Long Update

This blog posting is somewhat long overdue. I haven't had wifi for a while and so I haven't been able to upload anything. Let me preface this by saying I'm writing this as I sit on a rock with my legs up to my knees in chicken spring lake. Look it up, it's GORGEOUS.

I'll bring us all the way back to when we left Walker Pass. It was early and we had 52 miles and some decent elevation changes to cover to get to Kennedy Meadows, but I knew we'd do it in 2 days. We left with Team Tokyo but their plan was to do it in 3 days, so we didn't really see them after lunch in day one. To be honest, the two days were pretty uneventful. On day one we covered 25 miles and camped solo up high on a ridge, 5 miles back from Chimney Creek campground. Early in the morning, we shot down to it and came across a beer cache! It was still early, so no beer for us, and we were about to start a serious climb of 2400 feet or so. Julia lets me hammer for 20 minutes and then I pull over and let her catch up, and then on and on. This day was 5 repeats of 20 minute hard efforts of hill training. After the third interval we stopped for a snack and Julia sat down in this awkward little rock about 6 inches high and about a foot wide. What neither of us noticed was a rattler sitting all coiled up behind the rock!! Her butt was inches from his face! I got a pic and video, pretty funny. The climb finishes up in this burn area, no shade to be found. It was getting warm so we just decided to keep moving back down until we found shade, at which point we'd have lunch. That wasn't for another hour and a bit. We got all the way down the other side and found a creek, barely running and a spot of shade, perfect! We were there for a little while but felt the draw to finish the last 9 or so miles of the desert. These last miles were hot, but you do get some spots of shade. Finally we spilled out on the road, made the right turn and walked the last half mile or so to Tom's. Upon arrival we found him chatting with Virgo and Kushy, and he offered us a trailer to stay in! I can't explain how nice it is to stay in a trailer and sleep on a bed after a 27 mile day! The next day was dedicated to showering, organizing, laundry and eating ice cream. Over the 48 hours we were there we polished off 5 pints of Ben and Jerry's. On the afternoon of r zero day we went to use the Internet, just to update a few things and upload a few photos. Tom's got a trailer with 4 laptops that hikers can use. While Julia was on the computer I ran down to our trailer to grab something and when I walked in, someone had just placed a bottle of champagne on ice with two glasses in there! What an amazing surprise! We shared our treat with Virgo and June. Virgo offered to give us a 'pre-Sierras shake down' to help shed some pack weight. This ended up being a very helpful 2+ hour ordeal and our packs are considerably lighter as a result. We left Kennedy Meadows in the evening, bear vaults and all, and headed a whole 2.4 miles to the campground.

The next morning we were all pumped to be finally making our way into the mountains. Our first destination was a bridge, about 10 or so miles in, where we'd have lunch by the water. It ended up being way more than lunch by a creek. As we walked up I saw Virgi in the water filming something. I assumed it was just some artsy footage he can add to his PCT trail magic documentary he's filming, but the then he motioned us over to the water's edge and we could see a bunch of drinks being kept cool by the running water. Beer, soda and even margaritas! Tom and the crew did it again! They were there with punch for us and everything. About 10 - 12 hikers were there for lunch. We were even invited to stay for dinner, but we HAD to get going. That evening we camped with the crew + Dazzle and I had the most luxurious sleep on trail yet. Dazzle is an incredibly kind, soft spoken, easy to talk to guy and Julia and I really enjoy chatting with him at breaks. Anyways he came over after dinner and since we were cowboy camping he could see what we were sleeping on. Julia has her neoair, but my Z rest isn't exactly luxury. He was telling us about his 'Exped' mattress and it sounded awesome. He said he'd be right back and when he returned with it, I thought he was just going show it to us, but he offered to trade with me for the night!! That's how awesome he is. I had the best sleep out here yet and you can bet I'm buying one ASAP.

The next day we heard that Dead Animal (another hiker) had seen a bear about a quarter of a mile past where we slept, and June saw one early that morning! The day was pretty uneventful. Walking and unbelievable beauty, but lots of climbing in the afternoon which was exhausting. We all slept in the same area again, at about 10300 feet.

June 20, 2012 - The Tuna Turns 26
Like any classy birthday, it began with breakfast in bed after sleeping in. S'mores Poptarts in her sleeping bag at 6AM. We slowly got ready to go, and the others left about 40 mins prior to us. The morning highlight was Taka wishing her a 'very good day on her birthday' in his broken English. Taka's a really nice man, wish we could chat more easily. He's named me (phonetically) 'keen-ee-ku mam' which is 'muscle man'. I'll let him call me that. Anyways, the morning was pretty easy. Some flat and downhill sections through forested areas and open ridges with spectacular views. Our final destination was to be Chicken Spring lake, a mere 15ish mile day, ending around 11300 feet. The climbing in the late morning started to take a toll as we were somewhat low on energy since we had to make our food stretch an extra day and a half. We stopped for lunch early as we were both exhausted from the lack of fuel, elevation gain and the climbing. At lunch we tried making some phone calls with mediocre success. All calls got cut off a little too early, but at least we made some contact with family. The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and with full tanks of energy and a little shot of caffeine, we climbed up to Chicken Spring Lake pretty comfortably. It is absolutely beautiful. A lake surrounded by mountains. We were here just after 4 and so have lots of time to enjoy ourselves! Team Tokyo should be here soon. Whitney in two days!