Kennedy Meadows, mile 702.2, the start of the Sierra's!

Wowza, so much has happened since our last post!  Some good, some not so good.  We were unable to post anything while in Tehachapi, about 140 miles ago, because we were in town over Memorial Day weekend, so the library was closed.  However, we met some lovely ladies in the most amazing German bakery who let us use their Smartphone (first time ever using one & I found it a bit confusing) to check our email at least, although we weren't able to post to the blog or respond to any emails.  So, we got all your messages, just weren't able to tell you so.  But thanks.  :)

Things are good...now.  The desert is now (pretty much) officially over & we couldn't be happier because it was really really really difficult/daunting/tiring/exhausting/hot.  We spent a lovely afternoon at Hikertown & loved hearing stories of how it came about & enjoyed being fed vegetarian foods, although we were kind of in low spirits at the time.  The two days before we arrived in Tehachapi we were both feeling pretty down & I got to a point where I was ready to get off trail.  I hated feeling that way & I found it so frustrating because we NEVER felt that way while hiking the AT.  A few days spent in Tehachapi (eating, drinking, resting in a crappy motel, watching the new Star Trek movie, & eating giant tubs of popcorn & soda) helped.  I found that at the end of those two days, I was still very much looking forward to what was next on the trail.  Only 140-ish miles until the end of the desert (which is where we are now!) kept my hopes of happy hiking alive.  Turns out that the next stretch of trail would be much more of an adventure that I imagined...

It was SO windy when we left Tehachapi & we were hiking right through giant wind farms so one could expect high winds but it was quite obviously windier than normal, even for a wind farm in the desert.  We cut that day short in hopes of less wind the following day...but unfortunately, it just got windier.  And then the very moist clouds rolled in.  We were grateful it was cooler but eventually it got so windy that we could barely stand upright on the trail & even though it wasn't actually raining, we were getting very wet.  We were being blown all over the place & I eventually got knocked over.  I am not one to swear but swearwords were all that were coming out of my mouth during that section of the trail...but the wind was so loud, Unicroc couldn't make out what I was saying.  Eventually, we ducked behind some shrubbery with some other hikers & tried waiting it out but realized we were getting cold just waiting for it to pass through.  So we continued on & not even 30 minutes later we hiked out of the clouds & into beauty all around us & eventually the wind died down as well.  The following day, we hiked back into clouds but this time there weren't high winds & we had the most pleasantly cool & lovely hike through pine woods & we saw our first 2 white-tailed deer of the trip (although we'd been seeing scat & tracks all over the place), which made us very happy.  The sun eventually came out & it turned out to be one of our favorite days of hiking yet.  We thought we were done with the desert at this point but we were trying not to get our hopes up too high...& good thing we didn't.  Because we went right back into it, hardcore.  For an entire day, we were hiking through the most intense & sandy desert yet (absolutely zero shade at mid-day, with the exception of a few Joshua trees).  It was SO hot but keeping a lookout for desert tortoises helped us keep our minds busy (didn't see any).  Thankfully, at the end of that day, we climbed back up into higher elevation so we were able to camp under a canopy of pine trees/shrubbery.  But we had just entered into a 31-mile stretch of trail with ZERO reliable water.  So we had packed ourselves full yet were still concerned about making it all the way to next water source & keeping ourselves happily hydrated.  We were going to be crossing through Walker Pass, though, which is a road that could take us (if we could get a hitch) 37 miles into the nearest town, so after walking through the heat of that day, we decided that would be our goal.  So we aimed & went for it & I was literally brought to tears when we arrived down at the pass & saw that there were people set up with tents & a sign that said "TRAIL MAGIC - THIS WAY!"  They applaud whenever hikers arrive & so as they were applauding our arrival, we were still trying to wrap our brains around what was happening because we were just in such desperation (so hungry & so thirsty for something COLD) & all of a sudden, there was the most amazing oasis right in front of our very eyes.  Meadow Ed, Yogi, Jackrabbit & her 5 3/4-year old son Bearbait, Weathercarrot & other volunteers were there along with many many hikers, most of which we knew, & as we walked up they delivered us an ice cream sandwich.  And then there were endless cold drinks, & then there was fresh fruit, & then there was chips & hummus, & then there were Tofurkey brats (which were supposed to be saved for the following night but Jackrabbit was kind enough to make some especially for us) & then there was a spaghetti dinner with salad & bread & then there was cake & the list goes on & on.  Needless to say, we decided to stay for the night.  We even squeezed in a few games of Euchre with Red & Dufresne, Mud & Dingo & then Cuddles & Legend.  It was so lovely & these people were so good to us.  We woke up the next morning late (surprise, surprise), yet Yogi was kind enough to still make us some pancakes & we were finished by 8am & had plans to hike out but as soon as we stepped out into the sun, we realized it was HOT...too hot to hike on exposed trail, we thought (although so many other people hiked out just an hour earlier), so we decided to hang out for a while longer.  Unfortunately, the mood of this day quickly turned around when Meadow Ed, the trail angel in charge of this whole operation, experienced a medical emergency around 11am & we were all quite concerned for his well-being.  He was eventually taken away by paramedics & taken to the nearest hospital.  The rest of us were hanging around the rest of the day, wishing the best for him & waiting for news on how he was doing.  I spent a majority of the day tracking lizards & animal scat with Bearbait, which kept us both distracted through the whole ordeal.  Unicroc & I  were so easily coaxed into staying for dinner & just before it Jackrabbit informed us that Meadow Ed would be returning just after dinner & that it also was his birthday & that we would be singing Happy Birthday & eating cake in celebration!  Such great news & it was such a great ending to what was just such a stressful day!  We applauded his arrival (many new hikers had arrived by this time) & he came back & gave a speech on his many years of doing trail magic through this stretch of the trail & then we had such a great time celebrating him on his birthday.  We decided to hike out shortly after, since it was finally cooling down & as we left, I again had tears in my eyes because these people truly felt like our family & this place felt the closest to "home" we've felt since we started this adventure.  Much love to them.

We hiked only a few miles that evening & hiked into the dark & we saw our first scorpion!  So wild.  We decided to cowboy camp (sleep in our bags on top of our pads, without a tent) for the first time ever that night & we had a lovely night's sleep & it made for a quick set-up that night & take-down the next morning.  The following day, we saw our first bear!  A young bear (we were instantly on alert for mother...but the bear must've been old enough to be without mother) who was unafraid of us yet completely non-aggressive.  Dusty was collecting water at a spring when he looked over & the bear was just standing there in the trail, about 10 feet away, just watching him, which is when Dusty said quite calmly to us as we were reading, "There's a bear just to my right!"  We all stood up & attempted to scare him away, throwing rocks, yelling & banging our poles together & eventually Dusty chased it down the trail with his poles in hand.  But the bear just turned right back around & clearly was intent on getting where he was wanting to go.  We realized we were standing at some of the only water around so we decided to gather our things & back away, down the trail to see if that's what he was after.  That seemed to work...he eventually walked through, possibly took a drink of water & then climbed up the hill & then eventually climbed a tree & sprawled out & that's where he stayed...we decided to leave to give him his space.  We were on a huge high after this experience.  Later that day, we got rattled at again by a rattlesnake in a bush.  These are the experiences that make me never want to leave...

We also came to our first real "river" crossing, the south fork of the Kern River.  We went for a swim & decided to camp next to it instead of hiking into town right away & we arrived in Kennedy Meadows early yesterday morning.  It's not quite a "town" but rather just an awesomely hiker-friendly general store & Tom's place - a trail angel who has computers for our use & the most adorable outdoor theater ever - where we all watched "Cowboys & Aliens" last night & we've never had so much fun watching a sucky movie.  We received our boxes, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU & are getting ready to pack up & head out later today, after Unicroc orders & eats a triple-decker veggie burger from the grill at the general store.

We're ecstatic to be entering the high Sierra's (& water & trees) & are greatly looking forward to summitting Mt. Whitney - the highest point in the lower 48 later this week!!!

Until next time...much love to y'all!!