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I made it out of the desert! Before summer hit, too! I'm so pumped for the Sierras! I'll be above 10,000 feet tomorrow, where I'll finally leave this heat wave behind.
Next PO stop: South Lake Tahoe, at mile 1090. My optimistic estimate is July 6th, but I'll narrow that down in my next post, probably around mile 900. (Mammoth) Address:
Hold for PCT thru-hiker ETA 7/6
Matthew Wismer
General Delivery
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
(Edited the above because the next month is July. I'm not stuck in an Endless Six.)
I'm doing well physically. My foot problems have been resolved by messing with how my shoes are tied multiple times a day, as I now have the classic thru-hiker circadian rhythm in foot size. My muscles are feeling strong, but the Sierras may have something to say about that, especially with the lack of oxygen at elevation. My knee has been holding up nicely, but still isn't 100%. It swells up if I sleep on it weird, which leads me to my gear:
My Neoair X-Lite has developed some slow leaks due to the pointy small rocks of SoCal. It now loses its air an hour or so after inflating, which is making my sleep much less comfortable. I've also worn through two pairs of Darn Toughs due to those same rocks getting inside of my shoes. I bought an Uberlite and a new pair of socks here at Triple Crown Outfitters, and will warranty the old gear after I finish. (It's been shipped home for now.)
I had to rent a bear canister, because I gave my dad the address to Kennedy Meadows Resort, at mile 1018, and not Kennedy Meadows General Store, where I am. I'm blaming this one on the heat ruining my ability to think straight. (It was before the heat wave, but still...) I also picked up a little emergency poncho that will fall apart after a storm or two, and will get my real poncho at the resort, along with a few days resupply to get me to South Lake Tahoe.
Now, the play by play of the heat wave. Leaving Tehachapi last Monday I knew that I had a heat wave shortly behind me. I got a good 13 miles in after leaving at 4 pm, even after meeting two PCT hikers, Tiptoe and Ducky, who went thru in March 2020. They came with advice and good conversation, but some of the advice didn't quite fit, as starting in March and in 2020 made the trail a lot different than my experience. Me and In No Hurry appreciated the chat for sure, and the later parts of trail will overlap with me considerably. (It was hard to go fast in 2020, for obvious reasons.)
From here it was a matter of making sure that the siesta occurred at a water source, and hiking as fast or as slow as needed to make that happen. Tuesday morning was a leisurely 13 miles to Golden Oaks Spring, when I ran into a bunch of hikers, who I mostly haven't seen since. I've been out of a relative dead zone now. I met Dubs and Mud Dog (?) on the way to lunch, and then three other hikers who don't have trail names (and therefore I can't remember, Zoe was one...) while taking the siesta.
The next siesta was with Curious George, who I met just before entering Tehachapi, at Landers Meadow Spring. Wonderful pine forest for shade, though I had to reposition a bunch to stay in it. Then there was a stretch of ~42 miles without water, but there were two reliable caches to make it workable in the heat. I stopped at the first around dinner on Wednesday then the second for siesta on Thursday.
And I met Devilfish! He's a wonderful angel who supplies a bunch of caches, but didn't take donations. I helped him resupply the Bird Spring Pass cache, which also included battery banks! Spent this siesta with Curious George again, and Ninja as well.
Then on Friday I went into Lake Isabella. It rained a bit while I was there, and all of the employees of the pizza shop went outside to watch like it was a child's first snowstorm. I'm pretty worried about California's drought after seeing that one... Even with the resupply I managed 20.7 miles. And met Amanda after dark. She's big into night hiking.
On Saturday I mostly hiked with Amanda, Quickdraw, Margo (who I knew back from Idyllwild and before), and Sam, though I was asleep for most of my siesta at Chimney Creek. We laid up 8 miles short of Kennedy Meadows, which I hiked in time to attend a Father's Day brunch virtually today.
Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there, especially mine.
- Happy Meal
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