Mile 681 to 702 plus .7 mile to Kennedy Meadows General Store.

Bedazzled, Vipr, and I awoke at Chimney Creek Campground at 4:00 and packed up quickly. We were on a mission to get to Kennedy Meadows and put the cabosh on the desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

The rest of the group had hiked ahead 5 miles the previous evening because they were worried about getting to the General Store before it closed. The three of us are quick so we weren’t worried about making it in time, but we decided to push the pace and not take any long breaks.

The first part of the trail was a gradual climb that was over before I even realized we had started it. When we stopped briefly to get water, Bedazzled decided to try a new method of squeezing water from her dirty water bottle to her clean one. She simple attached her filter to the dirty bottle, put it under her butt, and sat on it achieving her fastest filter yet. I questioned whether the adage “necessity is the mother of invention” should actually be “laziness is the mother of invention.” The jury is still out on that one.

For most of the day, we passed through an older burn area. Plant growth was returning and the smells of sage and lilac filled our nostrils as we breathed in the dry desert air. Rounding a bend in the trail Vipr let out a shrill cry of excitement as a row of snow capped mountains stretched across the not too distant horizon. The Sierra were making their presence known even though they were still a few days off.

We spotted a group of three hikers about a mile down trail as we followed the contours of the mountain.  Before we knew it, we were on top of them and passing them as if they were standing still. They were a threesome of section hikers. Out here you always feel like you aren’t moving fast enough, but when you come across day or section hikers, it really brings home how fast you have become.

After about a mile we got to water were we stopped just long enough to filter a little water and eat enough snacks to get us the rest of the way to Kennedy Meadows. We moved quickly and tried to stay hydrated as we moved through what may have been the most arid section of trail so far. Our lips were chapped and mouths dry even though we drank water liberally.

Our excitement increased as we saw formations of granite pushed up through the earth’s crust creating bald humps and smooth mounds of rock conjuring up images of Yosemite in our mind’s eye.

Vipr gave a shout as we came to the 700 mile marker on the side of the trail!

Look at all that flabby skin

Our skin is sunburnt, our throats raspy, and eyes full of grit, but our souls are full of sunsets, our nostrils tickled with the smell of sage, and our hearts full of love for this land of stark beauty.

We have walked on water, through snowstorms, and over countless mountains. Our bodies have become machines that we maintain with meticulous attention mending its blistered skin and broken toenails and stretching its limits. The past and future are irrelevant because there is only the now, filled with the steady sounds of our footsteps.

As the hour approaches noon, we stop at the sudden sound of rushing water. We look over to our left and see more water flow by us than we have seen in weeks. The South Fork of the Kern River was nearly overflowing its banks as it windes its way through a small meadow.

Hearts pumping faster than our feet, we race the last 2 miles to Kennedy Meadows.

As we walk up the road and through the dirt parking lot of the General Store, the sound of applause reaches our ears. The same sound that greets each hiker as they arrive. The sound of respect for the effort and resolve that carried each of us from the boarder with Mexico to that dusty little parking lot.

We got a hitch the last .7 non-PCT miles to the General Store

Celebration time