Post Six | Days 30 to 40

• Total trail distance hiked: 703.4 miles | 1,132.01 km
• Days on trail: 40

Current stop: Kennedy Meadows South, CA. 

After 700 miles, the arrival into Kennedy Meadows South officially marks the end of the Desert Section (which also happens to be the longest of the five sections) and the beginning of the Sierra Section. Gone are the long water carries, the dearth of shade, and the endless dust. These will be replaced with mountain passes, snow, and what’s rumoured to be the most scenic part of the trail. Everyone on trail is excited. 

Arrival at Kennedy Meadows South

Stepping back to where the last post ended:

Following a bit of a break at HikerTown (and its weird vibes), we set off at about 6pm to tackle the LA Aqueduct. Before getting started, we had heard that the LA Aqueduct was very long, offered no shade protection, and was best attempted at night or in the evening. 

The aqueduct proper ended up being much shorter than we expected (photos and videos posted by other hikers made it out that you hiked on pipe for the whole evening). It was still a fun experience and we called it a night at 1:45am and set up camp in the windfarm. 

Aqueduct 

The full moon meant we didn’t need to use headlamps. Moon shadow 

Hiking on the Aqueduct 

Days 31 and 32 involved hiking through the Tehachapi Wind Farm (one of the largest wind farms in the world). After the experience in Banning several weeks earlier, I shouldn’t have been surprised by how difficult it would be to sleep. The constant whirring of the turbines, the blinking of the lights, and the wind that would sweep anything not pinned down across the valley made for an - interesting - night; definitely Type II fun. 

Cowboy camping on the wind farm 

Water cache and trail magic in the desert 

Joshua Trees in the Tehachapi Windfarm 

Joshing Around 

Day 33 involved hiking the remaining eight miles to the Highway 58 overpass where we got a lift from Erik’s mom to Tehachapi - home for the next two days and where I thought my shoes would be waiting for me. The following day would also be my first “zero” day on trail (zero PCT miles hiked). 

Waiting for our lift to Tehachapi 

After a diner breakfast (we were seated in the rear of the restaurant away from the washed masses), it was off to Walmart for a resupply of food to get us to Kennedy Meadows South (KMS) and also to send a resupply box to KMS for the next stretch (there are some stops where it’s cheaper to send a resupply box to than resupplying in that town given the price of food - KMS is one such place). 

Decanting food in the Walmart parking lot 

America 🇺🇸 

Unfortunately, upon arriving at the post office in Tehachapi, my replacement shoes hadn’t arrived yet (despite a guaranteed delivery date three days prior). 

Given that Tehachapi didn’t have great sports shoes stores, the options were either: walk the next 140 miles in my current shoes; or try to get to Bakersfield the following day to buy a new pair. 

The latter would involve more than six hours round trip on buses (despite a distance of less than 50 miles). Luckily (for my sanity) a trail angel offered three of us a lift to Bakersfield - so appreciated. Not the ideal first Zero Day, but my feet would thank me afterwards. 

Other highlights in Tehachapi included catching up with Jordan and Conner again, two Thai meals at ‘Thai Hachapi’, that my surgery on the air mattress in the hotel’s bathroom was a success, and bowling. 

Bowling (I came last)

Feels quintessential small town America

After an ample amount of the complimentary buffet hotel breakfast, Day 35 saw us setting back on trail with seven days of food and a 4L water carry - this was the heaviest that my pack had been on trail to date (good training for the Sierra and its long food carries, I guess). 

Days 36 to 39 were some of the most difficult to date in the Desert. There were very long water carries, it was incredibly hot, lots of elevation gains, but we were rewarded with perhaps some of the best views that the Desert had to offer. 

PCT markers are always reassuring 

A much appreciated water cache 

The smell of these were incredible 

Entertainment options on trail can be wanting. One option when there is no mobile reception is reading the comments on FarOut (the offline app for the trail). At a water source, someone began reading out the menu at KMS. With 30 miles (~50km) left to KMS, we decided that the allure of non-trail food was too strong and decided to knock out those final 30 miles in one day. After 40 days on trail, the Desert was now officially done.

After a quick beer at the General Store, we got a lift (in the back of a Polaris  ATV) to Grumpy Bear’s Retreat - home for the next two days. 

A swim in the river before reaching KMS

Trying for a hitch to avoid the one mile (non-PCT) hike - unsuccessful 

Hitch on the back of the Polaris to Grumpy’s

Triple Crown Burger 

Huge brekkie - managed to finish it 

The plan for KMS is to pick up the resupply box (sent from Tehachapi), the bear can (all your food in the Sierra must be stored and carried in an approved bear-proof canister), and additional snow gear. 

The next stop will likely be in Lone Pine in about a week or so. The next stretch will hopefully include a summit of Mt Whitney (the tallest mountain in the Continental United States).