Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Clear and
56 going up to 75.
Up at 7:15. If the scale here is accurate, and I think it is close, then I am down to 198 lbs. That’s about 22 lbs so far.
Gathered up my laundry and battery packs to be charged and wandered down to the main building. They open at 8:00 for breakfast. As expected, there is a huge line at the bathrooms and to get food. I plugged in my batteries to charge and worked on blogs while waiting for the food lines to go down. This place is famous for their hubcap-sized pancakes.
Like I said yesterday, it is very emotional getting to Kennedy Meadows South (KMS). We have been struggling through the desert for 47 days with KMS as this magical destination on the horizon. We have made friends and trauma-bonded through the desert. We have seen people leave the trail for various reasons and we have seen at least three helicopter rescues from the trail. It’s amazing that the vast majority of our roughly dozen-person bubble is still together after all this time.
Tomorrow we venture into the High Sierras. I’d say about half the hikers are doing a short 4-day section and exiting at Cottonwood Pass and hitching into Lone Pine, CA. The other half, us included, are attempting a 6-7 day section, exiting at Kearsarge Pass and hitching into Bishop, CA. This longer hike includes a one-day overnight side quest to summit Mount Whitney at 14,481 feet.
We will have to cross over several high mountain passes between now and Bishop. Snow should not be a big issue this year, but the numerous swift water crossings due to snow melt are still an issue. Some people are very nervous about those.
I’m nervous about the remoteness of these next few sections. Once you get into the first section, there are only two exits. One is Cottonwood Pass, which takes you over half a day to get down to a road to attempt a hitch. And the other is Kearsarge Pass, which takes more than a day to get from the trail to a road. I’m also a little nervous about Mount Whitney and that elevation. At least we get to leave our tents and heavy gear at the base camp while we summit and then descend back to camp in one day.
After this section, we have the second section, which is just as remote, maybe more so, and has a big mountain pass to conquer every day. The trick with these high passes is that you can’t safely hike after about 1:00 in the afternoon because the snow is too soft. You have to plan where to stop and start each day with a bit of forethought. Basically, the next three weeks are going to be very challenging.
I’m not looking forward to carrying the bear can nor 6+ days of food plus an ice axe plus micro spikes. At least I won’t have to carry more than 2 liters of water until I get to Northern California. And I have brand-new shoes!
I got my Bear can packed and my backpack packed. Not all 7 days of food fit in the Bear can. I’m not surprised. I also got rid of one smart water bottle which frees up a lot of room in one side pocket. I am totally rearranging how my pack is organized in order to get the can to fit vertically in the pack. I had to move my quilt to the outside of my pack on the bottom. I need to be very careful how/where I set my pack down going forward.
I got my new trekking pole tips installed and washed my laundry. There are about 40 hikers here getting ready to go back to the trail today. Most people are doing a short hike out of here starting in the late afternoon.
I took the 2:00 shuttle back to the general store. We are camping there tonight, so we won’t need a shuttle in the morning. We can just walk .75 miles to the trail. This also lets me practice unpacking, setting up camp, and repacking using my new backpack setup. I’m sure I’ll need to tweak that setup.
Here is what an outdoor shower looks like.
And here is what my house currently looks like.
The weather forecast looks awesome for the next week!
I have not talked much about hiker boxes. These are boxes where hikers leave their extra, unneeded, unwanted, or other miscellaneous stuff. This ranges from food to socks to tents to clothing to electronics to almost anything. This is common on most long-distance trails. Even most hotels/motels that cater to hikers have hiker boxes. This is one of the few times in life that it is socially acceptable to rummage through other people’s cast-away stuff. Brad and I were grazing on candy and cookies left at KMS for dessert today. Somebody even left a brand-new beard trimmer with all the attachments in the original packaging in the hiker box at KMS. It’s a different world out here.
In bed at 8:00. We plan to get breakfast here at 7:00 and hit the trail by 8:00 tomorrow morning. No cell service or WiFi for the next 7 days.
Technical Notes:
- Town food
- Water liters:
- Miles:
- Time:
- Up:
- Down:
- Calories consumed: lots
- Calories burned: very few
- iPhone battery used:
