September 19-30, days 173-184
PCT-km: 1636.6; kilometers hiked: 3,142 km
Arrived at Kennedy Meadows North on September 27, with only 125 km left to go in the Sierras. The passes were extremely exhausting.
A brief stop at Tuolumne Meadows, a big state campgroud with a store and grill. Camped here for a night (with a picnic table inside our tent!), had a nice meal, got good deals for our resupply (25% off on everything, since the campground will be closing for the winter in a couple weeks), and continued on the very next day. The evening before we attended a wonderful program: “Mystery of the Woods, Stories and Poems," an event held at the Dana Campfire Circle where everybody sat on benches around a big bonfire. Ranger Brian spoke of respect for nature, of how he became a ranger, and recited his own and Walt Whitman’s poems, and telling us about important people from the region.
Crossed the 3000-kilometer mark en route.
To date, the weather in the Sierras has been amazing. Blue skies, warm days, and pleasant temperatures even at night in the regions below 3,200 meters meant we even spent the last three nights sleeping under the stars. Even if that meant sharing the ground with several other inhabitants. ;-)
The ascents and descents, however, are no less exhausting. Every kilometer is hard-won, despite having already completed the longest sections. The ascents continue to be steep, and the descents are just as steep. There's no chance to rest; instead, we're forced to throttle the pace since the trail often resembles piles of rocks.
The landscape is as impressive as ever. The valleys we cross are endless yellow-green meadows. Above, the mountains are still gray, although variety can be found in the rock formations. Just before John Muir Pass we saw our first coyote, strolling along the PCT, perhaps looking for some food lost by hikers. When darkness falls, rather large spiders leave their holes to rest on the warm stones along the trail, or mate. Fortunately, the Sierra tarantulas stay in the earth till mid-October!
Here at Kennedy Meadows North Resort we were able to pick up our eagerly awaited packages: new shoes for us both, from Oboz (a hot tip from young Ashley back at Crater Lake) and new metal tips for Sabine’s trekking poles. The highlight was a package from our friends Carlos and Tanja from our home town Marbach. In fact, we'd been expecting it months ago, but Olli hat given Carlos the wrong Kennedy Meadows address before our departure, because at the time he’d been unaware that there are two Kennedy Meadows in the Sierra (South and North). And since we'd flipped the Sierra, we're here 4 months later than planned. For all that, delivery was successful, despite the fact that both resort and the road to the pass were still closed in April! We were delighted by the contents of the package: lots of edibles! And a lovely letter. True friends!!!
Since a blizzard was predicted over the weekend, we stayed at the resort for two more nights. We're decamping today, Monday, September 30, and heading for Echo Lake/South Lake Tahoe, which is the end of the Sierra. After that it's another 1000 kilometers through northern California, which Sabine hopes to complete. Olli needs to return to Germany at the end of October. Whether we manage to finish together depends on our hiking pace, how long it takes to resupply, and how much time we lose due to weather conditions. We can dream! In any event, Olli can always do the rest next year.
We encountered some old hiker friends on the way north, all of whom are glad to be nearly done with the PCT because body and feet are tired: Scratch and Gourmet, the couple from Canada; Moneymaker (incredibly, he only has around 300 miles left), currently hiking with Pineapples (whom we'd met way back in Hikertown); David and his daughter Kaia Fink (Bloody Mary), who'd needed to be rescued at Mount Thielsen; Dragon (the Japanese fellow we'd met in Shelter Cove, Oregon, who is traveling with Angel!).
We also met Patience from Estonia again after Benson Pass (first met her at a trail magic at the trailhead in Winthrop). She reported that her official B2-visa extension was still valid. In Seattle, she'd been required to have her fingerprints taken again, was asked nothing, and had had to pay around $450 to apply for the permit. She said she wouldn't be surprised if the notice of approval or rejection arrived long after she'd finished the PCT.
We'd done interviews with all of the aforementioned each time we met. So it was this time, as well, no matter how hot or cold or windy it was. Thus our daily mileage once again was unpredictable ...
We also just missed some old acquaintances:
At the last fork before Tuolumne, Olli had left Sabine a sign: inside the outline of a heart scratched into the ground, he'd placed a letter, held in place by a stone, from Anais and Quentin, whom we'd encountered in Stehekin, Washington, and whom we'd given some wine. They'd passed Olli without recognizing him right away, and in retrospect assumed the sign meant Sabine must still be on her way. Altho both of us had covered 20 km that afternoon, taking 3 and 4 hours respectively, Sabine did in fact pass the fork and discovered Ollis sign with the letter in the middle.
Photos