Kennedy Meadows (mile 702) to Dunsmuir (my mile 872, trail mile 1501). I got a ride out of Kennedy Meadows from a trail angel, along with Tidbit and a young German girl named Grit. We’d booked a rental car down the mountain in Ridgecrest. Our plan was to take our time driving the Pacific Coast…
Tehachapi (Mile 566) to Kennedy Meadows (Mile 702) It took me exactly two months to make it through the desert. Reaching Kennedy Meadows – the gateway to the Sierra – is my biggest milestone of the trail so far, but the achievement is a little bittersweet. Like almost every hiker out here I’ve had my…
Agua Dulce (Mile 454) to Tehachapi (Mile 566) Appalachian Trail hikers have invented some pejorative nicknames for the states that trail passes through. Vermont, for example, is known among hikers as Vermud. Pennsylvania is Rocksylvania. New Jersey is New Bearsy. In this spirit, I’d like to propose that California be known forever more as “Windyfornia”….
Wrightwood (Mile 369) to Agua Dulce (Mile 454) Boy, it’s been a hell of a week. I ended up taking three whole zeros in Wrightwood, thanks in no small part to its brewery and handful of cheap restaurants. I finally left town on Wednesday morning with Tidbit, a 31-year-old woman and former national park ranger…
Big Bear (Mile 266) to Wrightwood (Mile 369) Trail magic can come from the most unexpected places. Before I got discharged from Eisenhower Medical Centre after my A-fib episode, I got a visit from the nursing unit director, Sue. She told me she’d hiked various sections of the PCT, and had a cabin in Big…