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Click "Play" below to listen to the Day 15 audio journal.
June 8, 2015
Day: 15 Daily Miles: 42.25 Total Miles: 712.25 Hours Hiking:17.2
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| Morning light up on the ridge above Spanish Needle Creeks. |
June 8th, I made it 42.25 miles, I made it to Kennedy Meadows for a resupply and then I made it another 10 miles passed there. That point was 0397393 E 4000032 N UTM. I started about 0.25 miles passed the last good water at Spanish Needle Creeks....I slept OK, I actually slept in a little bit, because I was underneath the trees on some nice duff, so the sunlight, the early morning glow, didn't really wake me up, usually I wake up right around when the birds start making noise. I had set an alarm on my GPS to go off, which is a nifty feature, which I found out, it'll turn itself off, but keep a clock running, and so when the clock counts down/hits the right time, it wakes up and goes off. So, that woke me up after about 15 minutes of going off, because it was muffled. I got ready pretty quick and was on trail by about 5:30 am. Right away, there was a climb, for about 2 miles....not fun...not super hard, but not something you want to do right in the morning...I passed a ton of people at the first available camping area, 2 miles up...I mean a ton, like 8 people there...I climbed for another mile and there were another 4-5 people at another ridgetop type area. From there you steadily go down until you hit Canebrake Road and Chimney Creek, which wasn't flowing...I guess it was flowing upstream, but in a normal year it would be flowing at the trail crossing pretty well. Then, once you get there, there's a long, steep climb at first, then gentle for about 5-6 miles until you crest out on some rolling hills that you go up and over and around and down and through...I hit that climb and I just didn't stop....I had to get to Kennedy Meadows, it was 32 miles, plus 0.7 offtrail, so roughly 33, before 5:00 pm, when it closes, so I can get my box and save some time [versus waiting because I missed it]. I was in hurry mode...not so much that I was running, but more like, I can't stop, I have to keep moving, every minute is precious. I climbed to the top, it was breezy and nice, I hit the top about midday or so and started cruising down towards the South Fork Kern River, that takes a little while...when it contours all of the hills forever, it takes much longer than you thing. Once I got down to the river valley, the wind became a tailwind at 4mph, it was midday or after and it just got HOT.
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| The long contouring descent to the South Fork of the Kern River. |
You have all the white granite gravel sands that reflect the heat right back up at you...and from there its around 10 miles...and I just thought it was sooo horrible. So, I had some caffeine, put some music on, just to get through it...I was getting to that point where I was feeling a little off...right around mile 25 is where it typically happens...I just need to take a break, but of course, some days I can't, or I don't want to take a break, so I just power through it and work my way. I didn't see anybody from Chimney Creek/Canebrake Road until within about 4-5 miles of Kennedy Meadows, where I passed about, 6-7 people. Once I have caffeine and some music going, I just crankin'...and I FLEW by them up hills and got to the road and register...where I had made it 702 miles in 14 days and 9 hours on the nose...I felt good about that. I signed the register, when up to the store, got my things charging...it took like 20 minutes to get my box....I mean they do have a TON of boxes there. When I dropped them off, they have a back room for packages and they said they have a huge cargo container in the back stacked full of them....so it makes sense that it may take a while, even with the green spray-paint striped I put on my boxes. As soon as I arrived actually, two people came up to me and asked if I was Tuna Helper...and I was like "Yeah!"...they were actually people that were going fast, they wanted to hike it in under 100 days and I think they are a little more into ultra running...they were stoked to meet me, so we chatted for a little while, while I got my stuff ready. They were about ready to head out, so I'll pass them tomorrow at some point. So, I finally got my box, and just ripped it open and started digging in. It took me about 1:20 to get everything sorted.
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| The rolling flats before you reach Kennedy Meadows. |
I had been carrying quite a bit extra food from, since before Hikertown, with the idea of switching out some stuff, like dinners with lunches, because the dinners I have, they work, except for they are really slow to eat and when I'm done, especially after a day where I've hiked longer than I wanted to, it bums me out to spend a lot more time eating...so I switched out most of my dinners with different salamis and cracker...same amount of calories, but a little more fat a little more protein than the pure carb dinners that I've been having, minus the shake. It took some figuring to get everything completely worked out. I actually bought 8 pre-made pastry things to replace my breakfasts because I have only eaten one breakfast so far, I think that was day 1, of my granola and powdered milk...and so far I've been happy with that (laughs). The best way to get some calories are the pre-made pastry things, so I bought some at the store and replaced my breakfast granolas. From there, I had to stuff everything into my pack, I got all the batteries, all the maps, all the toiletries and whatever else tucked away. By that time, it felt like it was taking forever....people are chatting with me the whole time..some people know what I'm doing, other people have just heard me from talking to other people, so they are all asking questions, and this and that. It's good, I don't care, it's fun, because, of course, no one else is going that fast and I am the oddity. I guess I'm a little bit of a celebrity, even though what's that mean? It means nothing (laughs) out here, or to me really. But, it's fun anyways. I finally got everything packed and went and took a shower, where I did my "Laundry" in the shower...basically I just walk into the shower with everything on, get it wet, soap it up while it's on me, take it off, rub it, rinse it out, hang it, then wash myself. It's a 2 for 1, because the washing machine at Kennedy Meadows is a prized commodity and there is usually a long wait. If it is warm out, my method is fine, you just wear damp clothes and they dry pretty quickly, so it's not a big deal.
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| KENNEDY MEADOWS, walking the 0.7 miles to the store. |
I thought I had lost my wallet for 5-10 minutes...which I was frantically looking around for...It had slipped down into my backpack...then I had to wait a little bit for the payphone to become free to call Leah... I called her and talked with her for about 20 minutes and she's just off trail, happy with her decision, because she was unhappy and lonely, so it's whatever you feel and however you are feeling, so it's not up to anyone else besides yourself. Which is fine, it is definitely a decision you have to make and go from there. I think she is going to try and meet me at Tuolumne Meadows, which I had told her...when I was on the phone I was doing math, and had thought [the date] was the 9th instead of the 8th....so I was like "Ohh yeah yeah I'll arrive on the 15th in 6 days...blah blah blah...." so she was Oh, cool, I'll pick up my package and we'll meet"....and so, I got back on trail...it took me about 3.5 hours or so to resupply, with phone calls and showers and all, so I got back on at about 6-6:30 pm...and I'm walking, doing the math again...then I look at my watch and went "OH NO! It's the 8th....that means I'm going to arrive a day early..." She might arrive on the 14th so she could spend the night and meet me on the 15th, buuutttt, depending on how well it goes, I could arrive even earlier on the 14th, so I was like "SHIT, what do I do?"...I knew there was a campground coming up, I walked through the campground...there were two families...I get to the trailhead and there are two guys next to a fire....I walked over and started talking to them. It turns out that he's the camp host...he was like "Wellll I've been drinkin', but I'm going to the store tomorrow...but if you just write everything down, I'll give her a call for ya." I was relieved "Awesome!"....so I chatted with them for about 10 minutes, gave them a note and off I went into the next 240 miles to Tuolumne Meadows...
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| The rolling flats continue after Kennedy Meadows to the campground. |
My backpack weighs about 30-35 lbs..Thankfully I've trained with that much weight....soo....don't get my wrong, its HEAVY, but it's not like when you see other people who are like "OOOhhhhaaaaahh" and straining under their weight. So I'm doing OK, with the weight, stair-style stepping up on rock...you give me 10 of those and I AM going to feel it and not like it. Otherwise, give me a good grade and I'll still be movin' at normal speed until you start making the elevations very high. I started from the trailhead, went 2 miles, got some water and kept on trucking. I wanted to stop at 8:30 pm because I have been pushing it really hard the last few days to try and catch up on some sleep, but at 8:30 pm, it just wasn't the miles I wanted or the place...so I looked at the map, saw that 2 more miles were the miles I wanted and it was actually the place I wanted to be too, so I pushed on 2 more miles, up a steep stretch, which I was glad to get out of the way and camped at the summit/saddle. There was a great camp spot, just had a good night, slept really well and was happy because I made a 42 on a resupply day and I had started the Sierras!
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| Helen Lake sunrise with the sun kissing the peaks as I neared Muir Pass, Sierra Nevada Mountains. |
