Day 48 (21 June)

0 Miles (Zero-Day) in Kennedy Meadows.

We planned to sleep in today as we felt so exhausted when we arrived yesterday.
Well that is not really possible when you are used to getting up at 4am. So sleeping in is 6:30 am now.
So when we get up we still can’t believe we are actually here in Kennedy Meadows! But as usual there is a lot of work to do when we are having a Zero-Day.
So the next thing we do is taking a so called shuttle (which is actually an open pick up) with another 15! people to Grumpy Bear’s retreat, the other place/restaurant there is in Kennedy Meadows to have one of the biggest breakfasts I have ever had. The pancakes that come with the breakfast have the size of a pizza! Welcome to ‘Murica once more. :)
So after this huge breakfast we hit the Outfitter store next to Grumpy Bear’s which is run by Yogi, a rather famous triple crown PCT Hiker who wrote a famous PCT guide.
So there we buy another bear canister. To explain in a short version: To enter the Sierras you have to carry a bear canister, which is actually a huge plastic kind of bottle where you put all your food into. The thing is, the canister itself is very heavy and does not provide enough space for stretches of 8 days and is not even odor proof.
We already ordered one to Kennedy Meadows and hoped one would be enough for the two of us. But no chance at all! We also buy a lot of food there. Yogi knows exactly what kinds of food hikers need so you can find all the good stuff in one room (which saves you a lot of time).
After the shopping we head back to the general store where we do our laundry and chill some time with Simon (the cool guy we met at the river the day before), TwoBeers and some other people.
Tonight our friends Thibaud and Wizard should finally arrive. As we know that the restaurant closes already at 4 pm and the store at 5 pm we buy them some burgers, hot dogs, beers and wine and can’t wait to be reunited!
So in the late afternoon we are constantly checking if they are coming in to give them a big applause. But they are not coming. We keep on checking every 15 minutes but still no Thibaud and Wizard. Meanwhile some other people are coming in and we ask them if they have any news about our two friends. They tell us that they are about one hour behind but that they definitely should arrive soon.
So we reduce our checking interval to 10 minutes now.
And suddenly we see two dirty people walking slowly towards the store. It is Thibaud! But the person next to him is not Wizard!
But still we start yelling and give them a huge applause and hand over the food and beer to Thibaud who is so happy about it!
It turns out Wizard is about one or two hours behind Thibaud and it is not sure if she is coming to the General Store or is directly going to Grumpy Bear’s. Of course we texted her to come to the General Store but there is no reception at all on the trail.
So we wait and wait but she is not arriving.
At 10:30 we give up, go to bed and hope she is at Grumpy Bear’s and not still out there somewhere...