38 — Back on Trail, the Sierras

Mile 702.2 Kennedy Meadow South — 716.5 Kern River/Monache Meadow (14.3 miles)

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Rose: emerging onto the giant Beck Meadow Thorn: still being hot coming out of KM Bud: more Sierra views

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I’m still nervous this morning. I’ve been loitering in bed. I awoke shortly after five. My alarm was for six. I started studying Far Out app at 5:30 then went to sleep to await the alarm. Now it’s 7:15. I’ve been alternating between phone, nap, packing. I’m nervous still. The sun is starting to hit my tent. Sick to my stomach actually. But I gotta do this.

I loiter in KM until 9:40, considering different shoes, ordering a few pieces of gear online. Breakfast was a little expensive for my taste so I forced myself to eat the cheesy grits I had cold soaked. It’s not very yummy.

The trail was hot and very much like the desert for the first hour. Most of the norning and early afternoon was spent in burn areas.

Around 1 pm, I needed a break from the sun. I siestaed nestled into some vegetation on the side of a large campsite. The wind was picking up.

After siesta U had a super close encounter with a rattlesnake. Head down hiking, not even listening to music, a big rattlesnake was curled up in the middle of the trail. I didn’t see him until it was almost too late. My trekking poles came forward while I leaped my feet back then backed down the trail. The rattlesnake was poised to strike and its rattle persistent. I ended up going up and around off trail, giving the animal lots of room.

The wind picked up as I went through a saddle and into the end of Beck Meadow. It’s a huge valley. It reminds me of Lamar Valley. Like Wyoming, large valleys bordered by gently sloped hills of pine and rock. The sight warmed my soul. I had made the right decision skipping ahead.

I followed this valley for little over an hour before cresting over the hill to where the valley turns.

This river crossing is where Inplanned to camp. I ran into a woman from earlier, about my age if not a little younger. I ate dinner with her and two other women before retreating to my cowboy camping. There are eight others camping here tonight. The wind is up. The clouds are moving quickly. I hope it doesn’t rain on me in the night.

There was talk of a wildfire 40 miles west of Kennedy Meadow. With the wind howling all day and night the next few nights, that fire could move very fast. I don’t smell any smoke, but my eye strays to the west and studies the clouds, looking for warning signs.