Walker Pass
Melissa and I awoke from a dusty and moderately windy (for this portion) night sleep and
headed downhill towards Highway 178. We walked quickly with one thing on our minds, Milkshakes. These trail-famous shakes are spoken of in our hiker literature and lived up to the hype. Neldas Diner had a seperate menu including various titles like the Justin Time, I probably should have ordered, but I went with the custom: vanilla and cookie ice-cream, with hot fudge and reeces pieces. Melissa had a chocolate, peanut-butter and banana. The burgers that complimented the shakes were tasty as well.
We have since walked the main street ( if you want to call it that) of Lake Isabella and stopped at Vons, the Army Surplus Store, Little Ceasers, and finally here at the Kern Coutny Library. Tomorrow we will head back to the trail and walk the final 50 miles to the legendary Kennedy Meadows General Store. The store is a small grocery/ market with shelves raided regularly by hungry hikers. Kennedy Meadows, mile 702, sits at the base of the Sierra and is known as the “official” beginning of the Sierra Nevada. From Kennedy Meadows (KM) we will have limited service on the iPhone, if any, and will not be around civilization until our resupply at Independence, which is reached by hiking 9 miles off the PCT at Kearsarge Pass at mile 790.2. 
We and many other anxious hikers are excited to get to KM where we will pick up packages and deliberate about the upcoming miles. We are so excited about our packages that await. Deb has continued to send us supplies including a NEW TENT to replace our tarp shelter. The tent is a 4-season, free-standing, single wall 2 person tent that weighs a mere 3lbs 2 oz, this is unbelievable. This Black Diamond HiLite, will be superior in the snow and wind to our current shelter. In addition we have ice-axes, crampons, a bear canister, beef jerky, Mountain House Dehydrated Meals, a new knitted “Deb’s Custom Design” stocking cap, and of course our original KM Sierra resupply box. We are going to have Christmas in June at the end of this week. There is just one concern, we have to carry all of it, or most of it, whatever we don’t eat while we are stocking up and talking gear with fellow hikers.
Over the past few days, we have hiked through intense winds with harsh shadeless and waterless stretches. Check out this video which shows the wind right after we were dropped off by Uncle Carl and Aunt Donna at Hwy 58. We learned that “delinquent” bears, or bears that have discovered human food in Yosemite, are sent to this portion of trail as a last resort before being killed. That would explain the loud mumbling noise we heard in the manzanita bushes and breaking of branches as we walked by a portion of trail! We are now making sure not to sleep where we eat meals. We were huddle a couple days ago under a grove of Joshua trees with a bunch of hikers hiding from the afternoon heat
and learned all about the bear issues in the area. We all laughed when hiker Non-stop said he slept with his food bag as a pillow, not the case anymore.
We are so excited to be done with the desert section, and like Melissa told my Aunt Donna last week, we won’t take for granted the shade of the trees for lunch, the granite boulders to sit and rest on, and the soil trails versus the dusty sand we have been in. We will miss the gorgeous desert flowers, like the amazing Yucca, however. Excitement is the biggest emotion present as we take on some of the most remote wilderness in the state.
~ Justin
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