Early morning this morning… 5 AM wake up to hike 18 miles for a 3PM shuttle into Kennedy Meadows North. We walked by the official 1000 mile mark at mile 1001.4. The trail changes so much that the mile markers never seem accurate. Still, it was cool to see.

The hike itself was one of my favorites. Pretty wild elevation gain through what one coined as ‘moonscape’. Barren landscape with boulders and rocks. Mackenzie noted that part of the trail looked like Bryce Canyon. As we got closer and closer to Sonora Pass, our exit to KMN, more and more day hikers were walking towards us. It was a great reminder of how close we were to beer and burgers.

After reaching Sonora Pass, we ran into a trail angel named Emory who was giving out burritos, beer, and resupply food. It was such an amazing surprise as we were waiting for the shuttle. Then, Emory gave us the idea to get a hitch into town which made the ride a lot cheaper. The shuttle was $10 and the hitch was free.

Kennedy Meadows North is a pack station and camp ground with fly fishing and a saloon. It’s a pretty cool scene and the cowboys all get a kick out of the PCT hikers, buying our beers and asking us questions. We met a waitress by the name of Deseray that let us camp in her front yard so no need to pay for the $50 bed. We’re pleased.

Enjoying the cool nights and looking forward to some sleep.

Happy dreams…

We got up this morning after a great nights sleep and headed to breakfast. A classic for me - chicken fried steak and eggs with pancakes, hashbrowns and sausage. My appetite has gotten absurd…

The rest of the morning was spent finalizing our resupply and consuming calories. We left KMN to hitch back up to Sonora Pass around one. We didn’t get moving until around three which set us back a bit. The first ascent up was a doozy but it marked the last climb above 10,000 feet on the whole trail. It’s wild to think about but it seems the Sierra Nevadas are slowing lowering their bar so to speak. The terrain has switched to this rocky, almost volcanic looking stone with little vegetation and it wasn’t until the late evening that we entered the cover of trees.

The scenery reminds us of cars and we hiked into the night to get about 14 miles in to our 74 mile carry. Twenty mile days from here until South Lake. Tired and sore but excited for some cruisier terrain in our future.

Happy trails…