PCT Section Hike: Kennedy Meadows to Crabtree Meadows (part of California Section G)

 

Day 8:  Kennedy Meadows to Spring at the top of Cow Creek

  20 miles

 

 

 By 7 am we are hiking and it feels good, even if it is a broad swath of nothingness.  We are heading into the mountains to see what we can see.  Yipee!  We decided last night to hike to Crabtree Meadows and out to Lone Pine over Trails Crest on the shoulder of Mount Whitney.  This would finish out section G and match up to where we've hiked before.  Only hitch is we don't have the right permit, nor do we have the required bear canister that is needed beyond Cottonwood Pass.  There are bear lockers that we can use though, so while we might not be adhering to the letter of the law, we aren't going to allow any bear to get our food and learn to be naughty, so we are adhering to the spirit of the law.  

 

 We follow the Kern River for a bit and it is a lovely sight.  We meet some fishermen and enjoy soaking our feet in some cold water.

 Later we come through another burn and I don't want to take any more photos of burned out forest.  It is too sad.  

As we are leaving the burned out forest we see a meadow and meet a dozen or more high school seniors out hiking for their senior trip. 

We  skirt  more meadows  and soon come to the Kern River again. It's been an easy 9 mile hike so far today.

 It looks like a park and we join  other hikers  lounging along its banks. Mark shares his Fritos and I feel like a heel for being so rigid yesterday.  Swallows are nesting under the bridge and they fill the sky. We lay back in the grass and enjoy the day.    The river is only a few inches deep, it should be roaring past right now, but there isn't much melting snow to fill it up. It is extremely dry for the end of May. 

In the afternoon sometime,  who knows what time as we are on trail time, we lazily hike on.   Life is good. 

 

 

Snow Flowers

Trees that are ALIVE!

 



 

Rocks and more rocks and a steep section of trail.  The book says it is one of the steepest on the whole PCT as it is a 15 percent grade.  I get a bit pooped out the last mile to the spring at the top of Cow Creek. 

Sunset has us camped on top of a little rise above the spring, with views.  This is a view to the southwest.  The meadows below are the ones the Kern River flows through and where we were just a few short hours ago.  It is so awesome to travel by foot and feel the lay of the land and be a part of it like the animals that live there.  There is something elemental about walking where you want to go that fills a basic need we seem to have.  There is also the whole adventurer aspect to it that makes our hearts beat just a little faster and feels us with excitement for what might be just around the bend. 

 

 

 

 

Here's our camp for the night.  Our first night at almost 10,000 feet in elevation.  I was fine hiking, but have a few moments of breathlessness, and a bit of panic, as my mind tries to regulate my breathing to my oxygen needs as I begin to rest.   Take note of those poles laying on the ground and my clothes drying. 

 

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Day 9:  Spring to Diaz Creek

20 miles

 



 We wake exhausted because of a rat.  A wily, acrobatic, determined rat.

I awake in the night and hear something.  It takes me awhile, but  I realize something is eating our hiking poles.  I grab them and put them in the tent, and get the head light turned on and see a little rat with a short flat tail looking back at me.  I yell at it and it scurries off.  Mark wakes up. I explain the situation and we go back to sleep.  The little bugger comes back.   This time I hear it trying to get my clothes and I bring them in and then, later, it tries to eat our packs and then, later,  it tries to get Mark's cup.   The  tent is now piled high with our gear and still the little  rat won't leave us alone as he starts gnawing his way into the tent.  I sit up and look down at him not 6 inches away from me.  Mark says he would shoot him if he had a gun. I get an idea.  Opening the zipper , of course he runs away,  I grab a pole and hold it in the air waiting for him to return which he does within a couple of minutes.   I wait and wait for just the right moment and then I whack him.  I tell you it feels  good, but I am glad I only whack a part of him, as he  runs away and leaves us alone for what is left of the night.  By this time  it is the wee hours of  the morning.
 

 

Here is Mark's pole with the strap chewed off.  I suppose he was wanting the salt or maybe a trophy for his house.  Who knows the reasoning of a rat.  My poles have little teeth marks. 

 

 

 Just like in life, we don't let a little rat ruin our day so we enjoy our morning climb and the vistas that follow.   There should be lots of snow, but we can only see a little on Olancha and a bit more on Langley.

 

 

Langley

 

 

Looking back at Olancha

 

Passing Marmot Meadow, I think it was called Gomez Meadows, we come to Death Canyon Creek. Sounds like a good place to get water. Right?  We eat and I am tired from all of my adventures the night before so I take a nap while Mark gets the water and visits with all the people who pass by.

 In the afternoon we continue and even with a bit of a climb,  its a great day.

There are lots of awesome ancient trees,

and really fantastic rock formations.

 

 

And amazing views. This one is to the east side, looking down on Owen's Valley.

 

 

 

 We find snow and make snowballs and throw them at unsuspecting hikers. 

We meet Big UPs this way and our first impression of him is stellar.  He is almost in tears of joy for finally being in the Sierra Mountains. He is floating on clouds.   Big UPs is from Virginia and it is his first time here and it is exceeding his expectations.  We really like this young man and enjoy our visit.  There is something about him that speaks of good things.  We wish we could get to know him more.  One of the things we like about our PCT section hikes is the people we meet.  People from all over the world. 

We glowingly walk on to  Diaz Creek.  Along the way we talk about the next day's hike and we discover  we are in agreement that we should not be law breakers.  While we want to hike on, we don't want to get fined for not having a bear canister.  We realize too, that it makes more sense to take the 1.8 mile detour at Mulkey Pass to get to Horseshoe Meadows and then on to Lone Pine than out Trails Crest by Whitney. But the best  decision we make is  that we are coming back into the Sierra in the fall and re-entering the trail at Mulkey Pass and hiking to Tuolumne.  Yes!  We both are happy at the prospect of coming back and hiking a few more weeks in our  favorite area in the whole wide world.    We go to sleep  happy at our decision to return in August.

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 Day 10: Diaz Creek to Lone Pine via Mulkey Pass Trail

 

 

 

We sleep in as it is only a short hike to the Mulkey Pass Detour.  We're a bit melancholy to be leaving the mountains this morning, but it is another glorious day and we enjoy the trail we have left to hike.  That is all any of us ever really have.  Just this moment, so we grab it. 

 

 

Just one week ago, we were here, in section F, looking at the snowy mountains. 

 

 

Now we are HERE, in the snowy mountains.  Amazing. Our four feet  have carried us strongly all the way.  We feel happy and so good.  Satisfied even. 

We get to Horseshoe Meadows well before noon and meet up with other hikers looking for a hitch.  Big Ups is one of the hikers and we enjoy seeing him again. 

 

A Samaritan loaded up all 7 of us stinky hikers  and drove carefully the 22 miles down into Lone Pine. 

o

 

Our trails end.  181 miles hiked in 9 days and a couple of hours. 

 

The next day we catch the 395 bus headed south and get off in Mojave and walk a short distance back to our car at the Motel 6.  Easy logistics for entering and exiting the PCT in this area. 

 

 

 

Things we learned along the way:

 

We are stronger than we thought as we hiked ,back to back, 20 mile days without any problems.  We can carry 6 liters of water each with only our shoulders getting sore.  A scoop made out of a 20 oz. water bottle with the top cut off makes getting water easier.  We don't need camp shoes or underarm deodorant.  We can get into arguments on the trail and food is often the point of contention. It is a good idea for each of us to plan our own food and carry it.  LOL. 


Mark's addition:  What I really learned is that Tj is going to eat whatever she is going to eat and I better just shut up and carry the damn food.  LOL.