It was cold this morning when I awoke, 33 degrees! At 7am there were many PCT hikers in camp working on breakfast. After breakfast Intruder, Mountain Goat and I got a ride up to the general store, which opened at 9am. We threw our clothes in the single washing machine ($2.00 to wash, drying was on the clothesline behind the store). Then I hit the outdoor shower which costs another $2.00, very worth it as the water was hot and soap, shampoo and towel were provided. I washed my feet and legs and armpits three or four times and yet, I swear, I still smelled like thru-hiker!
No sooner had Intruder and I finished our showers when “H” and his girlfriend, Sarah, showed up at the general store to take us and Freight Train to the town of Ridgecrest, CA for groceries and a visit to the outfitter. We quickly hung our clothes on the line to dry and hopped in the car. It was a 45 minute drive to Ridgecrest, home of China Lake military base (down in the desert). Sarah made a wrong turn at an intersection entering town and we immediately arrived at the guard station at the entrance to the base. We simply wanted to make a U-turn, but weren’t allowed. Instead, the guards had us sit in the car for 15 minutes while they confiscated all 5 drivers’ licenses and ran checks on all of us. Finally they let us go and we hit town, shopping for 12 days food at the grocery store, going to two outfitter type stores and a shoe store and the dairy barn.
It was 4pm when we got back to Kennedy Meadows general store. I retrieved my dry clothes from the line, as well as boxes mailed to me to the store, dropped them in Sarah and H’s car, said hello to Happy, Badmoon, Phantom, and Whoop Ass, who had just arrived from Bakersfield via a rented car (they are 50 miles back at Walker Pass), then I hurriedly ran the .7 mile to the trail and walked/jogged the trail to Kennedy Meadows campground (slackpacking).
I got to the campground just after 6pm, in time to join a large, lively crowd of thru-hikers for the evening meal, consisting of fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, regular tossed salad, and beverages. After dinner I caught up with Nitro and Doodlebug, Heinz, Bono and Nightingale, Squirrel, Opto, Badmoon, Happy, Phantom,Whoop Ass, Nabor J, Chowda, and dozens of others before returning to my tarptent to organize food and gear for tomorrow morning’s departure from Kennedy Meadows, into the high Sierras.
That’s right! I am going to try to hike straight through with Batteries, Pepper Jack, and Bloody Knuckles, who hiked the Sierras in 2003 on their earlier thru-hike, along with Freight Train and Intruder. It was a crazy day of pushing to get chores done to get ready and exciting to see my trail buddies who are all 50 miles back. Nitro ended up in the hospital for a few hours on IV’s for dehydration, due to the stomach flu or food poisoning.
Weather: sunny; low 28, high 72.