Days 46-47 - Further Up and Further In

Monday and Tuesday I continued my leisurely pace toward Mt Whitney, doing 15 miles each day.  My pack is slowly starting to get lighter.

Monday afternoon I stopped at a lake, hoping the weather would cooperate enough to make it a decent spot to camp.  But the wind blew all afternoon and by evening I was searching the nearby slopes for a sheltered place to set up camp.  It blew all night and even managed to knock my tent down a few times.  When it's staked in sand sometimes even a big rock isn't enough to hold it up.

The next morning I hiked the rest of the way to Crabtree Meadows and found a campsite near a bearbox, a large steel box for storing food in during the night to keep the critters from getting it.  Since it was another short day, I had an early dinner and went to bed around 7:30 with plans for an early start the next day.

Day 45 - Some True Hiking

It feels great to finally be in some real mountains.  We've had tastes here and there; the San Jacintos and a couple smaller ridges that got up high enough to have stretches of big trees.  But this is the real deal.  Day 2 up here and I've already climbed up over 10k' a couple times, with higher to come.  Thankfully, my month and a half of hiking has made the altitude no problem.  The only problem is my majorly heavy pack.

So I've made a small change to my plan.  Instead of setting up for Mt Whitney in 3 days, I've decided to get there in 4.  That'll cut a couple 25 mile days into the 20 I did today and a couple easy 15's.  Or, maybe 20 again tomorrow and 10 the next day, tomorrow will tell.

I made the decision while taking a lunch break today, sitting in the shade at 10k' next to a little stream.  It's for those relaxing moments that I hike, stretched out in the middle of the forested mountains without a worry in the world.  I can see why other thru-hikers seem to be addicted to this.  With my current pack weight and the steep climbs, doing 17-20 miles a day seems much more manageable.  If I had tried to hit the point I originally intended, I wouldn't have gotten a 2-hour break under that tree.  The downtime also let me dry out my sleeping bag which had been encrusted with frost that morning.

So an extra day added, I should still have enough food.  If it looks like I won't make it to Mammoth with what I've got, there is a resort I can stop at just before that.  See?  No worries.

Day 44 - Entering the Sierras

On Saturday I elected for a late start.  I first had to pack.  My food was all divided up; 7 days in the bear can, 2 2-day bags plus a package of tortillas, a few extra packs of ramen, a sausage, 2 bags of jerky, peanut butter, honey and oil.  It's more than twice as much food as I had coming out of Mojave, or anywhere else.

I also added some microspikes for hiking in snow and traded out my shoes and socks for new pairs.  I already had all the warm clothes I'll need.  Many hikers picked up an ice axe, but due to the low snow I decided not to get one.

Now that we'll be in the mountains, water will be much easier to come by.  I'll probably only carry a liter at a time, instead of loading up with 3-4 everytime I found water.  That will save a lot of weight, but with so much food for this stretch it'll be necessary to not have to carry water.

I got mostly packed and went to the store for biscuits and gravy for beakfast.  Afterward I hopped on one of Tom's computers to work on my GPS.  I noticed recently that I was only able to see waypoints for the first 1000 miles of the trail.  The tracks were showing the trail the whole way but I like having the waypoints to show distances (there's one every half mile).  I got the files I needed and should be set for the rest of the trip.  Now it also shows water sources, campsites and other points of interest along the trail.

Since it was almost lunchtime I decided to have one last burger at the store before heading out.  I weighed my pack before leaving and it's a whopping 57 pounds.  The most it's been all trip is maybe 40-45.  I staggered out of Kennedy Meadows at around 1:00.

After 10 miles or so the valley I was hiking up got really smokey, must have been a forest fire somewhere nearby.

I hiked about 14 miles before camping at a river with several other hikers.  In hindsight it probably wasn't the best place to camp.  I woke up during the night, sleeping bag soaked with dew.  It the morning it had all frozen, leaving my bag and everything else crusted with frost.  Hopefully that's the last time I cowboy camp next to a river.