Pacific Crest Trail : Kennedy Meadows (North) to Meyers

Miles this section : 74
Miles completed : 1091

Rugged scenery north of Sonora Pass.

I spend the morning at Kennedy Meadows (North), it's not a zero but I am behind schedule, and twenty-four hours' rest will do - two half zeros I guess, or 'hero days' for short.  I breakfast on coffee and pancakes, then just keep eating, some Reese's Pieces I found in the hiker box, they are bad hiker food, the chocolate melts at room temperature (oddly the peanut butter does not), good eating though.  Then a nice chap, Josh, buys me another breakfast, in exchange for PCT tales.  He even buys my bear box for $20!  Then it's time to walk back up Highway 108, and like 120, it seems easier than coming down.  So, do things get better after the pass?  Well, there is still lots of snow, hours of walking on it in fact, but also some bare trail.  I keep on until 8pm this first day after my rest, and manage five trail miles.  It's the same kind of thing next day, I walk over nineteen miles, longest in a while, but it is such hard work - I tell myself, more of it melts every day.  At least, there is no sign of scary creeks since Sonora Pass.

Upper and Lower Blue Lakes.

More bare trail appears, crisscrossing high ridges, it is nice walking and I get an odd feeling - I am actually enjoying myself!  I'm able to appreciate the landscape too, craggy mountains and still lakes bordered by pines.  But the snow isn't done with me just yet, late on the third day I face a near vertical slope covering a section of trail.  I make a bad decision here - maybe fatigue after eleven hours or so, or maybe pride, I was just thinking I'd taken the worst the Sierras could throw at me.  We know what pride goes before...  I kick steps, small ones, the snow is icy hard, and get nearly half way across before the fall.  And I am lucky, I slide down ten feet or so, then hit rock, which stops me pretty quickly.  Just a few bruises and scrapes, could have been much worse, another trekking pole down though - poor thing is bent nearly in half.  Of course it takes just a short backtrack to find a stony slope to scramble up, avoiding the snow.

First sight of Lake Tahoe.

I still manage a nineteen mile day despite the fall, then more bare trail next day for twenty-two miles, leaving just a morning of walking - half snow, half trail - to my next resupply.  Normal practice here seems to be to hitch to the ski / casino / party town of South Lake Tahoe, some twelve miles off trail, well I am not here to party - my plan is three miles to the small town of Meyers, and a campsite.  One tiny problem, they want sixty dollars for a night's camp, 'it's Lake Tahoe on the fourth of July', the lady says.  OK... well, I get a shower for five dollars anyway.  And there is free camping in the woods, and I track down beer and a huge pizza, could be much worse.  I even buy some more poles, online from Walmart - will they turn up at the next post office as I asked?  We'll see.

Happy Fourth of July!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.