Trail Miles: 22.2 Miles Walked: 22.2 Awoke to a beautiful sunrise. The trail was pretty through the desert once again – Joshua trees and flowering sage bushes. The nearby mountains reminded me of the Blue Ridge with their smoky, layered look. Heard military jets all day and into night. We were close to China Lake. …
Miles: 596.5 to 616.2 Trail Miles: 19.7 Miles Walked: 21 Cloudy, misty this morning. Passed the 600 mile markers (all 3) Painter saw a Bear! Met Cover Girl and Three Frogs. They’d heard from their buddy who was already at Mile 800 in the Sierras. His advice: Don’t listen to fear mongering in Kennedy Meadows. …
Miles 277.2 to 596.5 Trail Miles: 19.3 Miles Walked: 19.3 I was on the trail a little after 6 am. My pack was still outrageously heavy – I had nearly 4 L of water left and all that food. Nothing to do but hike, eat and drink my way to a lighter pack. I ran …
Miles: 566.5 to 577.2 Trail Miles: 10.7 Miles Walked: 11.2 Sorry folks, but the blog. The damn blog. I need to do a better job of editing/writing so updating is quick when I’m in town and have internet. It’s 3:20pm and I’m still at the hotel ‘borrowing’ their internet. Checkout was at noon. Smokebeard, Painter …
Mile Marker: 566 Trail Miles: Zero Miles Walked: about 3-4 Slept great but still woke at sunrise. Laundry got done and then I went to the grocery store with Scooch, Fireball, Cherry Bomb and Smokebeard. Unfortunately I hadn’t yet picked up my resupply box from the P.O. so I bought entirely too much food. Not …
MM: 566 Trail Miles: 17 Miles Walked: 18 I forgot to reset my alarm from last night so it went off at 0215. Ugh. And this was a day I could sleep in a bit. Anyways, I’d enjoyed the Trail Magic last night at Mile 549! Water and cookies. Didn’t need water as I’d tanked …
Miles 521.5 to 549 Trail Miles: 27.5. Miles Walked: 27.5 The alarm went off around 2:20am. We were up and hiking by 3:10. It was chilly at that hour but worth it. We would get across the Aqueduct and Mojave Desert mostly in the dark. Sunrise and Joshua Trees We eventually stopped for a needed …
Mile 498.2 to 521.5 Trail Miles: 23.3 Miles Walked: 23.6 Everything was wet again when we woke up around 5. We’d cowboy camped and the dew had condensed on my sleeping bag, tent, backpack, shoes, socks. Everything. Nothing to do but pack up and get on the trail. We’d stop and let things dry out …
MM: 498 Trail Miles: 20 Miles Walked: 20.5 Terrie & Joe Anderson, the owners of Casa de Luna, have a Pancake breakfast every morning. There were over 90 hikers there. It’s a great operation. I don’t know how they do it year after year. After breakfast I headed to the main road through town with …
MM: 478 Trail Miles: 4 Miles Walked: 4.6 When I woke up everything was wet. My campsite at mile 474 was in and out of the clouds, so everything was damp if not beading water. Normally, that’d be an inconvenience. Packing up a wet and dirty tent is annoying. Fortunately today was going to be …