Day 39 to 43: The Last of the Desert

June 13-17
Day 39 to 43
Mile 643.8 to 702
Below Skinner Mountain to Kennedy Meadows
Day 39-Water
Today we slept in a little bit later than we wanted. Normally that is fine but we needed to get up early and hike while it was cool because we were getting low on water. We were unsure if the cache 6 miles ahead would have water. If it did not then we would have about 20 miles until the next water. We hiked through the morning with a deep sense of hope & and foreboding in our minds. The cache had been filled just a little before we arrived by Mary. We were so grateful. Kindergarten Cop was there earlier in the morning before the cache was filled and was able to gather some water together. He left a liter for us but we really are hoping he got enough water. He is such an awesome guy and we couldn't believe he saved water for us when there was so little.




We passed 1000 km today!




After a few hours of hiking from the cache we decided to take a nice long lunch. Burritos! I think that is my favorite trail meal.
Hiked on a few hours to get water at McIvers Spring.




There was water dripping out of a pipe at a rate of about 1 Liter per 5 minutes. There was also a strong smell of feces and toilet paper everywhere. Needless to say we did not get any water. Luckily we had enough to get us the seven miles to Walker Pass. On the way to our campsite walking from the terrible water source my foot got caught on a branch. Needless to say I fell on the ground flat on my face hitting my knee on a rock. After cursing the said branch I made sure my knee was okay and laughed off the whole series of events. Great day!
Day 40-Hiker Magic Vortex
Today was fun! We woke up expecting to hike 7 miles to Walker Pass and then do an additional 15 miles or so... Boy were we wrong. We packed up camp which in bear country means we have to un-bury our food. The seven miles from camp were very quick. When we got to Walker Pass Campground all we needed was water from the cistern before we moved on. Walking down to the cistern we were greeted by Okie Girl at a camp spot. She has been doing trail magic there for two weeks!




We chatted with her and had some soda an bagels with cream cheese. We accidentally ended up staying there all day. We got some reading done and ate chips, sandwiches, cheese dip, soda, bagels, cookies, and muffins. It was a great day and we met up with some old and new friends. Kindergarten Cop, Mark, Kyros, Shaggs, Storytime, Birdie, Freestyle, Charlie, Hannah, Robo-knee, Sea Hag, and Karen were all at the camp at some point during the day.




Okie Girl also made us a delicious dinner of spaghetti and I got to help make the salad. While we were eating a guy pulled up and informed us some cops were on bikes on the trail looking for a body. Everyone was kinda freaked out and later we saw a police helicopter flying around. We would find out later that the police were looking for a backpack that had been torn apart by a bear. It's funny how stories snowball on the trail.
Day 41- Big Miles
From our stopping place at walker pass the distance to Kennedy Meadows is about 51 miles. We decided we would try to get up at 2 am to try and do a fast 30 mile day in order to get to Kennedy Meadows faster. Well we didn't get up at 2. Or 3 or 4. We ended up waking around 5 and hiking shortly before 6 am. We got in some good miles while it was still cool.




At our water source near mile 668 we met up with Mark, Voodoo, and Twinkletoes again. We hiked on through the day and got to one of our last water sources before Kennedy Meadows (Mile ~680). There was a cache of beer and soda sitting in the water. It was pretty funny. We made up camp a way from the water and ended our first 30 mile day.








Day 42- The End of the Desert
Today was the last day of southern California. We woke up knowing we had 21 miles to hike to the Kennedy Meadows grocery store that closed by 5 pm. We did the miles pretty quick. There was a burnt section of forest in the area.




We are really sick of burn sections and they feel like they take forever to hike through. We got to our first real river!




We got some water then each got in the water and cleaned off. It had been a very dirty week. We hit the 700 mile mark right before Kennedy Meadows.




While hiking along through some cattle gate we got rattled at by a big rattle snake. It was the biggest one we have seen which is ironic since it was only a mile to Kennedy meadows and the start of the Sierra. We got in to town and said hello to some people and then got our boxes from the store and some food. We chatted with some new people (freestyle, Hanna, Charlie, mark, Tripod). They got on trail and we got camp set up. Went to bed nice and early after a long day.




Day 43-Kennedy Meadows
It is funny how sleeping till 7:00 am on the trail is sleeping in. We got up and went and ate a delicious Sunday breakfast at the Kennedy Meadows general store with kindergarten Cop. There was pancakes,eggs, sausage, bacon, orange juice, and more than enough coffee. We sat around and chatted with fellow hikers and drank coffee for much of the morning.




We caught up with our good friend Tusc ( short for Tuscan Raider) and his friend James. Our friends Gumbi, Bacon Bit, and Kindergarten Cop were leaving so as is custom bacon bit and gumbi had to have pictures of them doing handstands. Jenna got in on this and the three of them did handstands in front of the Kennedy Meadows general store.




Jenna was very happy to see other gymnasts on the trail. Originally we planned to hike out this day and not take a zero. Early in the day we changed our minds opting for a zero. It was much needed and was nice to celebrate the end of southern California. We got our bear boxes ready to go for the next day. In the Sierras it is mandatory to have a bear canister or to use bear boxes. Since bear boxes are often spaced 20-45 miles apart almost everyone is forced to carry a heavy bear canister. We both got new socks and I got new shoes, they were badly needed.




We relaxed the rest of the day grabbing snacks, food, and hamburgers as needed. At dusk, Tom plays a movie outside on a projector. His house is near the store and many people relax and sleep here as well as the store. The movie was Irobot so we sat in the mountains that night eating popcorn and watching a movie. Southern California Ends and the mighty Sierras begin.
-Nate (Jungle Cookie)

Goodbye Southern California...Hello Sierra!

We made it to Kennedy Meadows.  This is probably the most anticipated place on the trail.  It is officially the end of the Southern California section and the beginning of the Central California section.  There are probably around 40-50 hikers here and we are all excited to start the Sierra portion of the trail.  The Sierra are more remote and we are so excited to be away from roads and cities for an extended period of time.  However, this also means that there is limited cell service and internet so we will probably not be able to post anything for a few weeks, with the possible exception of posting in Independence in a week.  We are still writing the blogs though so we will post them as soon as we can and try to keep everyone as updated as possible.

Thanks for all the followers and support!

-Jenna
-Be Free

Days 36-38

Days 36 -38
Mile 566 - 624
Hwy 58/tehachapi - Below skinner peak
Day 36 - eat all the food!
We woke up feeling refreshed after our zero day. After another delicious breakfast provided by dan we hit the trail by 7:30. It was a beautiful day with great weather. I kept my pants on and Nate even had a long sleeve shirt on. It was a little windy but we were so lucky to not have stability hindering wind like we did coming in to highway 58. We started in Joshua trees and cacti similar to what we saw in the mojave then began a climb that ended in juniper trees and great views of mountains to the north (Sierra!).















We always seem to really enjoy the uphill climbing days and this was no exception. However, our packs were so heavy, 1) because we had to carry 17 miles of water for a waterless stretch and 2) because this is the most food we have carried yet (7 days). We stopped after 3 miles just so we could eat in the hopes of reducing some weight. We met bouncer there for the first time. We tried to eat a lot all day by taking a lot of breaks but eventually couldn't eat anymore. We reached the first water source of 17 miles at about 5:00 and cooked dinner. We met story time and shaggs there. We walked on for maybe another half mile before finding a spot right behind some windmills.





Day 37 - bear country
This morning was so pretty. When we got up we didn't even want to leave camp right away. We just sat around. It was calm, sunny, clear, and peaceful. The morning hike was also very peaceful and quiet in juniper trees and it stayed fairly cool. Eventually we climbed up into a more forested section with pine and oak trees.





We got amazing views again and we kept guessing what we would see around each turn: Sierra mountains or another hill.





We needed to hike18 miles for water and made it there by 4. We filtered enough water to get us through another 22 mile dry section and ate dinner there. We walked a few more miles where we set up camp. There have been bear sightings here so we buried all of our food in odor proof bags.
Day 38 - Desert, welcome back
It was another cold beautiful morning. It started with a steep climb up to a meadow.





We know we are getting close to the Sierra because all of our climbs are becoming steeper. We can see them everyday in the distance and we are getting excited! today was a day full of wildlife encounters. We saw a couple deer, a rattlesnake, squirrels and chipmunks, and a lizard that seemed to want to pose for the camera.





After the walk through the meadow we dropped back into the desert.





It just looks hot. Thankfully there was water at a cache 14 miles from yesterday's water. While we were there we met kindergarten cop who we have been following on the registers since the beginning. He is a retired LA cop who now teaches kindergarten and is a forest ranger and he was really fun to talk to. From the cache the next reliable source was 30 miles away! There was a possible cache 20 miles away but we don't like to rely on them so we carried 14.5 liters combined away from the cache. It's a good thing we did because it was really hot, uphill, and exposed for the next 8 miles before we found a campsite and we drank 5 liters in those 8 miles and we were worm out afterwords.





We love our campsite again. It is under some wind blown Joshua trees. Just as we got here kindergarten cop left and said he was going to try to make it the 6 miles to the cache that he was relying on.





This section has been so diverse but so trying at times. Because the terrain is so different, there are also more trials to deal with. There has been wind, heat, little water, bears, steeper climbs, heavy packs, and ,as I found out yesterday, pokey plants. We have to say that so far section F has been the most physically difficult. We know many people have also had problems here but we find that even in stressful situations it is hard to be anything but happy out here.
One more note on trail names since some have asked. Out here most people get trail names. It's basically just an easier way to remember each other. Sometimes people complete an entire hike never giving away their real names. Some see it as a symbol of who you are on the trail. I'm not so hot on trail names yet because I don't feel like I'm a different person out here, I'm still just Jenna. However, if I say my name is Jenna, everyone asks for my trail name and then they remember me only by that name. So for the time being I am happy with totem. I got this name because I carry a few things with me that are important to me that I call totems and paint your wagon and tombstone started calling me that right out of idyllwild.
We miss and love everyone. Tomorrows plan: walk.
-jenna (totem)
-Be Free

Day 29 - 35

Day 29 - 35
June 3 - 9
Mile 454.4 to 566
The Saufley's to Highway 58
Day 29 - Totem & Jungle Cookie
We have our trail names! Jenna is totem and I am Jungle Cookie. Jenna got her name from Paint Your Wagon back near Idyllwild and has finally adopted it. I got mine at the Saufleys while hanging out with Tusc and Alex(Dudeman). I was eating jungle animal cookies, hence the name.




We left the Saufley's Hiker Heaven today. Instead of getting right on trail we went to breakfast at Sweetwater Cafe with Shutterbug and Mr. Clean.




It was a very delicious breakfast and it was nice to eat with some fellow hikers. Mr. Clean was finishing section D of the trail that he was unable to complete in 2009 due to an injury. He is hoping to hop over to the CDT and southbound hike that for the rest of the year. We hiked most of the day till we got to the hiker Oasis Cache provided by the Andersons.




While we were drinking our sodas and setting up camp we noticed Jenna had a rash on her legs. We were unsure of what it was but deduced that it was either poison oak or a reaction to a bug bite. A little Benedryl cleared it right up so it was not anything too serious.
Day 30 - Casa De Luna
We started hiking from hiker oasis today and did the six miles to a road that led us to the Andersons Casa De Luna. As we were walking to the Andersons a man offered us a ride while walking past his house. He said we looked lost and we were. By time we got a ride it was 1 pm so we decided to take the rest of the day off at the Andersons house. There we met Trip, Crash, Griffin, The Indiana Boys (Matt & Phil), Hayden, Cubit, Platypus, Keichi, and Raisen.




We sat around most of the day chatting and relaxing. For dinner we ate an amazing and huge taco salad with beans, rice, lettuce, onions, salsa, chips, beef, sour cream, and Siracha. It was a very delicious and fun stay.




Day 31 - Mine Sweeper
Before leaving Casa De Luna we ate some delicious pancakes and coffee made by Joe. Terri Anderson gave us a ride up to the trail where we met Amber. We stayed with her at Frodo & Scout's residence for day 0. It is always nice to see an old face. We got a late start so we did not get too many miles in (~17 miles). While at the Red Carpet cache Jenna went to do some business in the forest. While attempting to find a spot she stepped in someone's imperfectly placed diarrhea fiasco that was covered with 5 leaves. She woke me up from my nap somewhat grumpy. During our walk today it was a nice cool day due to a cold front which was a nice change from the really hot weather.




Day 32 - hiker town
It was a pretty chilly morning so we did not get started till 8 in the morning. Our feet seemed to hurt a little bit more than normal today. We did not have much of a choice but to power through it in order to get to hiker town. The hike today involved a lot of hiking through bushes that were sharp. It was somewhat frustrating but we both found a way to make the best of it.




We are pretty good at always making the best of any situation. We walked through private property for the last few miles of the day and the trail was very winding in that section to avoid other private land.




After a long day we got to Hiker Town.




It was set up like a real town with little shops and houses all over with places where hikers can sleep. We got there and chatted with Trip, The Indiana Boys, Keichi, and a few others for dinner. Dinner was some delicious potatoes, steak, cauliflower, watermelon, mountain dew/cream soda, and ice cream. The PCT is forced to come towards the mojave Desert through the aquaduct because of private property. This has changed and the PCT will now take the originally planned course through the Tehachapi Mountains. A new Hiker town is already being prepared by the owner of the current hiker town (Richard). The lounge where PCT hikers hang out is actually the garage where his Rols Royce and two Ferrari's were housed.




They moved the cars out of the garage so hikers would have a place to get out of the weather. It was truly an amazing stop. We got to sleep in an awesome motor home from the 70s.
Day 33 Been through the Desert
Today was the infamous aqueduct walk.




We got up early and started hiking in order to get through the Mojave Desert as quickly as possible. We walked with Spider Legs for awhile. He was actually the first hiker we have actually walked with up to this point.Later in the day we hiked with Trip from New Zealand. It was a fun day but it was a bit of a dull walk. Near the end of the day we hiked through a wind farm. It was very windy and that made it hard to walk very fast. We ended the night at a little creek with Trip. We decided to camp but Trip kept going a few more miles. Ended today with some nice hot dinner and a smile on our faces.
Day 34 - Tehachapi pass
It got hot really early today. We woke up and started a long trek up some steep hills. A few hours in to the day we hit an unexpected water cache. It was really great because it was very hot and we were going though water faster than we anticipated. While sitting at the cache Matt caught up with us. We stayed and chatted with him for awhile till Phil caught up. We continued to hike on into the Alta Wind Energy Center. This is the second largest onshore wind farm in the world.








It was very windy.The wind made the 24 mile day feel closer to 28 miles.




We made it through the wind unscathed to highway 58. Near here we met Gumbi, Bacon Bit, and Natty. As we were hiking across the highway 58 overpass Dan pulled up dropping off two hikers he had met in town earlier that day. It was awesome timing because him and his wife Christy (Rockin) was who we had arranged to stay with while in Tehachapi. On the drive back to their house in Tehachapi we ate some chips and fruit. We unfortunately missed Christy as she had begun hiking again on the PCT the previous day. It was an amazing night. We ate some delicious chicken, salad, bread, and cake. I fell asleep the second I sat on the bed. Great day!
Day 35 - Zero day number three!
We slept in till 7 am today! That is the latest we have woken up while in a town.It is very nice to have a lazy day once and awhile. We got our laundry done and Dan made us an amazing breakfast. There were hash browns, egg omelet with pepper, lots of coffee, orange juice, and salsa. We worked on getting our packs straightened out and went in to town to do some shopping and eat some lunch.We ate at sonic for a shake then went to the Kohen's Bakery for some delicious sandwhiches and cookies (and more coffee). After a few hours in town and a post office stop we went back to the house and worked on getting our packs ready to head off to Kennedy Meadows. While working on the blog we watched "Wizards of the PCT". For dinner we ate another amazing meal! Dan is an awesome cook. We had home made pizza and salad. During dinner we watched The PCT 2011 video. Great night and the best zero yet!
- I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn
what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau

Days 24-28

May 29-June 2 days 24-28
Miles 372.5-454.5
near wrightwood-agua dulce/hiker heaven
Let me begin this entry by saying that section D (cajon pass to agua dulce) is full of detours, and there is not really one correct way to get from one spot to another. In reality, only 2 sections needed to be rerouted. One is for the mountain yellow legged frog on the endangered species list and the other is for the station fire. In 2009, there was an arson caused fire in the San Gabriels that destroyed land on the pct. As a result poodle dog bush is everywhere and the forest service is still in the process of cleaning up. Some places have no official detours though and each hiker must decide which routes to take. There is the "old" endangered species detour, the "official" endangered species detour, the 2010 station fire detour, 2 unofficial poodle dog bush detours, the high desert alternate, and the mandatory station fire detour to name a few. Everyone hiking through this area has had to choose a series of required detours and self made detours around poodle dog bush. For this reason, we're not really sure how much we actually walked but we approximate it to be about as much as the pct miles we covered (~112).
Day 24- Eeyore
We slept in on Tuesday thinking that we would hike mt. Baden powell and take the dangerous "old" endangered species detour that is a busy road walk. On the way out we saw cowboy passing by. He informed us of the high desert alternate route which connects to the "official" endangered species detour. If this route is taken it is approximately the same distance as the Baden Powell/ old endangered species detour BUT it has no dangerous road walk. We decided that summiting mt. Baden-Powell just to see L.A. smog was not worth it and took the alternate route. We mozied through the day and had to stop many times for different things so we had a short day. We realized that there was a ~30 mile section coming up that was covered in poodle dog bush. It was advised that we detour around it, but there was no detour set up. When we finally found some phone service, we looked through some maps and journals to see what others were doing. We decided on a series of forest service roads that would take us from mile 413-436. The rest we would just try our best to avoid the plant. When we finally finished making up our own detour, it was 5 so we just decided to set up camp after only 10.5 miles and plan on a 25 mile day the next day. Our camp spot was beautiful and even though it was a short day, we enjoyed it.










Day 25- 28 miles later
We woke in the middle of the night to a loud, close shriek. We had, and still have, no idea what animal it was but it scared us both. We woke again to an awesome sunrise courtesy of L.A. Smog. The picture does it no justice, although no pictures do.





This was such a fun day of hiking. We hiked 25 miles and realized that we felt great. We were so happy all day and laughed a ton.










We saw a California king snake and I even got Nate to say it was cool. Right before sulfur springs the trail split into separate horse and hiker trail, so we took the hiker trail. When we didn't see water for a while we checked the maps. It turned out we had passed the stream, but we never even saw it. We backtracked on the horse trail until we finally found it. Apparently the water and campground is only reachable through the horse route. Furthermore, the creek was dry! So after hiking 25 miles plus about 1.5 miles backtracking, Nate ran back up the trail a half a mile to get us both gross stagnant water for the next day bringing his total mileage for the day to about 28 miles while I set up camp. We wanted to get up early so we went to bed without eating. This was our biggest mileage day yet.
Day 26- Detour through devastation
There were only 48 miles to agua dulce so we wanted to cut the distance into two days and do a 24 mile day. We woke up late though and didn't get started till 8 so we did not think we would feel like doing 24 miles. Right from the start of the day there was poodle dog bush on the trail. I took a video of the "poodle dog bush ballet" that is needed to avoid it but I accidentally deleted it ( along with about 10 other videos) in agua dulce.





It was annoying to avoid but we were careful. 6 miles in we started the road walk detour we had planned. The entire station fire burn area was really sad looking and deserted. Only pct hikers and rangers are allowed in it right now.










Even though we were on ranger roads, we still had to watch out for poodle dog bush because it was everywhere and would randomly spring up on us. Our thoughts on this are well represented by this picture.





We passed an old deserted fire station that was burned down in the fire. It felt like a zombie was going to pop out at any time.










We ended up feeling great again and easily finishing up 24 miles to messenger flat campground. The bugs were really bad for the first time and we were not too happy about that!





Day 27- heat, hunger, and heaven
We planned to meet my parents friend, patty, at the KOA in Acton for lunch so we got going early. We walked the last 6 miles of the road walk quickly to a water cache set up at the ranger station. The next 4 or 5 miles had poodle dog bush, but we think we dodged it all again, although it was very time consuming. We could feel the heat early on in the day and this turned out being our hottest day yet.





We got a really cool view of what we believe are coastal range mountains in the distance.





The trail right before the Acton was frustrating because it would drop you down near the road just to bring you back up the canyon and back around some hills. We stumbled into the KOA about 15 minutes after patty arrived. She said the temperature was 95, feels like 105. The lunch she brought couldn't have come at a better time. Fruit, wraps, water, lemonade, and oatmeal raisin cookies! She also brought wet paper towels which was great! It was all so delicious and was perfect to have for the hot, frustrating day we were having. We stayed there for 4 hours During the heat of the day and took much needed naps.





We debated staying there but decided we wanted to push on 10 more miles to agua dulce where the saufleys were. They are a family that hosts 99.9% of hikers every year and it is a milestone of the trail to make it there. The evening hike was cooler and fun and we passed vasquez rocks where star trek and other movies have been filmed.





We rolled into the saufleys (hiker heaven) at 9:30, found a cot, showered, and went right to bed.
Day 28- zero in hiker heaven
Today was a great zero. We got to sleep in (6:30), went out for pizza, did laundry, sent out mail, went grocery shopping, read, napped, cleaned out some large tents, and met other hikers.















In the two days that were there we're probably 30 hikers. Some are sparrow and barracuda (7 years old), twinkle toes, voodoo, Micael, keichii, raisins, cubit, mr. Clean, John, shutterbug, hayden, spins, baboon, style, listener and spider legs ( both in their 70's), uberbitch and Ron (trail angels). We were even able to talk to and catch up with Alex and tusc all night. They were part of the bum camp at cajon pass.





It was a very relaxing and fun zero day.
Having been on the trail for almost a month now we have started to notice a few things.
1) When you shower less, you don't need conditioner anymore. Our skin and hair is so soft it's unreal.
2) it's interesting how attached you become to every place you sleep. While you are walking a trail is a trail , but as soon as you decide to set up camp it becomes your home. That spot over there is where we cook, we sleep over there, and we brush teeth over there. But it's more than that, when you have no permanent place to call home, each temporary spot brings a certain attachment as a place to call home for the day.
3) ants are really amazing creatures. They carry pieces of flowers, food, and leaves that are many times their size. Their ant hills are really amazing pieces of art and their strength in numbers is unmatched.
4) it's amazing how fast we are becoming part of a big hiker family. Even if people have never met you before they welcome you and everyone is so friendly.
5) When we told people we were going on this journey, many seemed most scared of us camping "in the middle of nowhere" with only wild animals around and not being close to civilization if something were to happen. In reality, camping in the middle of nowhere is really the safest and the few nights we have actually been worried are when we were too close to civilization. Sometimes finding a spot far enough away from a road or houses was impossible and those nights left us the most uneasy.
-Jenna
-Be Free