Bears, Trail Gorillas, & Hard Knocks on Easy Street

It was a long and eventful walk to Kennedy Meadows.  Just before I left I was amazed to find that my Aunts had slipped a little extra spending money into my pants pockets when they did my laundry.  Thanks Kris and Karol, that was very nice surprise!

Only a few hours from Hwy 58 I ran into Alex, who'd shared a pizza with my Dad and I back in Agua Dulce, and his friend Dan, who came all the way out from Florida to thru-hike the PCT, and we all hiked together for the next few days.  After a long stretch without good water we stayed near a little spring-fed horse trough that was filled with green water and croaking frogs.  The last of the windmills were close by as well so I fell asleep listening to them spin away high above.

Early in the morning I was up and hiking by 6:00 AM and came across my first bear!  Here's a video:

That day I ran into a trail crew cutting some brush and trees from the trail and they invited me to have dinner with them at the next spring.  When Alex and Dan finally caught up with me I told them about the invitation and we excitedly rushed to the spring where the trail crew was camped.  Their crew name was the "Trail Gorillas" and they were a bunch of neat guys of varying ages who all volunteer their time and hard work to keep their section of the trail maintained.

The Gorillas served us tri-tip sandwiches, cold soda, and salad while we talked about hiking the trail and the hard work that goes into keeping it nice.  One of the guys was an optometrist from Bishop named Bill who is an optomestrist in the "real world" who rides on alone with his horses and chain saws to cut and remove downed trees from the trail.  He said that it was fitting work for him since he does laser eye-surgery during the week and then chain-saw tree surgery on his days off.

The next morning the trail crew served us pancakes for breakfast and after thanking them for their generous hospitality we headed North once again.  We soon found ourselves staring into the stark, inhospitable moonscape of the "real" desert.  For the first time since leaving Campo I finally got to hike in the desert I'd imagined I'd see hundreds of miles earlier in my trip.  We carried many pounds of water and fortunately there were places where Trail Angels had stocked water caches for the hikers but it was still impossible to hike through that country without considering how quickly it could kill the unprepared.

Alex and Dan slept in again the following morning so I pressed on alone.  At Hwy 178 I felt a powerful need for a cold soda and a sandwich so even though I didn't need to resupply and had plenty of daylight to get in some more miles I hitched down to a tiny little ranch and mining town called Onyx.

Once in town and my appetite satiated I had a heck of a time hitching a ride back.  The town looked to be down on it's luck and it certainly wasn't filled with wealthy out-door enthusiasts like Big Bear or Wrightwood  so I think many of the locals probably didn't see me as a PCT hiker but rather a homeless free-loader.  

I finally got picked up by a wild-eyed and highly energetic middle aged woman driving an enormous pick-up truck, wearing a two-piece swimming suit, and sporting a deep, weathered tan.  She drove with one hand, clutched a joint in the other, and talked manically about digging up the rose bushes which were in the back of the truck while through the dusty and cracked windshield I watched her keep a mere 3 inches off the car in front of us.  Her hands were roughed-up and bleeding from the rose bushes and I wondered if it was possible that a person who digs up rose bushes in the desert heat while wearing a bikini and no gloves might prefer something a little stronger then coffee to get her engine revved in the morning.

We only made it a few miles before she took me for a "quick" visit to her sister's house that lasted at least an hour and a half.  The sun sank lower in the desert sky as I sat on a pile of tires that had long since rolled their last mile and while holding a black chicken in my lap that had been inexplicably handed to me I considered the notion that I probably would've been better off if I'd stayed on the side of the road.  

We finally got under way but only made it a few more miles down the road when she made it clear that she didn't have enough gas to get further.  With a rough hand on my shoulder she told me that since it was getting dark anyway I was welcome to stay the night at her house.  I thanked her kindly for the ride but said that I really must be on my way.  

It was hard enough to get a ride in Onyx during the day but standing in the twilight at the intersection of Hwy 178 and Easy St.  I realized that anyone who picked me up after sun-down might be even crazier then my last ride.  Therefore I resigned myself to hobo camping in some bushed on the side of the Highway and was up with the dawn to try again.  Fortunately it didn't take long for a refreshingly sane BLM firefighter to stop and kindly give me a ride back up to the trail-head. 

In a couple more days I finally walked out of the barren desert and into the pinion pines and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.  Finally!  I'm very much looking forward to plentiful water from the Sierras through most of the country Northward.    

I met a hiker named Beaver Chief who wasn't technically a thru-hiker because he skipped the desert portion and jumped on the trail at Onyx but since he plans to hike from there all the way to Mt. Baker in Washington I'd call that close enough.  He is an interesting guy who thru-hiked most of the AT in 2010 and loves to cook.  

He has a dream of someday becoming a backpacking guide who carries all the food for the trip and provides his customers with a menu from which they can choose from a wide selection of fancy meals that he'll prepare and serve.  He said he could cook anything from biscuits to pizza to breaded and pan-fried fish.    He was carrying a pound of butter, a pound of flour and a wide variety of delicacies that he'd dehydrated himself.  It certainly sounded a lot better then my meager fare but then again, my pack is at least 25 pounds lighter then his. 

I made it to the tiny little community of Kennedy Meadows which is basically just a general store and some scattered houses.  The whole place is off the grid so everyone either runs off generators or solar or wind power, including the store.  

My Dad came and met me for the last time until I reach my home in far Northern California.  We had a great time and he really put in a lot of time, energy and expense to help make this trip a reality- thanks Dad!!!  

Northward into the mountains!  I'm going to be in some pretty remote country with longer gaps between resupply so I probably won't be able to update the blog for at least a couple of weeks.  I had some more great videos from this week (including a cool one of a rattle snake!) but unfortunately the internet is too spotty to upload them all right now so maybe next time?  Wish me luck!!