Day 49
Start: Kern River Valley
Finish: Kennedy Meadows South
Daily Mileage: 5.3
PCT Mile: 703.4
We soon saw signs of humanity with fences and then habitations, and our road came into view. It was a short walk into the Kennedy Meadows General Store, a classic trail hangout. However, it was basically a ghost town when we got there, with one hiker the only person there. Eventually a worker came around and said he would scrape something together for us for breakfast, but nothing came of it.
We hung out for a bit, but nothing was happening, so we got a ride down to Grumpy Bear’s Retreat where all of the normal hiker services are free. Unfortunately, they had just stopped serving breakfast when we got there, so we missed out while waiting for breakfast that never came at the General Store, but not the end of the world.
The Spicy Bandits and Lanyard and Lou were at Grumpy Bear’s, so we were able to catch up.
Lunch soon opened, and I had to get the PCT burger which had 3 big patties, bacon, avocado, onion rings, etc. It was enormous but I managed to eat it without taking it apart unlike anyone else.
The rest of the day was catching up with hikers, going to the gear store next door, getting packages we had mailed to us with our snow gear and food for the first part of the Sierra, and starting to figure out how we will get through the mountains. It sounds like it is passable now with a few people starting through each day. Most seem to be carrying crampons, but there are also people going through with microspikes, so my microspikes should be sufficient.
It started pouring rain around dinner time, but thankfully my tent was up and buttoned down so I was able to hide out in the restaurant since I could. Once again raining while we are in town making it easier. There’s no power here, so shortly after dinner the restaurant shut down their generator, effectively ushering all of the hikers back to our tents for the night.