Into the Sierras - Greg

L & M had an excellent 22 mile day on Wednesday, ending at Walker Pass on highway 178, a major east/west artery running from Bakersfield to highway 395. At Walker Pass campground yesterday a wonderful trail angel was offering hot showers and rides. After grinding it out across the Mojave, the ladies decided to treat themselves to both and found themselves at Kennedy Meadows.

Remember pay phones? They used to be everywhere. A dime would buy you a local call and you could talk to anyone all day for buck. With no cell or internet service in Kennedy Meadows, Melinda found one of the last pay phones in America and used it to call me collect. (Coins are almost as useless as they are quaint these days.) 20 minutes and $30.00 later we were cut off by the phone system in the middle of our first conversation in about a week.

They seem to be doing fine and the current plan is to head north from Kennedy Meadows this morning. (Friday). Next stop - Vermillion Valley Resort in about 174 miles. This is the longest stretch between resupply points on the trip. Water is more plentiful in the Sierras so they can drop some of that weight, but they have to carry bear cans that are as heavy as they sound (Bear-proof food containers are required in this stretch) and enough food for 10 days. I've read stories of other hikers arriving at VVR VERY hungry, so hopefully they have enough chow.

Cell service in the Sierras is pretty rare, so it may be a while before we get any new blog posts from them.