Day 74, June 30: Mile 1017 to 1031
Start: Kennedy Meadows North - Mile 1016.9
End: Mile 1030.8
Miles: 13.9
Ascent: 2700 | Descent: 3924
I woke up somewhat slow at Kennedy Meadows. Again, I did not sleep well and woke up too early so I was pretty tired. But, I eventually got up and got started on the remaining chores I needed to do- resupply, charge electronics, shower, work on my blog. I was also able to send my bear canister home as it is no longer required after this section- hooray!
I putzed around for a bit longer before packing up my bag to check out of the room. I put my backpack outside and wandered back to the restaurant for food. I saw some of the friendly hikers I met the day before - Willie Nelson, Patches, etc. - and chatted with them for a bit. I sat down at a nearby table and ordered biscuits and gravy and a hamburger patty.
I gulped down my breakfast and two cups of coffee. I putzed some more and took care of last minute internet things while I still had wifi.
I jumped in the 11:30am shuttle with my friends and we drove back up the hill. We made it back to Sonora Pass and reluctantly put our packs on and started hiking. Despite the reluctance, the hiking felt relaxed and I was thoroughly enjoying the lack of weight from my bear can. I felt like I could skip down and over every rock!
I was able to call my mom for a bit before I lost service on a big descent down into a canyon. I leapfrogged with Liz, Tikka and Squirrel Daddy but we all eventually caught up at a stream near the bottom of the canyon. SD kindly shared his amazing trail creation with us- squeeze cheese on a flavored cracker with bacon bits. It was absolutely delicious, and reminded me of childhood.
We continued down before starting a big climb up. Our plan was to hike 10-15 miles today, and we ended up making it around 14. The scenery was so cool and I enjoyed hiking in the setting sun sparkling through the pines.
I got to the tent site where I thought the group would be, and they weren’t there. Darn. Maybe they went just ahead? I turned a corner and saw SD setting up his tent. Apparently (we found out later) our friends were a quarter mile back and we somehow missed both of them. So Squirrel Daddy and I had dinner together and crawled into our respective tents for bed.