscape with more trees and shade again.

Coming to the highway around 3.30pm, we tried our best to hitch a ride to the 30+miles distant Lake Isabella.

After maybe 30 minutes we were lucky. A big RV that had passed us but seen my “PCT Hiker to town” sign came back minutes later and u-turned to take all of our group (8 hikers!) to Lake Isabella. Thank you very much! You guys were great!

We came to town, had fast food and split up. Some of us went to the campground, I voted with Cactass and Tinkle for the motel. Quick laundry and a relaxing evening.

I was really ready for some good and long night sleep…

Die Nacht bietet so ein faszinierendes Gefühl von Isolation. Nachts ist man frei, die Welt lässt Dich in Ruhe.

Day 40 – Landers Campground to Bird Spring Pass, mile 631

May 30. Got an good start, hit the trail at 6am. Slept super good. Second night in the new tent… Maybe it was the early time to go to bed…

The new tent is awesome. Actually bigger inside than the MSR. Pitching it was easy so far.

Rock formations in the morning sun

Today would be a day where we would be fully relying on water caches. There was only one off trail spring in case of emergency.

Hot day with soft sandy trail – not much shade today.

Only Joshua trees provide some shade

Carried two liters only, first stop after 7 miles at the the next water cache at mile 616. Took three liters from there for the 15 miles to the next water cache and planned tentsite for today at Bird Spring pass, mile 631.

At mile 621.5 is the 1000 KM marker… Now that’s an achievement… 😁👍🏻😜

Lunch break at mile 622, combined with longer siesta. Limited shade, everyone tries to hide under a Joshua tree.

Album of today: The Joshua Tree – U2

Bird Spring pass was very exposed in the wind. We were glad to see that there was sufficient water in the cache, bit finding a protected spot for the tents would not be easy.

I pitched mine at a not so optimal spot… The ground was really soft and the wind was strong. I tried to give additional hold for the stakes with several rocks… But not too much improvement. The tent kept flapping in the wind and I would have very little sleep that night.