June 10, 2022 0 miles This will be a short one. Town days are fun, but not necessarily as exciting to write about as trail days. Suffice it to say: Bishop is a great town, we ate a lot of food, went to so many gear stores, and stressfully packed up eight days of food …
June 9, 2022 Non-PCT miles: 7 PCT miles: 0 It’s pretty easy to wake up on town days. We have barely any food left and just seven miles to the trailhead. We’ve been fantasizing about town food and beer and drinks and washing our hands. Before long, we’re hiking and passing people coming the other …
June 8, 2022 Tyndall Creek at mile 774.7 to campsite on Kearsarge Pass Trail 0.4 miles from junction at PCT mile ~789.1 14.4 PCT miles 0.4 non-PCT miles Every day on the PCT, Jumbo says at least once: “I love this trail.” It usually happens at a particularly beautiful viewpoint, or when things are going …
June 7, 2022 Crabtree to Tumanguya (Mt. Whitney) summit and back, then Crabtree to Tyndall Creek at mile 774.7 Non-PCT miles: 15.4 PCT miles: 7.7 My alarm goes off at 11:15 PM on the night of the 6th. Time to hike! It’s all red headlamp and throwing snacks in my pack. The nice thing about …
June 6, 2022 Rock Creek at mile 760.5 to Crabtree Meadows, ~PCT mile 767 6.5 miles We’re only doing six and a half miles today, so we sleep in. And I mean sleep in: I don’t wake up until almost 8. I was really cold last night, and I didn’t sleep well. Is this how …
June 5, 2022 Dutch Meadow at mile 743 to Rock Creek at mile 760.5 17.5 miles It’s an uphill start today, which I guess is just something we’re going to have to get used to. We didn’t leave as early as planned, of course, but we’re out by 6:30 or so and it’s already so …
June 4, 2022 Campsite at mile 722.2 to Dutch Meadow at mile 743 20.8 miles I am not in a good mood. DLT and Catless pack up so fast and it takes me forever to even get out of my tent. Yesterday scared me. I do not want to be that hungry again. I hate …
June 3, 2022 Kennedy Meadows at mile 702.2 to campsite at mile 722.2 20 miles Morning is a flurry of packing, eating breakfast out of the hiker box, coffee drinking, and using the bathroom at Grumpy’s on more time before we head out into the mountains. I manage to fit my ice axe and bear …
June 2, 2022 0 miles I’ll tell you a secret: I’ve been behind for the past week. Usually I write each entry at night, but I’ve been so wiped every day recently that all I can manage is a brief list of notes before I pass out. So I’m determined to get caught up on …
June 1, 2022 Campsite on the South Fork of the Kern River at mile 698.3 to Kennedy Meadows at mile 702.2 3.9 miles We talk about it for weeks and months. For so long we say, “When we get to Kennedy…” and “At Kennedy Meadows we will…” For days in the desert we fantasize about …
Sarahmarie Specht-Bird 