79) May 31: Of wind turbines and luxury granola

 

May 31, day 63, km 952

Distance to Kennedy Meadows, gateway to the Sierra: 156 km

 

Left around 9:15 am, with the intention of hiking at least 30 km. Three days of 30+ km to get to Walker Pass. The first water supply station was after 9.5 km, at Golden Oaks Spring. There we met Eric und Wade, wind park technicians (yes, we're still being pursued by wind turbines), whom we interviewed. They had already spotted us from a distance, near one of the wind turbines, and come to greet us in person at the spring. They love meeting people from all over the world. They were surprised by how quickly we'd gotten there. We talked about foreign countries and were astonished to learn neither of them had ever left the USA before. After they'd gone, we had a late luxury muesli, consisting of 7 different dried fruits along with some leftover apple and a mango. Our water refill at the spring needed to last for another 30 km. Then we interviewed each other – our first summing up after covering nearly 1,000 km. After another 10 km, we had a hot chocolate break. We found a campsite for our tent late in the evening, after 33 km. We'd originally planned to cowboy camp, but after meeting up with a mountain lion – whom all respect and fear – we decided against it. We continued on for another kilometer before pitching our tent.

 
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