Cold, Hungry and Lost

Miles: 10.8 Start time: 7:52am End time: 5:25pm High / Avg / Low temp: 75.5F / 66.4F / 57.8F Relative Humidity Avg: 24.5% Injuries: tender hip, altitude related fatigue We had a pretty full campsite last night, and we were the first to head out, not that we weren't overtaken in a few hours, two guys beat our asses by 4hrs to the camp site.. We took a lot of breaks though, turning up too early to camp has its ups and downs, up's..  Pick of the litter for camp sites, downs.. Usually way to much sun to be comfy until later in the afternoon, currently sunset is about 8pm.. Not that we haven't had plenty of good campsites started around 3:30pm We had an initial climb for 4.5 miles, back up to 10,676ft which is a new record for us, and it took it's toll, so much harder to breathe, but we made it to the top. Not before 4 fighter jets flew low right over top of us, they looked like they were having a good time, flying upside down at the end of their asce...

Miles: 9.0 Start time: 7:48am End time: 3:05pm High / Avg / Low temp: 82.9F / 67.8F / 55.3F Relative Humidity Avg: 18.1% Injuries: none to report One thing they don't tell you when your go camping is how bright a full moon is thru a thin tent.. It feels like a street light.. But slowly migrates thru the sky, I miss no moons Our camp spot was pretty nice, and no interlopers so even better. We did however confirm our suspicion that the location was infested with marmots.  We saw our first one, massive, sitting happily in the middle of the trail just up from our camp, he was eyeballing us but as we were a lil away from him taking photos he didn't seem in a hurry to move, only when we started getting much closer did he shuffle along, one foot into the bushes, probably just waiting for us to leave so he could get back to his sunbeam.  He wasn't alone, we saw three others perched on rocks in the meadow next to us, was very cute. As we started our climb up to ...

Miles: 6.78 Start time: 7:00am End time: 5:05pm High / Avg / Low temp: 71.6F / 85.3F / 53.3F Relative Humidity Avg: 28.3% Injuries: tender hip, but mending We left camp at a respectable hour today, 7am.. Life is hard.. Actually it was, we had very little water left after last night, so we scampered to the river as fast as we could When we arrived we noticed a million swallows nesting under the bridge, and of course unloading all the poop they could manage into the river..well, stream really.. So we gathered water upstream.. As you would We are still loving the higher availability of water we've found in the Sierra so far.. Erich is good seeing as we are hauling maybe 5lbs of extra gear needed for this leg.. We saw a bunch of cows by the river crossing and all around in that meadow, so many meadows.. The scenery is starting to shift.  There is a lot of elevation, we are nearly at 10,000ft tonight, basically 1000ft over our previous elevation record, and thos...

Miles: 4.2 Start time: 8:32am End time: 11:25pm High / Avg / Low temp: 83.1F / 77.2F / 72.1F Relative Humidity Avg: 20.1% Injuries: tender hip, but manageable Our sandy nap spot last night was pretty awesome, and even sheltered us from morning sunlight for a good while.. Yay sleep in We had to waddle maybe 2 miles to get water, and the day decided to feel scorching, low breeze, minimal shade, it burnt.. And our fragile little minds checked out early at the first sign of decent camping and shade, it started as a siesta, but ended as a looooong nap leading to camping.. Watcha gonna do.. We have enough water to last the night, but it isn't enough to really guzzle all we could, but doable.. Not much else to report today, except the disappointment of continued scorch when we were so needing something other than desert.. Maybe tomorrow will what we need..

Miles: 6.8 Start time: 9:29am End time: 7:25pm High / Avg / Low temp: 90.7F / 82.5F / 72.9F Relative Humidity Avg: 21.2% Injuries: same old issh You know.. I feel lied to, we.. feel lied to.. There was all this talk of the desert ends at Kennedy meadows and its the Sierras after that.. It still feels like the desert, hot, dry, dusty.. We are at 8000ft though, so we've got the altitude challenges as well as scorching exposed trail.. We mailed our umbrellas back at Ridgecrest, expecting significant weather changes up ahead..shenanigans..  No matter Tomorrow we are heading towards 10,500 ft, a new record for us, hoping for an excellent view.. Tonight and last night we have been hearing owls, which is a new thing, we saw a bit of a meadow today, small as it was, all there have been signs of change, just not soon enough, walking in 90F/32C temps wasn't great, and we had to take several siestas today, we mistakenly thought waiting from 11:30am to 3:...

Miles: 3.4 Start time: 2:56pm End time: 4:45pm High / Avg / Low temp: 89.0F / 88.5F / 88.2F Relative Humidity Avg: 12.4% Injuries: none to report We left Ridgecrest today, after spending way more time healing than either of us would have liked.  During the last fifty mile stretch I tweaked my hip and left me limping for the majority of the distance, which while unpleasant, also slows us down considerably, and we decided it was better to rest with ready access to food and water rather than be at risk in the middle of no-where.  The challenge at being in Ridgecrest, while cheap, is that it's an hour away from where we left the trail at Kennedy meadows. Our front desk agent at the hotel was awesome and called her sister in law who is a trail angel in lake isabella, and the stars aligned as she was able and willing to collect us from Ridgecrest and  drop us off at the trail head. Her name is April and she's was a lot of fun to talk with while we drove back ...

Miles: 8.71 + 0.77 exit trail Start time: 6:50am End time: 11:25pm High / Avg / Low temp: 87.2F / 72.2F / 52.3F Relative Humidity Avg: 28.4% Injuries: these old bones We had an earlier start than we have lately, mostly driven by a desire for cold beverages at the Kennedy meadows general store, that and the sun was bearing down on us at almost immediately It was awesome camping near water, we filtered 2 gallons last night, another one in the morning, trying our best to be hydrated The walk was fairly casual today, no big ups and downs, just a steady beat, that and scorching sun, ever present..scorching..sun We made it to the road and started our walk towards the store, we made it most of the way before a kind soul stopped by us and drove us around the corner to the place, when we arrived we got a round of applause from the hikers already here before us, was nice, in its own way Our first action was getting a handful of beverages, out of a fridge, w...

Miles: 12.7 Start time: 8:02am End time: 5:05pm High / Avg / Low temp: 85.7F / 75.6F / 63.5F Relative Humidity Avg: 19.8% Injuries: hip and walking bones Despite being in a prime spot by water we had our large camp area to ourselves, we saw one other tent down a hill from is the next morning, it's nice being able to soil a cathole in relative privacy We loaded up on water before we left our site and started the trek up to fox mill spring. It was only 2.5miles but it felt like 10 as it was a solid climb, and it was only a third of the overall climb today. It was however the last water source for ten miles So we tanked up and carried on with 3or so liters each, turns out it was barely enough given how exposed the last 8 miles were, but we lived, so all good It was such a relief to finally make it to water this afternoon, and to top it off it was cold, such a treat, not like ice water cold but we've been drinking water warmed by the sun for hours, it was ...

Miles: 8.6 Start time: 9:32am End time: 3:15pm High / Avg / Low temp: 92.0F / 76.9F / 64.1F Relative Humidity Avg: 21.5% Injuries: Matt's right hip, we both have sore feet We slept in today, on account of awful sleep, bah humbug So we didn't get on the trail until after 9am, not the end of the world, on account of our tiredness we decided to hoof it the 8 miles to the next water source and call it a day.  This means we have 23 miles left, we have two dinners left, so we have a lil buffer, I am hoping we'll escape in a day and a half or so, time will tell We started with 2 miles up hill, then a few mixed miles of up and down, then 4 miles down to this water source, by water source I mean barely moving puddles off to the side of the trail, but it's cool and fresh tasting, and saved our lives, I arrived here with only a mouthful of water left, it's been so hot and dry, it's been an educational experience hiking this southern californian secti...

Miles: 9.6 Start time: 7:32am End time: 4:35pm High / Avg / Low temp: 75.3F / 67.3F / 59.3F Relative Humidity Avg: 38.3% Injuries: some hip pain (Matt) We slept with the fly off of our tent last night, and the view of the stars was amazing, one of the many highlights of walking remote places is the reduction of light pollution, so many more stars can be seen along with the usual stars and constellations you are used to appear so much bigger and brighter in the sky.. We commenced this morning at a reasonable time, and immediately started an ascent of a thousand feet, and within 4 miles we had descended that thousand and some to today's water source. It was a shallow trickle across the trail, but it was cool, and very welcome.  We relaxed and filtered 3 gallons of water, and set back out into wilds by 1pm.  My hip decided it wanted to hurt today, making every step slow and somewhat painful, i ate 4 Advil today and that seemed to take the edge off it for most o...

Miles: 12.41 Start time: 7:49am End time: 3:31pm High / Avg / Low temp: 87.8F / 75.6F / 57.2F Relative Humidity Avg: 22.2% Injuries: none to report Back in action after our detour, good news though, the desert is still interested in murdering us with heat and dehydration, we packed 6L today each and had to resort to the spring near us that is contaminated with uranium, yay for superpowers, we'll let you know what special abilities we get.. In all seriousness it isn't so bad, it tested above the levels deemed safe for a lifetimes worth of consumption, we took only a few litres, and we'll only drink what is absolutely necessary, fresh untested water awaits in only 4miles!! Which is the sad facts for nearly all the water we've drank so far, who knows what we've been really consuming, but we filter everything.. Otherwise today started early in Ridgecrest, to catch a 3 times a week only bus that goes around 7 back to the trail. Was one of those...