Zero in Kennedy Meadows

Day 52-June 3rd
Destination: Kennedy Meadows
Miles: 0

A well earned day of rest, packed full or preparation for the Sierras greeted us this morning. We woke this morning and enjoyed pancakes cooked up by Guino, a trail junky who has spent several years hiking large portions of the PCT in an eternal quest to ensure every hiker knows he has a medicinal marijuana license. We trepidatiously ate pancakes hoping that they were prepared free of medicinal additions.

Fortunately, we felt fine after consumption of two hefty pancakes. After breakfast, we walked up to the store and put our laundry in the wash and picked up our resupply packages. Once we were done at the general store we walked down to the place we are staying to organize ourselves.

A local in Kennedy Meadows has set up a place to host hikers. He started with hosting injured hikers a couple years ago, and has since grown his set-up to take in a many hikers a night. He has several trailers for hikers to sleep in, hammocks, several fire pits, internet stations, and free use of the phone. Hikers lounge out in the shade and swap stories of each hikers experience, Sierra plans, and general relaxed banter.

We walked over to our trailer and laid out all our gear and started sorting the food and cold weather gear. We have a six day leg ahead of us which includes a summit of Mt. Whitney, and several legs ahead of this one which require a little more forethought in planning. Vast quantities of food, and unexpected caloric expectations require more vigilant planning.

After arranging our gear, we wandered up to the general store for "Happy Hour". The store owners created an enormous quantity of finger food to enjoy on the deck whilst listening to old time music and drinking dollar beers.

The sun is fading fast, and the chores are mostly done. It's time for the real relaxation to begin.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile