I stopped for breakfast before leaving Kennedy Meadows, so I started walking at 8:45. This was exciting, it was finally the Sierras, the next chapter of the PCT. The first hour or so was only typical meadow, mainly the same as the desert section. However, that did not last long.
Swallowtails, of a more pale variety than my family.
The path became abruptly uphill and began my ascent to the mountains. Water was available for free, a real change of the dry that had been the path so far. It was a good difference, since it meant that I only had to carry one liter at the same time. Water is heavy! Unfortunately, my package kept the same weight or heavier due to the addition of a bear can and an ice ax, requirements for the mountains.
It was quite scarce around.
I went up the Valley next to the stream I ran there. It was quite hot and the growing altitude began to be remarkable, stirring my resistance. A fire must have arrived here some past years, leaving burned scars and dead trees. I passed one of those absolutely full trees with native wooden bees; They must have a home there.
Around 4:30, the path was flattened and suddenly we entered an absolutely impressive valley. The beauty of the mountains had promoted me and this felt like my first real flavor. The last miles we walk through this valley until we arrive at the Kern Kern South Fork river bridge.
The valley mentioned above, a PCT Vintage and Big Bill and Airbender sign.
As promised, the lower part of this bridge was full of swallow nests and were extremely active capturing insects and returned to feed their babies. I soaked my feet on the river and ate Cenando with Big Bill, Airbender and Magic. There were many people camping here tonight, so this must have been a popular plan.
One of the many drink nests, the inhabitant gives me a critical look.
Day 60: Marmots!
The dream next to the river was pleasant, but I woke up to find copious birds in my rain rain in the morning. I suppose that sleeping so close to swallowing nests was not a good idea after all! At least the river facilitated cleaning. I left just after the mission, with Big Bill and Airbender taking his time going this morning.
A quick photo of the camp I took to leave. Don’t forget to look back sometimes!
He started with a little Prado walking, then the climb began. 7.5 miles with 2800 feet of elevation gain for a long morning, but I was really grateful to do it in the morning when my legs were still fresh. Fortunately, Sierra’s beauty remained consistent and frequent currents facilitated hydration. After passing the mission and a new hiker called Marco in one of the streams, I saw my first marmotas! They were adorable, like large stuffed animals.
Look at this goober with your mouth full of grass. I love these guys.
The rest of the ascent was hard, but the mission and I reached the top a little after noon and lunch at the top. The descent was also quite long. At one point I thought I had seriously calculated and I ran out of water, but it turns out that I forgot that I had additional water in one or my bottles. We met with the function, the juice pump, 007, complaints, Janus and Lenny near the bottom and spent the time that filtered water exchanging riddles. However, they left and doubted that he saw them again; They go fast.
Being too dramatic about the single snow patch on the path. Photo courtesy of the mission.
The camp was a fairly small place in the trees near a current that flows well, but it was also absolutely swollen with mosquitoes, the first on this path. I hurriedly introduced my tent with my rain team and then dived to fix dinner. He knew that insects were inevitable, but he had really enjoyed his absence in the desert sections. Oh ok.
Day 61: Search and rescue
Today’s walk began with another long climb. However, it came with better views of the next mountains, so it was not all bad. I chatted with Ainsley, who had arrived at the afternoon camp the night before, and realized that we had started the same day. We meet Gandalf and Mission late in the morning and admire the dry bed of the lake in the valley under us.
Was this the Owens Lake, the Lake apparently stole in the early 1900s?
Most of the hiking after that was not quite remarkable, mostly just going through the mountain forest of pines. I had lunch with Mission and Magic and our extended group discussed the plans of Lone Pine Town. However, that changed around 4 pm, since I was in my last stretch to the camp and took the day in a direction I did not expect.
A very twisted and very dead tree. It is a juniper or a pine, but I am not so good to say the difference when they have been dead so long. This will also be the last photo for the next paragraphs for privacy reasons. Keep reading, it will make sense.
Less than one mile from my planned camp, I found the mission that was sitting with a hiker whom I am going to call for privacy reasons. He had seen R about a little in recent days, he had been walking with magic, so he was not unknown, but he didn’t know him so well. I was sitting in a trunk with his backpack taking a break and quickly noticed that even at rest, I still breathed a lot. I asked some symptom questions and learned that R was experiencing extreme fatigue, he had vomited several times and could not keep the water down today, and could not walk more than 100 feet at the same time without the need for a break.
As part of my preparations for this path, I had taken a Wilderness First Aid Course and these symptoms sounded with respect to the altitude disease. Mission, a first trained desert responder, agreed and also pointed out that R had not been drinking enough water and was not sweating even though it was hot, which means that it was also dehydrated, which worsened the situation. She and I worked together to support R walking through the finals 0.6 miles for camping so that we could get to bed and rest. Then we collect the data that the first responders would need (symptoms, allergies, medications, previous relevant history, the last oral intake and events, following the sample of acronym) and briefly discussed what we wanted to do. Finally, we decided that, although R was inflexible that it would be better the next morning, there was a very real possibility that it was the same or worse. Then, I press the SOS my zoleo button.
I pressed the button at 5 PM and coordinated with the search and rescue of Inyo County (SAR) over the next 6 hours. The rest of our small group had gathered at this time and we settled for an afternoon, making a small campfire (complying with the regulations of the California fire) and regularly reviewing R. It seemed evil but stable now that I was lying. SAR appeared around 11 with garbage with wheels that had risen since the beginning of the path. You have so far had been extremely resistant to any kind of help, insisting that it was fine, trying to reject help, and it was sure it would be fine in the morning, and we had made the call SOS behind him. When evaluating R, Sar agreed that he really needed to be taken from the mountain and fortunately they could convince him to accompany them. Not wanting to leave it alone, Airbender, Big Bill, Mission, and chose to walk with the SAR group and we left.
R wanted to go to himself, but after 3/4 he did not seem to continue, so he got into the trash and allowed the team to take him the rest of the road. And so we walk through the dark, spending midnight and until the morning of the morning. The path continued uphill for a moment, then had a descent quite steep at the camp and the path underneath.
The SAR team was first and it was very impressive to see them work. Two members would handle the garbage, carried and changed it every 10 minutes to avoid fatigue, and a third member worked as an observer and leader, providing a third set of eyes and calling instructions to help the roots of the trees, large rocks, rough terrain and other obstructions. He reminded me of the elevation operations he had executed while working at the Aerospace. All this was also done in the dark, illuminated only by the light of our front headlights, but they were professionals and handled it incredibly.
They were more than 2 in the morning when we finally arrived at SAR vehicles at the beginning of the path. The plan was to take R to Pine lonely to relieve its altitude wing symptoms and, hopefully, allow water intake again. Mission, Airbender and Big Bill could also find a trip, but only 3 seats were available, so I offered to stay behind and spend the night in the camp. I wanted to maintain my altitude acclimatization anyway so that the next MT Whitney was not a problem, so it made more sense. I said goodbye, I walked the last half miles on tired legs to the camp, I prepared my tent and the sleeping configuration, and finally at 2:30 AM crashed stronger than ever before.
Day 62: The consequences
It is quite difficult to walk so many miles, sleeping inappropriate makes everything exponentially more difficult. I woke up at 7 am feeling quite terrible but not too surprised. Fortunately, I was able to make friends with a neighboring caravan, a man named Brett of San Francisco, and I walked with him to the city well below. I had breakfast with Airbender and Big Bill and learned that R’s breathing had returned to normal when they descended and immediately began to feel better. I was sleeping in the hotel room they had received and seemed improved, although the complete recovery would take a few days.
The clothes and a shower arrived later, after which I took a huge and very necessary nap. I joined Marco and Airbender in a good shocking Chinese restaurant and ate our filling, although the room remained to get McFlurrys a little later.
The author after awakening from the deepest nap known to humanity.
The rest of the night was relaxing. I made a blog a little, mission and VI Airbender and Big Bill spent too much time trying to calculate how much food they needed for the next section, and in general I went out with what I suddenly realized was my family of trails. However, I was about to lose them; The three were about to leave the path for a week, Airbender and Big Bill went to a wedding and mission returning home to Oregon during the same time to let me continue alone. Oh.
The sunsets here are really beautiful. They have been difficult to properly appreciate both in trees.
I also didn’t tell this as a zero. Technically he had walked for the day (from midnight to 2 am) and simply did not feel calm enough to qualify.
Special thanks to the Search and Rescue team of Inyo County. They were friendly, professionals, coordinated and, above all, effective, willing to leave in the small hours of the morning to make sure that someone in trouble was safe. The fact that all are volunteers makes it even more impressive. I can’t praise them enough. They made a Facebook post about it that I have linked here for whatever is curious.
Path Statistics:
Cathols: 18
It stops to filter water: 66
Results: 10
Hitches: 12
Ceros: 11
Crys on the path: 7
Ampoules: 8
Gear repairs: 10
Miles jumped: 212.3
