PCT day 49 - mile 996 to mile 1017 (Sonora Pass, Kennedy Meadows North)

June 08, 2022

"After days of slogging through wet soft snow, endless river crossings and swapping wet socks for crunchy dry ones. Kennedy Meadows was a welcome oasis" Cargoman.

What an end to this section it was! Everyone walking today got absolutely minced by wind, rain and unpredictable melting snow.

It was raining the entire night and day, which made the river crossings in the morning even more challenging, then the trail was steadily going up for couple of miles until it reached Sonora Pass. From then on it turned into the game of 'find the trail' as it was constantly disappearing under the snow or small shifting rocks covering the approach and making the climb troublesome. Once on top the wind and rain hit hard nearly blowing my socks off - and it pretty much stayed like this until the end as the trail was very exposed from here on.

Temperatures in this part of Sierra Nevada are not getting very low at night, so the snow never firms up and there's still a lot of it, so half of the descent was either a post hole slushy nightmare or sliding down on muddy grit in hopes of finding alternative route, it took every last of energywe had left, Guy got knocked down few times by the wind and unintentionally slided down from one of the chutes, I nearly fell into the river after a risky jump - all the way through hypothermia was the name of the game.

Yet we got there in the end, we somehow managed to catch the shuttle bus to Kennedy Meadows at 3pm at the last moment. Sitting in the warm car and driving towards human dwellings after the events of last couple of days was a total bliss.

Myself, Guy and Travis who also completed that section today - gave each other a firm hugs of appreciation, it felt like we survived something truly out of our league - largely due to the hazardous weather conditions.

No one bothered to put down the 1000 mile marker on the trail, but all things considered I can't blame them. It shall remain an imaginary line which has been crossed today.

Once in the Kennedy Meadows North (there's also KM South where high Sierras begin), Guy very kindly let me stay in the cabin rented for him earlier by his wife. I returned my bear can (yay!) and did the usual chores. Then we had a dinner (Clam Chowder soup ftw!) and met with other hikers including Ravi and his new tramily! We shared the horrors of the last few days, Ravi called them "the most adventurous in his life so far". Since they hike out tomorrow morning I might tag along with them.

My glissading wound is healing well and I decided to leave it uncovered tonight. It's good to be in this oasis in the middle of nowhere, even if only for a short while.