Legs and Borders

"Kennedy Meadows North is so much better, Kennedy Meadows South was like a soap opera" Lazarus. "We make fire!" Sunshine. Today I hiked with Ravi, Sunshine and Owen out of Kennedy Meadows North. We got shuttle bus back to trail, nine hikers in total and all but one person is camping with us tonight, but what's most important we made fire! :) I packed up everything in the morning, tent and rest of the gear dried out overnight from the downpour of previous day. Then we went to have a breakfast with Guy, I had sausage and eggs and a bowl of oatmeal which was huge and very tasty. After that I finished my resupply, sadly snack selection in the shop wasn't too good and they ran out of snickers! Shuttle bus arrived at 10am, we said our goodbyes with Guy (perhaps we will visit him in his home in Lake Tahoe) and left. Weather was amazing I could truly appreciate it after the horrors if previous day's, still plenty of slushy snow in trail though but the ascents we...

"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 hal...

"Embrace the suck" Hiker's proverb. If yesterday was Squirtle wet, today was Blastoise smash wet mainly due to the rain falling on us all day. Water was coming from beneath and from above, it was like a remake of 'Waterworld' with Kevin Costner (I just realized I never actually seen that movie). There was a lot of elevation gain throughout the first part of the day, path was going up and down like a rollercoaster, one section included walking next to a river on a snow chute for couple of miles, I put the micro spikes on here as it was very steep. It started to rain about 10am just after first big river crossing that had to be walked through, I managed to catch up with Guy at that point and we walked together for the rest of the day. We must have crossed, hopped or walked over or around fifty streams and rivers during the day. Often trail itself was used by the water to find its way downhill and occasional meadows were like walking on a sponge. We arrived at the ca...

"I killed few rattle snakes before, skinned and cooked them with white wine and onion. They taste just like clam" Travis aka PepTalk. Very wet day, it was either walking on slushy snow or through rivers and streams. Snow melt is now in full effect and big portions of the trail are either running or stagnant water puddles. It was actually first day when I completely gave up on keeping my feet dry and were walking straight through all the water ahead of me. Guy with whom I camped last night set out really early, it must have been quarter past five, I heard him leaving and never saw him again today, he mentioned a couple of times how much he misses his wife and since he has just few hundred miles left to go (he is not hiking the entirety of PCT) that must keep him motivated. He's 66, what a Guy! I lost a couple of miles by walking on the wrong trail, before I checked it on my GPS I was already mile away, haha. The only other person I've met for the entire day was Travis ...

"I wrote down the names of everyone I've lost, been hurt by or haunted by in my life on a piece of paper. After, I folded the paper in half and wrote: "Don't follow me to Canada. You won't make it". I folded it more and shoved it in a corner wall of bus station hut in Mammoth". Lost and Found. Another day another pass, this time it was turn for Donohue, it wasn't anything new or more difficult than the previous passes but the accumulation of them day after day poses a significant threat to willpower, luckily it all went fine. Also rest of the day was fairly easy, a gentle descent into Yosemite valley. I've seen a coyote crossing the trail 20 meters in front of me before midday, once it spotted me it started to move away looking back at me, but it wasn't in any particular rush or panic. LVery respectable creature and not that much smaller or different looking than a wolf. After that I stumbled upon Guy (I already met him few hundred miles befo...

"We are so regimented that some people are calling us The Military" Ninja, member of the Duplex Tramily. Decent miles today, mainly going uphill. Views were great as well, I'm stopping for breaks in those picturesque spots knowing that I won't be seeing them anymore in a week's time.. It's kind of sad, on one hand mountains are kicking my butt but on the other I don't want them to end. There's something timeless and regal about those peaks, they don't give a damn about us mere mortals. I've been walking alongside the Duplex Tramily for a couple of days now, they consist mainly of English and German hikers, so you have the mixture of German precision and English timekeeping, it sounds dreadful I know, haha. By the looks on their faces I can see that they are not enjoying themselves very much, but they stick together because 'Sierras are a difficult section and it's safer to walk here with other people', perhaps they are right I won...